January 23rd, 2018 by Adam Sandman
As we're in the final countdown for the release of the latest version of SpiraTest, SpiraTeam and SpiraPlan v5.4, we are going to be highlighting some of the most important new features in this version to help you get ready for the release. Last week we discussed the new graphs and charts, so this time we shall be illustrating the new program management features in SpiraPlan v5.4. In addition, this is the first release of the new SpiraPlan that we discussed in December, it has all of the functionality of SpiraTeam, but in addition has the new program planning features.
New Program - Releases View
First up, we have added a new program view that lets you see all of the release and iterations in the program, grouped by their parent project:
This new view lets you see all of the dates and milestones for all the releases and iterations/sprints in the program. You can view and filter the releases by progress, to see all of the releases that are behind schedule, or are starting late. In addition, you can use the full range of SpiraPlan filter options to get a customized view of your entire program, from the highest level major releases, down to the individual iterations, sprints, and phases.
New Program - Incidents View
Next, we have added a consolidated program-level incidents view for the first time. This lets you see all of the incidents across the program, with the ability to filter by name, progress, sort by priority, severity, type, status and person.
This new view will be perfect for organizations working with subcontractors and third-party vendors that have their own projects in SpiraPlan, but still need to have a single, unified view of all the support and maintenance activities.
Updates to the Program Planning Board
Not to be left out, the program planning board in SpiraPlan has had some updates in v5.4 to improve usability and functionality:
We have changed the page layout to reduce the time to perform common operations. In addition, we now offer additional display options to show the requirements organized by priority for the program backlog, all projects view, and for individual projects.
Migrating to the New SpiraPlan
We have had several customers ask us what is the plan to migrate to the new SpiraPlan, and how we will we handle existing SpiraTest, SpiraTeam, and SpiraPlan customers in general. So we thought it would be good to answer that as well!
The following diagram outlines the migration plan for existing customers once the new version is released next month:
So what does this mean for you:
- Existing SpiraTest customer - there will be no changes for SpiraTest customers.
- Existing SpiraPlan customer - we will automatically switch over your subscription / product to SpiraTeam at no extra cost. You will gain access to all of the powerful quality assurance and test management features that are in SpiraTeam and were no part of the old SpiraPlan.
- Existing SpiraTeam customer - nothing will change automatically, you will still be using SpiraTeam. However the program planning board feature introduced in SpiraTeam v5.1 will be discontinued in SpiraTeam going forward, and you would need to upgrade to the new SpiraPlan to have this feature. We will be offering a promotional upgrade price to existing SpiraTeam customers that want to upgrade to the new SpiraPlan to retain access to the program planning board, and gain access to the new program management features.