Release information appears on a lot of artifact types. In some tools, the release artifact itself is a first class citizen; in others, the release is a field on a work item.
Typically, each tool’s admin has to create new release artifacts for each new release, which is highly inefficient and error-prone. Not to mention there is no traceability between the various work items associated with a specific release across tools.
By integrating Digital.ai Release (formerly XebiaLabs XL Release) with the rest of the software delivery toolchain, specifically the tools that house long-lived collaboration work items like features, stories, requirements, tests, defects, problems and incidents, it’s possible to designate one tool as the source or ‘master’ of the release artifact.
The tool designated as ‘master’, be it Digital.ai Release or another tool, can populate the release artifact to the other tools, synchronizing fields like start and end dates, descriptions, status, tags and flag status.
Key Features and Benefits
Eliminate duplicate data entry and human error. Release information is populated automatically from the source to other tools.
Create visibility into release status for everyone collaborating on the release, including practitioners who don't normally use Digital.ai Release, like product owners, project managers and developers.
Create traceability between release artifacts and associated implementation artifacts, like features, by flowing the release information through Planview Hub's models.
This section describes the basic steps needed to prepare your Digital.ai instance for use with Hub. Note that additional fields for synchronization or configuration of queries may be required depending on the requirements of your integration.
We recommend that you create a new user within your external tool, to be used only for your Hub integration. This is the user information you will enter when setting up your repository connection within Planview Hub. By creating a new user, you will ensure that the correct permissions are granted, and allow for traceability of the modifications that are made by the synchronization.
In general, your user account should have sufficient permissions to create, read, and update artifacts in your repository. However, depending on the use case, your user may need different permissions. For example, if you are only interested in flowing data out of your repository, your user may not need to have full CRUD access, as the 'create' and 'update' permissions may not be needed.
Your user should have a secure password or token. Please be aware that Hub will not allow you to save a repository connection utilizing a weak password/token, such as 'tasktop.'
See the Digital.ai user guide to learn how to create a custom user in Digital.ai Release.
List of minimal user permissions:
Admin
Standard Authentication
Required Fields:
Optional Fields:
SSO Authentication
Additionally, Digital.ai supports the following SSO implementations:
Learn more about how to set up your repository in Planview Hub here.
Supported rich text elements are:
In general, a full scan is not required to synchronize updates from this repository. However, it is possible that some read-only fields may require a full scan. Please consult with customer care for additional details.
Planview Hub: 19.1.3 and later
It is important to understand that each Hub collection retrieves its artifact schema (i.e., its list of possible fields and field values) based on the template used in Digital.ai. This has some consequences to be aware of:
You can learn more about special features in Planview Hub here.
Learn about the difference between containers and work items in Planview Hub here.
Supported Work Item Type |
Applicable Hub Versions |
Applicable Repository Versions |
Unique URL? |
---|---|---|---|
Release |
Planview Hub: 19.1.2 and later |
Any supported repository version: |
Yes |
Learn more about containment in Planview Hub here.
Containers that can synchronize between repositories |
Applicable Hub Versions |
Applicable Repository Versions |
Unique URL? |
---|---|---|---|
N/A |
|||
Containers used to define the boundary of a collection (when clicking 'Manage Projects' on a collection) |
|||
N/A (entire repository serves as the container) |
Planview Hub: 19.1.2 and later |
Any supported repository version: |
N/A |
Containers used for artifact routing |
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|
|
N/A (entire repository serves as the container) |
Planview Hub: 19.1.2 and later |
Any supported repository version: |
N/A |
Note: If one field of a given type is supported, others that are also that type in theory should also work. However, sometimes there are instances in which this is not the case due to the repository. So, while we can claim support for fields at the type level, there is a chance that some specific fields of a given type will not synchronize properly.
Field Type |
Does Hub support custom fields of this type? |
How is this Field Referenced in the Repository? |
Sample Repository Fields Supported |
Particular Repository Fields NOT Supported |
---|---|---|---|---|
String |
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Text |
Name Flag Status Text ID |
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Single-select |
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List Box |
Status Type |
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Multi-select |
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List, Set |
Tags |
|
Boolean |
|
Checkbox |
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Date |
(Note: Custom 'Date' fields in Digital.ai are truly 'Date Time' fields, and are supported as such) |
|
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|
Date Time |
|
Date |
Due Date Start Date |
|
Duration |
|
|
|
|
Double |
|
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|
|
Long |
|
Number |
|
|
Person |
|
|
|
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Persons |
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|
|
Relationship(s) |
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Rich Text |
|
Description |
|
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Location |
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Web Links |
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Time Entries |
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Category |
Limitation |
Applicable Hub Version |
Applicable Repository Version |
---|---|---|---|
Third Party Functional Limitation |
Projects Because Digital.ai does not support the notion of ‘projects,' the following behaviors may be observed when using Hub:
|
Planview Hub: All |
Any supported repository version: |
Configuration Requirement |
Unicode Characters In order to support unicode characters (i.e., symbols or non-latin characters of other languages), the following change to the server's xlr-wrapper-win.conf has to be added: |
Planview Hub: 19.1.2 and later |
Any supported repository version: |
Feature Unsupported |
Archived Releases Archived Releases are currently not supported. They will not be retrieved and will not be part of search results. Once a previously synchronized release becomes archived, it will be treated as if it were deleted in the repository. |
Planview Hub: 19.1.2 and later |
Any supported repository version: |
Third Party Functional Limitation |
Release Name and Flag Status The fields "Release Name" and "Flag Status" are limited to 1000 characters, as the web interface will not display large numbers correctly. |
Planview Hub: 19.1.2 and later |
Any supported repository version: |
Third Party API Limitation |
Releases without Templates Releases without a template cannot be created in Digital.ai via API (and thus via Hub). However, existing releases that are not based on a template are supported for reading and update in Digital.ai. |
Planview Hub: 19.1.2 and later |
Any supported repository version: |
Feature Unsupported |
State Transitions Providing a 'phase' for state transitions is currently not supported in Hub. As a result, users cannot invoke "Restart Phase" or "Resume" statuses via Hub. |
Planview Hub: 19.1.2 and later |
Any supported repository version: |
Third Party API Limitation |
List and Set Variables List and Set variable values cannot be submitted via the API on creation in Digital.ai versions earlier than 8.2. Therefore, Hub cannot create new releases from a template where required list/set variables exist without a default value in Digital.ai Release version 8.0 |
Planview Hub: 19.1.3 and later |
8.0 |
Feature Unsupported |
Duplicate List/Set Entries Hub does not support reading and writing duplicate values to/from List or Set variables. |
Planview Hub: 19.1.3 and later |
Any supported repository version: |
Feature Unsupported |
Variables Variables are not supported in Hub version 19.1.2. Creation of releases is only supported for releases without required variables, or where required variables have a default value defined. |
Planview Hub: 19.1.2 |
Any supported repository version: |