Capability usage

Connected Portfolios-AgilePlace hybrid delivery adoption pathway

3. Capability usage

Audience	Portfolio manager, project manager, team member
Objective	Implement these practical steps and recommendations to quickly get started using the tools and maximize value from your solution.

Benefits of adopting hybrid delivery using connected Portfolios-AgilePlace

Making the shift to connected work and adopting hybrid delivery using connected Portfolios-AgilePlace drives strategic alignment across organizations by ensuring teams are focused on delivering the work that matters the most.

The connected Portfolios-AgilePlace solution supports project and portfolio managers with traditional project planning, governed work, and project portfolio management at the portfolio level in Portfolios, while project team members plan and execute work using Kanban boards and cards in AgilePlace.

With governed work controlled at the portfolio level, AgilePlace enables project team members to execute governed project work, non-governed project work, and individual work items all in a single location.

Project managers can continue to leverage other capabilities in Portfolios for project management, such as resource planning, which allows managers to assign named or role-based resources to connected work activities.

Customizable Kanban boards enable team members to design custom workflows tailored to the needs of their team and organization, while providing visibility into the flow of work to the project manager.

As connected work is completed in AgilePlace, data is surfaced in Portfolios, and project managers gain visibility into work progress, schedule variance, and blocked cards. Project managers can then generate reports based on this data which are used to gain insights into project delivery and communicate with teams and stakeholders.

Benefits by role

Portfolio and project manager

Team member

Ability to create and manage connected projects
Alignment of work delivery to strategic planning and project portfolio management
Brings the work to the team
Visibility into work progress, schedule variance, and blocked cards
Ability to adjust and re-plan based on schedule variance
Make informed project planning and portfolio decisions with near real-time data
Insights into project delivery and work progress with reporting

Collaborative work environment that supports different ways of working
Single location to execute all governed and non-governed work
Customizable Kanban boards designed to adapt to the needs of the team and organization
Kanban boards visually capture the flow of work, providing visibility into work progress
Flexible team tool that empowers teams with the autonomy to decide how they work
Board and card templates streamline work processes and standardize work creation

Get started using connected Portfolios-AgilePlace

Note: for the steps to configure Planview Admin to support the implementation and adoption of connected Planview products, see Overview of Planview Admin.

Step	Role	Description
Create AgilePlace boards	Project manager	Create a new board in AgilePlace using a template or custom setup, or navigate to the board you want to sync. Make the board available for integration so work progress can sync between AgilePlace and Portfolios.
Define work in Portfolios	Project manager	In Portfolios, review the work breakdown structure (WBS). Create a new work item then select the desired AgilePlace board for the sync. Check the box to sync with AgilePlace.
Update project plan	Project manager	In the Portfolios WBS, designate which tasks to sync to the AgilePlace board. Set the Sync with the AgilePlace flag to create the synced card in AgilePlace. If desired, you can sync each task to a different corresponding board. Add work milestones to your project. Customizable column sets help you view the connections, links, and values synchronized between Portfolios and AgilePlace. Review your column set on the Plan screen in Portfolios to ensure the desired attributes are synced.
Assign resources	Project manager Team member	Add new cards in Portfolios or AgilePlace. When tasks in the Portfolios WBS are synced to AgilePlace, cards are automatically added to the selected AgilePlace board. New cards created in AgilePlace can also sync to projects in Portfolios, creating a new task in the project’s WBS. With synced tasks, you can change the parent/child card relationships in AgilePlace and the connector will automatically update the parent/child task relationships in Portfolios. Categorize card types to reflect the kind of work in progress, and set start and end dates to keep track of planned deadlines. Descriptions and categorizations on AgilePlace cards will update task information in Portfolios. Rank stories in the AgilePlace backlog to determine which stories should be worked on first. Use AgilePlace Card Scoring to prioritize work.
Collaborate and update work	Project manager Team member	Assign story cards to available timeboxes or sprints and set work in process (WIP) limits to avoid overloading team members with work. Once this is done, teams work to deliver their defined goals. Collaborate on designs and plans using Whiteboards. As work progresses, update card status and move cards to lanes as work progresses. Collaborate with team members and stakeholders by assigning users to cards, adding comments to cards, and tagging relevant stakeholders.
Collaborate with stakeholders	Project manager	Maintain the project plan by reviewing and updating milestones and activity status in the plan.
Monitor project progress	Project manager	In AgilePlace, you have access to a variety of reports such as Speed, Flow, Burndown, and Efficiency to measure performance. You can also track the progress of your project by looking at the AgilePlace board. In Portfolios, review progress using data synced from cards in AgilePlace. This information is used to monitor the project progress and can be viewed within the WBS, work portfolio column sets, and Power BI dashboards.

Recommendations for using connected Portfolios-AgilePlace

Visualize your work

Quickly seeing what each team member is working on and determining the cause of unexpected delays is critical to on-time delivery and optimizing working processes. Using connected Portfolios-AgilePlace, you can visualize your work in AgilePlace by creating boards and cards, standardizing repeatable work, moving cards through boards, and visualizing blocked work. This data rolls up to the Portfolios view, allowing portfolio and project managers to easily see and understand work progress.

Limit Work-in-Progress (WIP)

Assigning team members too much work can cause progress to be delayed. Limiting WIP ensures team members are more focused, communicative, and realistic. In AgilePlace, WIP limits can be set to restrict how much work is assigned at one time to a team or process stage. Team leaders must ensure tasks are broken down into small, achievable chunks, and that work-in-progress stays within a certain threshold, so that team members are not bogged down.

Continuously measure and improve

Access and measure metrics such as speed, flow, burndown, and efficiency to see where inefficiencies are occurring so that you and your team can adjust accordingly and drive value more quickly. Discuss analytics such as board health, exceptions, and distribution during your team retrospectives to drive continuous improvement.

Enablement resources for connected Portfolios-AgilePlace

Resource

Role

Description

Webinar – Maximizing Value: Joining the dots between Project Planning and Delivery (Portfolios + Connected AgilePlace)

Portfolio manager

Project manager

Team member

Demonstrates how work is connected and AgilePlace cards and data roll up to Portfolios to track project status and progress on activities

AgilePlace templates

Project manager

Team member

Get started quickly setting up a board using templates, or pre-built boards structured to resemble your work processes.