Skip to main content

Release Planning Overview

The Release Planning feature in Digital.ai Agility helps teams plan, manage, and track releases across multiple projects. Release Planning provides a centralized view where release managers, program managers, and administrators can define releases, assign work items, and monitor progress.

This capability is built on the Rooms 2.0 architecture, ensuring seamless navigation and interaction between release and work item management. The Release Planning board can be used by authorized users once the feature is enabled in the system configuration.

Release Field Integration​

With Release Planning enabled, you can associate Stories, Defects, and Portfolio Items with releases in multiple ways:

  • From Release Planning Board: Add work items directly within the release planning interface
  • From Asset Details Pages: Use the Release field in Story, Defect, and Portfolio Item details to select releases
  • Inline Editing: Update release associations directly in grid views
  • Filter by Release: Filter portfolio items by Portfolio Item Release directly from the portfolio item list page
  • My Recent Changes: Track all release field modifications in your activity feed

The Release field displays releases in "Value Stream Name - Release Name" format for easy identification and selection. For portfolio items, the Release field appears after the Owners field in the Asset Details page.

How to Access Release Planning in Agility​

  1. Log in to Agility, click the hamburger menu > Release Planning

The Release Planning page is displayed with the Value Streams. If no value streams are configured, a splash page is displayed with a prompt to Create a New Value Stream.

Value Stream​

A Value Stream in Release Planning is a logical grouping of work that reflects how value flows through an organization. It connects strategy to execution by linking initiatives, releases, and work items that contribute to a common business objective.

In simpler terms, a value stream helps teams visualize and manage all the work items (such as features, stories, and defects) that collectively deliver value to the customer in a specific business area or product line.

Purpose of Value Stream in Release Planning​

In Agility, a Value Stream acts as the top-level container for release planning. It helps you:

  • Organize related releases under a single business goal.
  • Align multiple teams working on the same strategic initiative.
  • Visualize the flow of work from planning to delivery.
  • Track progress across releases within a common context.

Example​

For instance, a company has two major product lines:

  • Mobile Applications and
  • Web Platform

Each product line can be managed as a separate Value Stream. Within each Value Stream, multiple releases (for example, Q1 Release, Q2 Release) are created, and the teams assign features or stories to these releases.

Creating a Value Stream​

A Value Stream in Release Planning is a logical grouping of work that reflects how value flows through an organization. It connects strategy to execution by linking initiatives, releases, and work items that contribute to a common business objective.

  1. Log in to Agility, click the hamburger menu > Release Planning
  2. On the Create Value Stream page, click Add Value Stream.
  3. Enter a Name for the Value Stream.
  4. Click Save.

Once created, the value stream will appear in the Release Planning list.

note

A value stream must exist before you can plan releases.

Show Closed Items​

The Show closed items toggle allows you to view closed work items (Epics, Stories, and Defects) within the Release Planning Board. This feature helps you maintain a complete historical view of all planned items for each release, including those completed in past sprints.

How to View Closed Work Items​

  1. Navigate to the Release Planning Board.
  2. Locate the Show closed items toggle in the upper-right corner of the board.
  3. Click the toggle to enable it.

Result: Closed work items appear in their respective release columns with a "Closed" status indicator. Closed items from both portfolio items (Epics) and backlog items (Stories and Defects) are now visible.

note

Closed work items are displayed for viewing only. You cannot move or drag-and-drop closed items between releases.

Benefits of Closed Item Visibility​

Complete release history: See all planned items for each release, including completed work from past sprints

  • Complete release history: See all planned items for each release, including completed work from past sprints
  • Scope alignment: Verify that all planned work items were completed as intended for each release
  • Planning reference: Use historical data to inform future release planning decisions

Backlog​

The Backlog section lists all unassigned work items such as Stories and Defects that are not yet part of any release.

  • You can browse, filter, or search for specific items using the Backlog Search feature.