The Atlassian Jira Align team is pleased to announce the release of Jira Align v.10.98.
Enhancements and Features
These features will be released to environments on the continuous release track on July 16, 2021, in version 10.98.0. The features will then be released to environments on the bundled release track on July 30, 2021, in version 10.98.2:
New financial values and calculations
Our previously announced financial calculations are here! Here are the highlights (expand the dropdown at the bottom of this section to view a detailed list of changes to existing pages):
Forecasted, Estimated, and Accepted Spend values
Now, there are three distinct spend calculations that can be used to understand the scope of investment at the varying stages of a work item's lifecycle:
- Forecasted Spend provides a rough estimate of the cost of an epic or capability before it is broken down into features that will be assigned to program increments. This value uses the program PI estimates entered on the Forecast tab of an epic or capability’s Details panel.
- Estimated Spend focuses your cost estimates further once a larger work item is spread across child features. This value is based upon feature estimates, entered on the main tab of a feature's Details panel.
- Accepted Spend lets you compare your forecasted and estimated spends with how much was spent to execute all of the work performed by delivery teams. This value is created by multiplying effort point estimates from accepted child stories by the cost of funding the sprints completed by your teams.
You can view spend values from multiple locations, including:
- Portfolio Room
- Status Reports
- Forecast
- Investment vs Spend
- Funding Plan
- Roadmap > Program Increment view
Spend panels
You can click on any of the spend values displayed on a page to see details on how a value is created. The Forecasted Spend, Estimated Spend, and Accepted Spend panels show you more about the work items feeding a calculation, detailing what program forecasts, feature estimates, or accepted stories are contributing to the financial value.
You can even drill in further to the calculation cards within the panel to understand the next level of detail.
Spend per Point reports
From both the navigation menu and the calculation cards nested within spend panels, you can learn more about how Spend per Point values are generated.
The main Spend per Point report details the inputs that contribute to Program Spend per Point.
Clicking on a team's spend icon will take you to the Team Spend per Point report, where outliers that affect a team's sprint calculation are detailed:
Scrum Masters and Program Managers can use these reports to surface any data outliers that may negatively affect the accuracy of financial calculations.
Re-baselining financial inputs
To optimize performance, many data inputs that affect financial calculations are stored when various events occur, including:
- When a sprint ends; 11:59pm of the sprint's end date
- When a feature is accepted
- When a program increment is marked complete
Because some of these inputs may not have been updated to reflect reality prior to the data being stored, we allow you to update some values to re-baseline the data, causing a financial value to recalculate. We'll display a warning when you change data that was previously stored, allowing you to confirm the re-baseline.
- Agile team sprint allocations, PI blended rates, and cost center rates can be re-baselined to affect Team Cost per Sprint calculations.
- Feature estimates and statuses can be re-baselined to update Estimated Spend values.
- Program forecasts can be re-baselined to update Forecasted Spend values
Retired pages
The following legacy pages have been removed with the release of new financial calculations. If you've previously bookmarked one of these pages, you'll be redirected to a recommended replacement when accessing the old URL:
- Investment by Theme will redirect to Investment vs Spend
- Program Increment Analysis will redirect to Portfolio Room
- Earned Value will redirect to Portfolio Room
- Strategy Dashboard will redirect to Strategy Room
- Investment Distribution users are recommended to use Enterprise Insights
Expand the dropdown below to review specific changes made to pages, reports, and functionality in order to support the new financial values:
▾ All changes (click to expand)
- To ensure team allocations are correct, we updated the logic of the connector when a user is associated with more than one Jira sprint that maps to the same anchor sprint in Jira Align:
- Allocations are spread evenly. If a user belongs to two sprints that map to the same anchor, their allocation will be set as 50% in each sprint. If the user belongs to three sprints, the allocation would be 33% in each.
- If a user’s allocation is manually set in a Jira Align sprint, that setting will be kept.
- If this results in a user being allocated more than 100% across sprints that share the same anchor dates, a warning message will display.
- This auto allocation behavior is tied to the Allow Jira to add users to team if they belong to an issue setting in Jira connector settings.
- This also applies to kanban teams.
- Burn hours field added to kanban teams' Details panels.
- Value can be selected between 5 - 8 hours.
- This field is used to calculate a kanban team’s Team Cost per Sprint.
- If a story is accepted on a weekend that isn’t covered by an anchor sprint, the story is included in the previous anchor sprint for calculating Team Spend per Point.
- View Financials button removed from Release Vehicle Status Reports, as they do not contain financial calculations.
- Estimate column replaced by Forecasted Spend.
- Actual column replaced by Estimated Spend.
- Added Accepted Spend column.
- Estimated Variance % column renamed to BVE % and calculation updated:
- 100% - (((Epic’s Estimated Spend value) / (Epic’s budget)) * 100)
- Estimated Variance $ column renamed to BVE and calculation updated:
- Epic’s budget - Epic’s Estimated Spend value
- Actual Variance % column renamed to BVA % and calculation updated:
- 100% - (((Epic’s Accepted Spend value) / (Epic’s budget)) * 100)
- Actual Variance $ column renamed to BVA and calculation updated:
- Epic’s budget - Epic’s Accepted Spend value
- CapEx Loaded column renamed to CapEx Estimated and calculation updated:
- Sum of all Estimated Spend values from capitalized child features
- CapEx Actual column renamed to CapEx Accepted and calculation updated:
- Sum of all Actual Spend values from stories parented by capitalized child features
- CapEx Variance column renamed to CapEx BVA and calculation updated:
- CapEx Accepted - CapEx Budget
- CapEx Variance % column renamed to CapEx BVA % and calculation updated:
- 100% - (((CapEx Budget) / (CapEx Accepted)) * 100)
- OpEx Dollars column renamed to OpEx Budget ($).
- OpEx Percent column renamed to OpEx Budget (%).
- Removed the Extra Configs button from all views.
- Snapshot selection dropdown moved to the top of the Financials view, as it’s the only view that supports filtering by snapshot.
- Replaced the Theme Effort vs Value section with a link to the Investment vs Spend report.
- Theme Budget Allocation section renamed to Budget Allocation.
- Added Child and Theme buttons to filter the allocation by themes or child epics/stand-alone features.
- Theme Priority section renamed to Theme Budget Variance.
- Divided the expandable PI section into two new sections:
- Team Cost by Program Increment displays PI information including name, start and end dates, PI Funding, and Team Cost.
- Work Spend displays the grid of work items associated with the Configuration bar selections.
- In the Work Spend grid of work items:
- Removed the Actual, Estimate, BVE, and BVA columns.
- Added columns for Forecasted Spend, Estimated Spend, and Accepted Spend.
- Total Budget section renamed to [Org Structure Name] Snapshot Funding.
- Displayed value now links to snapshot’s Details panel, where the organizational structure’s funding is entered.
- Portfolio(s) Summary section renamed to Portfolio Summary, with additional fields added or changed below:
- Portfolio Funding displays the sum of budgets/funding from PIs associated with the selected snapshot.
- Portfolio Cost displays the sum of all Program Costs for programs associated with the selected snapshot.
- Estimate column renamed to Funding.
- Actual column renamed to Cost.
- Page renamed to Investment vs Spend.
- Added the ability to filter by multiple PIs or a Snapshot.
- Added the ability to set theme budgets via the Set theme guardrails button, replacing the Investment by Theme page.
- Removed the ability to filter by a program.
- Removed the Extra Configs menu.
- Budget chart header renamed to PI Funding.
- Estimate chart header renamed to Estimated Spend.
- Actual chart header renamed to PI Accepted Spend.
- Added link from a theme’s name to its Details panel.
- Removed Variance columns.
- Cost column header renamed to Investment and Spend.
- Estimate column replaced with Estimated Spend.
- Actual column replaced with Accepted Spend.
- TW column renamed to Total PI Estimate.
- Points column renamed to Points Planned.
- Replaced the four pie charts at the bottom of the page with the See Investment by Feature button, which links to that report.
- Estimate column replaced with Estimated Spend.
- Actual column replaced with Accepted Spend.
- Page renamed to Funding Plan.
- Redesigned the visual layout of the page for better readability.
- Added a Total Snapshot Budget value below the snapshot dropdown, which displays the sum of all selected snapshots.
- Added Forecasted Spend column.
Misc.
- API endpoints have been created for Team Spend per Point, normalized Team Spend per Point, and normalized Program Spend per Point values.
- The term Budget has been updated to Funding in multiple locations.
- Note that the Track By setting found in team Details panels does not currently affect calculations. Financial values will always use points as a basis for calculation, even if Hours is selected in the dropdown.
- Time left displays for PIs no longer include weekend days. Displayed in the Program Room, Work Tree, and PI Details panels.
Important: API 2.0 changes (previously mentioned in 10.97.X release notes)
In an effort to match property names with the Align UI and standardize property naming conventions, we changed the properties listed below. We understand that these changes impact existing integrations, but believe the changes will significantly improve the usability of the API.
Features
- isSplit was added
- spendToDate was added
- estimateAtCompletion was added
- blocked changed to isBlocked
- ticket changed to associatedTicket
- countryIds changed to affectedCountryIds
- parentSplit changed to parentSplitId
- startDate changed to startInitiationDate
- estimateDate changed to portfolioAskDate
- targetDate changed to targetCompletionDate
- opExE changed to externalOpEx
- capExE changed to externalCapEx
- capEx changed to totalCapEx
- opEx changed to totalOpEx
- irate changed to discountRate
- initialInv changed to initialInvestment
- fyears changed to forecastYears
- bimpact changed to businessImpact
- appetit changed to riskAppetite
- fimpact changed to failureImpact
- fprob changed to failureProbability
- abilityExec changed to abilityToExec
- leanUx changed to leanUxCanvas
- createdDate changed to createDate
- categoryId changed to category
- driverId changed to businessDriver
- functionalAreaId changed to functionalArea
- lastModifiedDate was removed
- iterationId was removed
- split was removed
- featureStory was removed
- firstName was removed
- lastName was removed
- emailAddress was removed
- scenario was removed
- revenue was removed
- development was removed
- roi was removed
- targetRelease was removed
- grade was removed
- impact was removed
- solution was removed
- fileName was removed
- position was removed
- featureName was removed
- useCases was removed
- addRequirements was removed
- dropCount was removed
- rank was removed
- capacityRank was removed
- epicRank was removed
- portfolioRank was removed
- releasePortfolioRank was removed
- releaseRank was removed
- releaseGlobalRank was removed
- valueStreamRank was removed
- valueStreamReleaseRank was removed
- globalRank was removed
- methodType was removed
- pendingApprovalDateEnd was removed
- readyToStartDateEnd was removed
- inPRogressDateEnd was removed
- devCompleteDateEnd was removed
- testCompleteDateEnd was removed
- backlogType was removed
Stories
- lastUpdatedDate was added
- typeId changed to type
- automationId changed to automation
- acceptedUserId changed to acceptedBy
- split changed to parentSplitId
- droppedDate was removed
- backlogType was removed
- lastModifiedDate was removed
Tasks
- lastUpdatedDate was added
- lastUpdatedBy was added
- taskTypeId changed to task
- effortHours changed to effortHours
- lastModifiedDate was removed
Defects
- lastUpdatedDate was added
- categoryId changed to category
- areaId changed to functionalArea
- blockedChk changed to isBlocked
- blocked changed to blockedReason
- duplicateOfChk changed to isDuplicate
- reproduce changed to stepsToReproduce
- suite changed to defectSuiteId
- databaseUsed changed to database
- customerIssue changed to isCustomerIssue
- commercialize changed to isCommercialized
- pmReview changed to isPmReviewed
- affectDoc changed to isAffectingDoc
- lastModified was removed
- detectedBy was removed
- detectionDate was removed
- productType was removed
- testCaseId was removed
Portfolio Room enhancements
We've made multiple updates to both the Resources and Execution views of the Portfolio Room.
Resources view:
We’ve replaced the Theme Effort Distribution and Theme Scope charts with a new, simplified bar chart named Estimated Effort Distribution. This chart displays the distribution of estimated effort across themes planned for the PI(s) selected in the Configuration bar. 
The height of each bar and percentage displayed reflects the amount of estimated effort from child epics and stand-alone features associated with a theme, compared to the amount of all effort estimated for the portfolio and selected PI(s). This is a great way to keep a pulse on how the estimated work is broken-out.
In addition, we’ve buffed up some insights like Forecasted Program Effort %. In the grid of epics at the center of the page, you can now review the sum of all PI Estimates entered for the program from the Forecast tab of an epic’s Details panel, divided by the epic's total estimate.
Additional changes include:
- Inside the grid of epics and programs:
- Points column renamed to Story Points
- TW column renamed to Total PI Estimate
- Allocated column renamed to Forecasted Program Effort
- For each program listed in the right-hand column:
- The Capacity: X TW value was replaced with a Total Velocity: X points value, which displays the sum of all Program PI Velocities for the PI(s) selected in the configuration bar
- Load: % label renamed to Total Program PI Load: %
Execution view:
- Theme Burnup chart label renamed to Theme PI Progress
- In the Program Increment Roadmap, progress indicators for each PI have been renamed from Complete: % to Progress: %
- Inside the grid of epics, features, and capabilities:
- Points column renamed to Story Points
- TW column renamed to Estimated PI Effort
- For each PI listed in the right-hand column, a PI Progress label was added to the left of each progress bar to indicate what the bar represents
Feature Backlog WIP limits temporarily unavailable
Earlier this year, to meet demand and quickly iterate on Jira Align’s feature set, we released new functionality, Backlog Kanban Feature WIP limits, that doesn’t quite meet our bar of excellence in terms of feature capabilities. With that said, we’ve decided to temporarily roll back the feature to allow our teams the opportunity to continue to improve on it. We will release an improved version of this functionality in a future version.
Jira connector performance improvements
We’ve optimized the Jira connector performance to push data faster into Jira. This will also increase the overall sync times for both push and pull.
With these changes, you can expect to experience faster CPU usage, faster request processing, and decreased processing times.
Daily standup performance improvements
In addition to a faster Jira connector, we’ve made changes to the Daily Stand-up page to make the page load more quickly (over 50% on average!):
-
The Team Burndown chart is now cached, which means the page will only load the chart once. Previously, the chart would reload every time a new team member was displayed, which slowed the page down.
-
We’ve combined the two sections for stories into one, and optimized the SQL query to display results faster.
Defect Fixes
The list of defect fixes will be updated to reflect changes in weekly maintenance releases. You can see the contents of individual maintenance releases in the Supplemental Release Notes section.
| Key | Summary | Release Version |
| JIRAALIGN-595 | Sprints that originate on boards removed from the integration but shared across integrated boards are causing API logs to fill with errors that can be ignored | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-684 | Estimation Trend: Report needs to be enabled in more than one place for a role | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-1430 | Strategic Driver Allocation Report: Stories are counted that are not accepted in actuals reporting | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-2291 | Idea board comments duplicated | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-2658 | Epic Audit Log: We aren't capturing additional program adds or programs that get added on via the forecast tab in the audit log | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-2754 | Jira Settings: Jira Align Products dropdown is displaying "Non-breaking Space" HTML entity | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-2935 | Features page showing wrong theme when no child items are present | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-3007 | Log Changes: When changing the Rich Text Format from/to Jira Renderer, wrong message is saved on the logs | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-3018 | Searching portfolio names in ProgramGrid.asp renders a Whoops error page (Incorrect Syntax or Invalid column name) | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-3020 | Jira Align feature descriptions lack formatting | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-3053 | Edit Profile: Teams and Roles don't display all the Agile/Kanban teams | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-3067 | Epic: Capability list shows different number collapsed and expanded | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-3090 | T-shirt size doesn't get updated from the Forecasts page's allocated to estimated left arrow | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-3092 | Forecast: Page truncates the program names and team names | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-3104 | Feature Import: Modifying a feature via the export template importing empty cell for release vehicle causes the UI to NULL the previous value | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-3105 | Feature Import: Modifying a feature via the export template importing empty cell for parent epic causes the UI to NULL the previous value | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-3111 | Forecast Report: Duplicated points being added to Epic Forecast | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-3112 | Time Tracking: Timesheet Export report does not show correct "Related Item" for standalone projects | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-3119 | Duplicate teams are created for the same Jira board | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-3121 | Ideation: Manage Backlog T-Shirt sizes are duplicating | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-3125 | Duplicate T-Shirt sizing in selection list for ideas in the backlog view of Ideation portal | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-3145 | Dependency: Search Feature on dependency panel sets filters that you can't remove | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-3152 | Total Epics on Investment vs Actuals report is incorrect | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-3157 | Portfolio Room: Center grid displays work from contributing portfolios | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-3161 | Jira Connector doesn't clear the deleted boards from the list | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-3168 | Status Report: Capture Snapshot View Fields do not show full text | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-3177 | Objectives: Labeling in displayed filter options not applying platform settings | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-3180 | Portfolio Objective: When adding/removing the PI, all the program associated with the portfolio are added to the objective | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-3208 | Program Board: Filter by Tags, in Advanced Configurations option, render no effect in results shown | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-3218 | API 2.0: GET Products returns an empty list for non-superadmin users, GET Products/{id} returns 404 | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-3277 | Forecast: Page performance issue | 10.98.0 |
| JIRAALIGN-3298 | Ideation: External Ideation Users are able to create ideas on a ideation group that they are not authorized to | 10.98.0 |
