What is Portfolio++™

Portfolio++™ is an Azure DevOps extension that enables the creation of Gantt-style cross-Project Roadmaps. Portfolio++™ is a project management tool that helps you plan, track, and manage your work items and projects. Portfolio++™ helps development teams better understand the context of the work items in their backlogs and provides planners with a better basis for program management and decision making.

There are two versions of Portfolio++™, FREE and PAID.

What are the main views provided by the free version of Portfolio++™?

Roadmap: The free version enables users to choose to Epic work items in Azure DevOps Projects and allows for "drill-down" through parent-child relationships. All selected work-items with children can be expanded to show, or collapsed to hide, their child work-items. Filters are available that allow for precise customization of the work items that are displayed. The Options menu allows you to customize the information displayed on the work items.

Snapshot: Snapshot produces a WYSIWYG image of your Roadmap (as displayed) in PNG format that can be shared or archived for reference.

Epic/Feature Timeline: This view is specific to a Project and shows all Features by Epic across the Project.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit?

Portfolio Status: The Status view shows key metrics that help teams with quality assurance. For example, showing Requirements that do not have estimates, or Tasks.

What additional features does Portfolio++ Pro™ offer?

Enhanced Settings: Choose any work-item, of any type, at any level!

Build by Team: Pro users can also select work by Teams, i.e., cross-Team.

Build by Query: Build By Query dynamically determines the selected work items to show each time you open or refresh your Roadmap. 

Re-order Work-Items: When building by Project or Team, the enhanced Settings dialog allows the work-item order to be set for display in the Roadmap.

Portfolio Kanban: Shows selected work-items by their State when building Roadmaps by Projects, Teams, or Queries.

How can I purchase a Portfolio++ Pro subscription?

From within the FREE version of Portfolio++™, click on the “green pickle” that says “Join Portfolio++ Pro” on the menu bar. Clicking on it will launch a subscription dialog that enables Individual subscriptions Portfolio++ Pro™ to be purchased for $10/month, or $110/year. Organization subscriptions can be purchased for $200/month, or $2200/year. For Enterprise subscriptions (multiple Organizations), please contact info@iTrellis.com.

What are the requirements to use Portfolio++™?

Portfolio++ requires Azure DevOps Services, Server 2022, Server 2020 or Azure DevOps Server 2019 Update 1.

'Manage Extensions' permission is required to install Portfolio++.

Users need access to Projects and Analytics permissions enabled for those Projects to select and show their work-items in Portfolio++.

Project Process Templates should be Agile, Scrum, CMMI, Basic, or inherit from them.

Are there any constraints when using Portfolio++™? Yes.

Queries with more than 10,000 work-items cannot be processed due to an Azure DevOps Analytics limit.

Roadmaps can access Projects within one Organization (Collection) but cannot access Projects in other Organizations (Collections).

On the Status view, when using the Cross-Project Queries option, Work-items linked from other Projects will not be counted when they are of types not recognized by the Parent's Project Process Template.

In the Options drop-down menu, when ‘Manual Mode’ is toggled on, Roadmaps require that each Epic and Feature’s Start Date and Target Date be defined or that they are in an Iteration Path with Start and End dates defined. Otherwise, they will not be shown.

When using the Build-by-Query Pro feature, only 'Shared Queries' can be selected.

Azure DevOps Server 2019 pre-Update 1 is not supported. We recommend upgrading.

Cross-Project Queries are not supported in Azure DevOps 2019 Server. We recommend upgrading.

XML Process templates may not work. If this is the case, please contact us for support at info@iTrellis.com.

Azure DevOps Server 2019 Update 1 does not provide the information required for all Portfolio++ functions. We recommend that you upgrade to Azure DevOps Server 2020, 2022, or Services.

Are there limitations when using Portfolio++™? Yes.

Roadmap work-item visibility is the same as Azure DevOps. Essentially, if you can see the work-itmes in your Projects, then you will be able to see them in your Roadmap.

Queries that result in more than 10,000 work-items cannot be processed. This is an Azure DevOps Analytics API limit.

In any “build-by” view (Project, Team, or Query), if more than 200 work-items are selected, it will likely result in degraded response times. Performance is variable, and largely depends on the aggregate number of child work-items that need to be processed.

Shared Queries cannot result in a query string that is greater than 50,000 characters, as this is an Azure DevOps Analytics API limitation.

Build-by-Query can only process 'Shared Queries' that return a 'flat list'.

How can I submit new feature requests or report bugs?

You can reach out to info@itrellis.com to submit bug and feature requests.

Where can I get support for Portfolio++?

If you need help with your Azure DevOps Organization, building Roadmaps, or upgrades, you can visit the Microsoft DevOps Consulting Services page here.

How can I try Portfolio++ Pro for free?

You can get a free 28-day trial of Portfolio++ Pro. To initiate the trial, click on the green “Join Portfolio++ Pro Trial” button (aka. the green pickle) within the Portfolio++ extension. This will guide you through the process of activating your trial subscription so that you can try our advanced roadmap features.

What are the different ways I can build a roadmap?

You can build a Roadmap by Team, Project, or Query using the Roadmap tab in Portfolio++™. Start creating your roadmap from the Roadmap Settings. Select “Build by Project”, “Build by Team”, or “Build by Query” to organize and show the work in your backlog from different points of view.

How can I access Portfolio++ after installing it?

After Portfolio++™ is installed, clicking into any project area will display the Portfolio++™ extension here in the left pane. You can also access it by clicking on the Portfolio++™ icon on the left sidebar.

What are the settings that I need to configure before creating a roadmap?

The settings that you need to configure before creating a roadmap are:

1. The name and description of your roadmap.

2. The access control of your roadmap, whether you want to keep it private or share it with others.

3. The bug behavior of your roadmap, whether you want to treat bugs as requirements or tasks.

4. The notification settings of your roadmap, whether you want to suppress or enable the helpful notifications and warnings from Portfolio++.

5. The build method of your roadmap, whether you want to search for work items by project or by team.

How can I add work items to my roadmap?

You can add work items to your roadmap by selecting the Projects, Teams, or Queries that contain the work items you want to include. You can also select the Work-item types and filter out the closed work items. Once you check the box next to the work item, it will be included in your Roadmap. You can also drag and drop work items from Azure Boards to your Roadmap.

How can I arrange and order the work items on my roadmap?

You can arrange and order the work items on your roadmap by using the drag and drop feature in Roadmap Settings. This feature is only available to Portfolio++ Pro™ subscribers.

How does Portfolio++™ handle custom-defined work item levels, such as initiatives?

Portfolio++ Pro™ allows you to add custom work item levels such as initiatives to your roadmap. This feature is available for Pro subscribers.

How does Portfolio++™ determine the start and end dates of work items on the roadmap?

Portfolio++ determines the start and end dates of work items on the roadmap in the following ways:

1. Iteration Assignment: By default, Portfolio++ will use the iteration assignment of work items to set the start and end dates on the roadmap.

2. Manual Mode: If you switch to "Manual Mode," Portfolio++ will take the "Start Date" and "Target Date" of the work item itself. This gives you more control and allows you to directly set or change these dates according to your specific planning needs.

How does Portfolio++™ handle work-items that have a State of “Removed”?

Portfolio++™ doesn't typically display work items that have a state of "removed." These work items are out of scope for most planning and tracking purposes, so they are filtered out of the views within the Portfolio++™ interface.

How does Portfolio++ handle dependencies between work items on the roadmap?

Portfolio++™ displays the count of a work-item's predecessors and successors at the front and end of the work item on the roadmap. This allows you to quickly see how many dependencies a particular work item has without cluttering the view. When you click on the Dependency Count, you will be shown the details of those dependencies, including information about the specific work items that are involved. From there, you can drill in if desired to see more details and understand the nature of the relationships between those work items. This feature is only available to Portfolio++ Pro™ subscribers.

How can I export or share my roadmap generated by Portfolio++™?

You can export or share your roadmap generated by Portfolio++™ in PNG image.