Track Increment Progress
Increment Tracking provides visibility into consolidated progress across teams and forecasts completion based on actual delivery history. Use these views to understand the big picture for your increment, seeing progress not just at the backlog level but in the context of feature completion as well.
Permission requirement: Viewing increment tracking requires read access to projects, increments, teams, and work items in scope. Accessing velocity trend reports requires read access to sprint data. Using the Program Board requires read access to program increments and cross-team dependencies.
Who Tracks Increment Progress
Increment tracking supports delivery monitoring and forecasting:
- Product Owners monitor consolidated progress across teams and see how progress projects out for the remainder of the increment using velocity trends.
- Scrum Masters understand team overall progress and velocity trends to identify delivery patterns and adjust sprint planning accordingly.
- Portfolio Managers track feature-level completion and identify cross-team dependencies using the Program Board to spot delivery risks.
- Program Managers (central planners) monitor consolidated progress across multiple teams and assess whether features are on track for increment deadlines.
Key Capabilities
Increment Tracking enables you to:
- Monitor consolidated progress: View progress across all teams working on the increment
- Track feature completion: See progress at the portfolio item level, not just individual work items
- Forecast delivery: Project completion dates based on team velocity and historical data
- Identify delivery risks: Spot features at risk of missing increment deadlines
- Analyze velocity trends: Understand team capacity and delivery patterns over time
How Increment Tracking Works
As an increment progresses, Increment Tracking helps:
- Teams: Understand their overall progress and velocity trends
- Central planners: Monitor consolidated progress across multiple teams
- Product owners: See how progress projects out for the remainder of the increment
- Portfolio managers: Track feature-level completion and identify cross-team dependencies
The views in Increment Tracking provide context for understanding not just whether individual work items are complete, but whether the features they support are on track for delivery.
Available Tracking Features
Increment Forecasting
Project completion dates using optimistic, pessimistic, and average velocity calculations based on historical data. Perform what-if scenarios to adjust planning assumptions.
See Forecast Increment Completion for detailed instructions.
Program Board
Visualize cross-team dependencies and feature delivery timelines across iterations. Identify which teams are delivering work for specific features and when they'll be delivered.
See Use the Program Board for detailed instructions.
Velocity Trend Reports
Analyze team velocity over time to identify patterns and forecast capacity for future increments.
Increment Burndown Reports
Track remaining work throughout the increment to assess whether the team is on pace to complete planned work.
See Project or Increment Burndown Report for details.
Access Increment Tracking
To access Increment Tracking features:
- Click the hamburger menu
> Increment > select a tracking feature:
- Increment Forecasting
- Program Board (under Release menu)
- Select a project or increment from the Project Navigator.
- Review progress indicators, velocity trends, and delivery forecasts.
Result: You can monitor increment health, identify delivery risks, and make data-driven planning decisions.
Monitor Increment Health
Use Increment Tracking to identify:
- Velocity trends: Is team velocity increasing, decreasing, or stable?
- Forecast accuracy: Are projected completion dates aligned with increment end dates?
- Feature delivery: Are features completing on schedule or slipping?
- Cross-team dependencies: Are dependencies being completed in the right order?
- Capacity issues: Are teams over or under-allocated?
Troubleshooting
Why don't I see forecasting data?
Increment Forecasting requires historical velocity data from closed sprints with completed work. If your team is new or recently started tracking velocity, run several sprints with estimated and completed work to establish baseline data for forecasting.
Why doesn't the Program Board show my features?
The Program Board displays portfolio items (epics, features) scheduled to increments. Verify that: (1) Portfolio items are created and assigned to your project, (2) Portfolio items are scheduled to specific iterations, (3) You have read access to the projects containing the portfolio items.
Why are my velocity trend graphs empty?
Velocity trends require: (1) Closed sprints with completed work, (2) Work items with estimates (points or hours), (3) Work items marked as Done/Complete. Ensure your team consistently estimates work, closes sprints, and updates work item status to Done.
Can I track increments without using sprints?
Yes. Increment Tracking works at both increment and sprint levels. If your team doesn't use sprints, you can still use increment-level burndown reports and forecasting by tracking work items directly in increments without sprint assignments.