IBM’s SAFe® Solution Overview

Rational Team Concert V6.0

Amy Silberbauer

Solution Architect, DevOps Plan & Enterprise Scaled Agile

IBM Systems – Application Platform & Middleware

safeinfo@bg.vnet.ibm.com

IBM’s SAFe Support – RTC 6.0Project Area Initialization

Work Items & Attributes

Plans (Roadmap, Kanban, WSJF Ranked List)

Reports

Process Guidance

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SAFe – RTC MappingSAFe Level SAFe Concept RTC Concept NotesProgram Roadmap & Vision Plan View Vision can be a tab on the plan editor or it can be

reflected in an HTML widget on the dashboardProgram Backlog Plan View

Program Roadmap Plan View

Architectural Runway

Plan View

Program Epic Work Item Type Epic Type (Business/Architectural) attribute on the Program Epic work item type

Feature Work Item Type Feature Type (Business/Architectural/NFR*) attribute on Feature work item type

* Non Functional Requirement

Program PI Objective Work Item Type PI Objective work item type with Program value for PI Type.

Team Story Work Item Type

Task Work Item Type

Team PI Objective Work Item Type PI Objective work item type with Team for PI Type.

Team Backlog Plan ViewQP Planning Views

<All Levels> Role Role Assigned to appropriate Project Area or Team AreaCreated in the Project Area for the right level

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SAFe RTC Infrastructure

RTC Project Area or

Team Area

RTC Project Area

CLM LPA or

RTC Project Area

SAFe Portfolio (Coming Soon!)

SAFe Program 1

SAFe Team A

SAFe Team B

SAFe Program 2

SAFe Team C

SAFe Team D

SAFe Team E

Establish new Program with Teams

Establish a new Program that tracks work of existing Teams

New environments

Existing environments

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FAQs

Use the SAFe Program process template to establish a new Program project area. If your Teams have their own RTC project areas already established, track the work of those teams from Features in the Program via the tracks link type.

What if I already have established Teams using

RTC or third-party tooling?

Use the published SAFe RTC Configuration Guidelines document to apply the very same customizations to any other process template already in use in your organization to create the infrastructure, artifacts and plans.

What if I am not moving to RTC V6.0 any time soon?

No, you will need to use the SAFe RTC Configuration Guidelines described above to apply the SAFe-related customizations.

Can I migrate an existing project area to the new SAFe process template?

Yes

Can I use the SAFe process template and apply my own

customizations?

Once you have a project area based on the SAFe process template, you can take advantage of any updates we make to this template going forward.

What is the advantage of establishing a new

environment with the SAFe template?

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Project Area Initialization

SAFe Program Project Area – Initializes Program project area

SAFe Team Team Areas – Initializes two Team Areas:

– Team 1 (rename)

– Team 2 (rename)

Work Item Categories - Initializes the project area with default categories for Program and Teams:

– Team 1 (rename)

– Team 2 (rename)

Post-Project Initialization Tasks work item – Created to describe the post-project initialization activities to perform

Artifacts – Initializes the project area with SAFe artifacts and associated dashboards, plans, plan type, and plan views

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Work Item Types

Program Epic

Story

PI Objective [Team]

Feature

Risk

Task

Ch

ild

ren

[1

-M]

Ch

ild

ren

[1

-M]

Tra

ck

s [

1-M

] (c

ros

s-p

roje

ct)

Tracks [1-1]

Ch

ildre

n [1

-M]

PI Objective [Program] C

hild

ren

[1-M

]

Tracks [1-1]

• Suggested link types/cardinality, not enforced by

process

• State constraints in place (cannot resolve parent unless

all of the children are resolved)

Defect

Retrospective

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Work Flow - Plan Items

Draft Reviewed AnalyzingReady (for Approval)

Approved Implementing Done

Funnel BacklogAnalysis

Pro

gra

m E

pic

New Implementing Integration Testing Done

New DoneIn Progress

Featu

re

Closed

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Work Flow – Execution Items

New Closed

PI O

bje

cti

ve

New Done

New In Progress ClosedRis

k

New DoneIn Progress

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Work Flow - Execution Items (continued)

New In Development Done

New DoneIn Progress

Task

New In Development In Test Done

New In Progress

Sto

ry

Done

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Work Item Attributes

Program Epic• Value Statement

• Epic Type [Business, Architectural]

Feature • Feature Type [Business, Architectural, NFR]

Program Epic/Feature

• Job Size (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 20)

• User/Business Value (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 20)

• RR/OE (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 20)

• Time Criticality (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 20)

• WSJF [calculated]

PI Objective

• PI Objective Type [Program, Team]

• Business Value (planned) [1-10]

• Business Value (actual) [1-10]

• Planned For , Filed Against

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Work Item Templates

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SAFe Level Template Name Description

Program Program Initiation Use to create work items applicable when a Program is first initiatedProgram Increment Use at the start of each Program increment to create work items for the typical

program events, activities, requirements and ceremoniesInnovation and Planning

Use prior to each Innovation and Planning Sprint and for each team to create work items for typical Sprint events

Team Development Iteration

Use before the start of each development iteration and for each team to create work items for typical iteration events

Use work item templates to create the set of tasks related to

completion of a SAFe ceremony, event or activity

Tasks provide links to in-context guidance (specific SAFe concept on

Scaled Agile Framework web site

Helps with SAFe methodology adoption – “learn while doing”

Planning• Progress on work items tracked as Time Remaining

– Display estimates in hours selected

– In single SAFe Program project area with Team Areas, progress rolls up from Team Tasks > Stories to Program Features

• Complexity Attribute – Story Points

• Custom Attributes – Attribute Mapping

• Program Backlog plan type

– Kanban View: Implements SAFe Kanban System for Program Epics

– Roadmap: Epic > Feature [> Story > Task]

– WSJF Ranked List: Feature ranking by WSJF

• Team plans as per Scrum process template

– Except Kanban and Taskboard views customized with updated work flow

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Dashboards – Program

• Program: Activity-based

– Tabs: Program Overview, Program Details, Release Planning, Dependency Management, Trends

– Suggested content included:

• Plan widgets

• Query widgets

– JRS report widgets cannot be created by the process template, so widget included on specific tabs to provide instructions on how to add those widgets

• Team: Role-based

– Tabs: General, Scrum Master, Team Member, Product Owner

– Consistent with Scrum and Agile ALM templates

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QueriesPre-Defined Queries

SAFe Level

Predefined Query Description

Program Open features Unresolved open features

Open program epics Program epics that are unresolved

Open program PI objectives Unresolved program PI objectives

Open non -feature work items Unresolved open non-feature work items

Team Open team PI objectives Unresolved team PI objectives

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Reports• SAFe Reports

– Out of the box

– Additional Program-level reports as downloadable bundle

• Self-Assessments– Linked from tasks created by Program Increment and Development

Iteration work item templates

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What I really want to know and how I find out…

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Look at status of Tasks, Stories, Features and PI Objectives What is behind?

Explore burn down of Stories, Features, PI Objectives

How much are we behind?

Explore dependencies: who is impacting/impacted; consider changes during execution to time spent and scope added/removed.

What is at risk? Where are there dependencies

that cause risk?

View discussion threads in work itemsWhy are we behind?

Risk ownership

What actions should be taken by whom?

Velocity and predictability data over time

How have we performed so I can plan better?

SAFe Team Reports

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SAFe

Metric

Report Description Answers the question… Suggested

Dashboard Tab

Available in

CLM 5.0.2?

M1 Burndown by

Story Points

Number of story points assigned to work items that

are either open or in progress over daily intervals

Are we behind?

How much are we behind?

Scrum Master

Burnup by Story Points Number of story points associated with completed

work over daily intervals

Are we green, yellow, orange? Scrum Master

Changes to Time Spent Work items where the time spent has been updated

within the last 7 days

Why are we behind?

What is at risk?

Scrum Master Yes

Defects by Priority

Chart (List)

Total number of defects by priority Are we improving our quality? Scrum Master

Incomplete Stories Stories targeted for current iteration that are still

incomplete

What is behind? Scrum Master Yes

Iteration Health Visualization based on various statistics that can be

used to interpret the health of the current iteration

filtered by timelines

Are we green, yellow, orange? Product Owner Yes

Release Status Chart

(List)

Number of open and closed stories for a release Are we green, yellow, orange? Product Owner Yes

Scope Added Work added to the current iteration scope after

iteration start

Why are we behind? Scrum Master Yes

Scope Removed Work removed from the current iteration scope after

iteration start

Why are we behind? Scrum Master Yes

Team Dependencies List of open work items blocked by another team’s

open work items

What is at risk? Scrum Master Yes

Team Velocity Number of story points completed in each iteration How well did we do? Product Owner Yes

All [scope to] Team

Stories

Bottoms-up view of Stories with objectives, aligned

to Features for the specific Team

What capabilities have we delivered?

What capabilities are we delivering?

Is all of the Team’s work aligned to

business value?

Scrum Master No – In

downloadable

archive

SAFe Program Reports(in downloadable archive)

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SAFe

Metric

Report Description Answers the question… Suggested Dashboard

Tab

M5 All [scope to] Team Stories Bottoms-up view of Stories with objectives, aligned to Features

for the specific Team. If no Team is specified, the scope of results

is the Program level.

What capabilities have we

delivered?

What capabilities are we

delivering?

Is all of the Team’s work aligned to

business value?

Program Details

Business Features By

Status for [select PI]

Shows business features by status for the specified Program

Increment. If no PI is specified, the scope is all PIs for the

Program.

Are we improving our value

delivery?

What value are we delivering?

Release Planning

Features By Type for

[select PI]

Pie chart that shows percentage of Features by type for the

specified Program Increment. If no PI is specified, the scope is all

PIs for the Program.

How much architectural risk does

this PI have?

Do we have a reasonable balance

of architecture and business work?

Program Overview

Release Planning

Features with Child Story

Status for [select PI]

This report displays a bar chart showing, by Feature, the status of

each of its child stories. The report is scoped to a Program

Increment. If no PI is specified, the scope is the Program

roadmap.

What is the status of the Program

Increment? What is behind?

Release Planning

Ready for System Demo List of Features completed, along with related PI Objectives, that

are ready for a System Demonstration

What value can we demonstrate? Release Planning

PI Objectives in Progress Shows PI Objectives for Features related to Team Stories current

in progress

What value do we have planned to

deliver in this PI?

Release Planning

Program Roadmap Shows all Program Epics on timeline with breakdown into

Features and Stories (graphical and list views)

What is on our Program roadmap? Program Details

Cross-Team Dependencies Shows cross-team dependencies from the perspective of the

dependent work item.

Where do we have dependencies?

Where are we blocked?

Dependency Management

Resources

• IBM’s SAFe Landing Page:– IBM's SAFe Support POV: IBM’s vision for supporting SAFe– Configuration Guidelines: Step-by-step guide to configure

CLM for SAFe support– YouTube Channel– Recorded Webinars

• Agile Learning Circle – A SAFe Learning Roadmap

• IBM DevOps Community• IBM DevOps Blog Series – Our Journey• Rational Deployment Wiki

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