Configure Planning

1. Log in with administrator permissions for the scope you want to configure (repository or project).

2. Enter the Administration interface (click Administration in the tool view of Navigation).

3. If making a global configuration, select Repository in the Open Project or Project Group dialog box. If making a project configuration, navigate to and select the Project in the Open Project or Project Group dialog box. (See Access Projects.)

4. In the Navigation pane, expand Work Items and select Live Plan. The Planning page loads in your browser.

5. Set the field values as desired and click Save to save your changes. Refer to the Quick Help text on the page for information about the fields.

There is a per-project option in the Planning configuration, Enable Work Item Splitting, that defines whether Work Items in a project can be split for project planning purposes. The option is enabled by default.

If enabled, then when Polarion searches for a space for a Work Item in the project plan, it may decide to split the Work Item into two or more pieces and thus make use of periods of time before the Work Item is fixed or postponed by a planning constraint. The resulting plan is more optimal in terms of priorities. This approach ensures that dependencies are handled.

The Live Plan visualization shows both split and nested Work Items.

The Enable Due Date Planning option controls the way in which the project planning engine processes and renders the due date of Work Items in the Live Plan. The option is disabled by default, and is available in the global scope only. Enabling the option has the following effect:

• Due date will be considered a suggestion for planning, not rule, meaning that it is considered by the planning engine when determining the order of items in the plan, but the produced plan can still violate the due date constraint -- which will always be indicated in the Live Plan visualization and Due Date column in the Table view of Work Items.

• When determining a Work Item's best order based on due dates, any item that has a due date defined, including those having a Time Point (see note below) will take precedence before any Work Item that does not have such date or Time Point defined. This implies that good practice is providing due dates (or Time Points) for all items when this option is turned on. Items without a due date are automatically penalized regardless of their priority.

• Items without a due date specified inherit the due date from their parent, if it can be determined. As such this makes an exception/correction to point 2 above. A due date defined at the child item always takes precedence, regardless of whether it is later or earlier than the parent due date.