Configure Time Points

A Time Point is essentially a named milestone that has a date defining when it occurs. For example, you might have a Time Point named Beta 1 that falls on some date prior to the actual end date of the project. Work Items can be associated with a Time Point so that the developers can quickly understand where a Work Item fits in the larger time picture. Time Points also appear in the project Live Plan (in products that provide the feature) so that managers and others can see what items are planned to each one.

Time Points can be configured globally for the Repository, for project groups, and individual projects.

Create a new Time Point

  1. Log on with administrator permissions for the scope you want to configure.

  2. Enter the Administration interface.

  3. Open the project or repository in which you want to configure Time Points. (See Access Projects).

  4. In the Navigation panel, expand the Work Items node and select Time Points.

    A table appears in the top portion of the Time Points page listing all Time Points currently defined for the current scope (if any). The Detail pane shows the properties of the current selection in the table.

  5. Click Create New Time Point. A form appears where you can specify the properties of the new Time Point.

  6. Fill in the properties of the new Time Point and click Create.

Caution:

It is possible to specify the same ID for Time Points defined in different scopes. For example, you could configure a Time Point ID BETA1 for a project group (the parent scope), and configure a Time Point with the same ID but a different date in a project in that same group (the child scope). The Time Points in the project would then override those defined in the project group. However, this is not recommended practice.

If a parent Time Point is removed, or a child Time Point is created, it is necessary to clear the system caches.

Edit an existing Time Point

You may wish to edit the properties of an existing Time Point, to extend the time or mark the Time Point closed, for example.

  1. In the Administration interface, open the scope in which the Time Point is configured (Repository, project group, project) and select the Time Point in the Time Points table as described in Creating a New Time Point above.

  2. In the Time Point detail pane, change any field in place (except ID) or click Edit to put all fields into Edit mode.

  3. Click Save to save your changes.

Delete a Time Point

You can only delete a Time Point if no Work Items are associated with it in their Time Point field.

A button labeled Delete appears in the Time Point page detail pane. If any Work Items are associated with the Time Point, the Delete button is disabled and you cannot delete the Time Point.

If there were ever actually a reason to delete a Time Point after Work Items are associated (and this seems unlikely), you would need to run a query to locate all the affected Work Items, and then use Bulk Edit to remove the Time Point setting from all of them. You could then return to the Administration interface, select the Time Point as has been described, and delete it by clicking the Delete button which should then be enabled.