Dragonboat provides a suite of 5 products (apps) on the AI powered strategic portfolio management platform to manage your entire Product Operating Model.
This guide covers how to:
- Set up your Product Operating Model data structure
- Set up portfolio item edit screen layout
- Set up users and permissions
- Set up commonly used views
- Communicate with Editors
Set up Product Operating Model
💥 Best practice on how to set up product operating model
Product operating model includes key data objects e.g. Goals, Intake/ Ideas, Product hierarchy, Portfolio roadmap items, work items, Resources and processes and cadences (aka PDLC).
More details on Product Operating Model
As an admin, you can set up the portfolio structure in 3 steps: Map your product operating model with Dragonboat data model and Customize Terms, Import Data, and Align Roadmap.
Additionally, you can customise the Portfolio Item screen by hierarchy.
1. Customize Terminologies to fit your product operating taxonomy
As an admin, you can review and customize terms on the Settings page. Here is a brief rundown of the Dragonboat terminology often encountered in our modules, which you can modify to match your organization:
- Intake / Requests: These pertain to the inputs for portfolio items. The term 'Requests' can be relabeled as opportunities, feedback, ideas, requests, or insights.
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Portfolio Items:
- Idea: This typically involves an effort span of weeks or months. This is sometimes referred to as epic, feature, project, pebble, etc.
- Initiative: Portfolio item with a timeline that varies from months to quarters. This is sometimes referred to as program, master epic, master feature, portfolio item, rock.
- Bet: Portfolio item that is usually planned for quarters or up to a year. Please note, 'Bet' is exclusively available for Enterprise+ plans. This is sometimes referred to as a big rock, strategic program, strategic initiative.
- For more details, please consult the article Portfolio item hierarchy in Dragonboat.
- Objectives: Objectives are goals of various levels that constitute a hierarchy. They can have various progress calculations, metrics and initiatives associated with them. These can have up to 3 levels. For more details, please consult the article Integrate Objectives and Portfolio Items.
- Roadmaps/ aka Product structure: This typically corresponds to product line >> product areas, or portfolio >> products, or business unit >> products >> areas.
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Timeframe: This could either follow a Lean roadmap model (for instance: Now, Next, Later) or utilize other labels like quarters.
When creating a new timeframe in your Settings page, Dragonboat will automatically generate start and end dates based on the title of your timeframe.
When timeframe dates are set via integration (Fix Version or Sprint) or via AI, the L1 and L2 timeframes will be auto-nested.
Tip: Your organization may have different terms to organize / categorize initiatives. Change grouping terminology under the global settings icon on the top menu to match your internal vocabulary. This way your stakeholders won't need to learn new terms to enjoy your communication.
2. Import (sample) Data & validate mapping in dashboards and built in- views
Add or Import Portfolio Items from your current tools or spreadsheets:
- Copy & Paste from the spreadsheets you're already using to track your roadmaps
- Import from a CSV file
- Integrate with Jira (or other workflow tools) & Import portfolio items.
Tip: Check out the field mapping guide to best organize and communicate your roadmaps to turn on this feature.
Customize the Portfolio and Intake Edit Screens
As an admin, you can tailor the Portfolio item screen, by modifying the arrangement of fields, and/or hiding specific fields as needed.
To standardise the view for all users, you can set the screen configuration at hierarchy level (e.g. Bet, Initiative, and Idea). Any changes will be implemented for all items of that hierarchy, for existing and new entries.
Best Practice: Move less critical fields to the lower section of the screen. It's important to note that custom fields, if archived, will not be shown by default.
Setting Required Fields
As an admin, you can ensure data integrity and reduce user errors, by setting 'required' fields in any Portfolio Item edit screen. If another user simply opens and closes an epic/portfolio item, required fields will not be enforced.
Here is how to set the fields as required:
- Within the Portfolio Item edit screen, select 3 dots > ‘Configure layout’.
- Check the box next to the field you want to be set as required.
- All required fields will be shown above the line, ensuring no mandatory field is hidden.
- When creating or editing a portfolio item, required fields will be clearly marked with a red star and highlighted with a light pink shade, if they are left empty. If a user tries to close or click away without completing these fields, a pop-up will remind them to fill out all required fields or cancel their changes.
- For items created from import, editors or admins will be prompted to enter values.
- Different mandatory field configurations are required for each hierarchy level.
Setting Data for Propagation between Hierarchy levels
As an admin, you can set which fields should be automatically propagated from the parent to the child portfolio item at each level, by selecting the down arrow. Editors and Read-Only users can view, but cannot modify, the propagation rules set by the Admin. The following rules apply:
- Creating a new item: If a parent item is selected, only empty values will be propagated. Existing values will not be overwritten.
- Unlinking item from parent: If an item is unlinked from a parent, propagated values will remain intact.
- Linking to a new parent: If an existing child item is linked to a new parent, the values from the new parent will be propagated.
- Editing linked child item: When an idea linked to a parent is edited, values will not be propagated.
- Importing: Propagation will not occur during an import process.
- Linking Directly to Idea from Bet: If an item is linked directly to an idea from bet, values will also propagate.
Set up users and permissions
To getting your team integrated into the platform, you can import and edit users in bulk. 'Resource users' (those without access rights) can also be included in the user tab.
By default, Editors are not granted access to settings data. Read-only users are limited to access only the Request, Portfolio, and Dashboard sections.
For a more detailed understanding of user permission levels, refer to our user permission guide. To adjust editor access level for your account, contact our Customer team.
Communicate with Editors
As an Admin, you can create and edit announcements and user guide links, to be read by Editor users. You can access this area through the Dragonboat icon in the top left corner.
Using the Announcements Feature:
- Creating Announcements: In the platform's settings, Owner and Admin users can compose and publish concise announcements to be shown to Editors.
- Managing Announcements: Admins have the flexibility to create, edit, or delete announcements as needed, ensuring the most relevant and time-sensitive information is displayed.
- Editors' Perspective: Editors simply log in to the platform and view the home page to see new announcements. Closing announcements (‘x’) as they are read is a best practice to keep the home page organized.
Publishing the User Guide
As an Admin, you can easily publish and update the User Guide for Editors within the platform. This User guide, accessible through a simple link, serves as a comprehensive resource to help Editors navigate and utilize the platform effectively. You can link it to Dragonboat’s Quick Start Guide for Editors article, or add your company’s onboarding deck.