View portfolio dependencies

Available in 23.4 and later versions

Understanding the dependencies associated with portfolio backlog items helps portfolio managers enhance prioritization and scheduling decisions.

Overview

A portfolio backlog item can have relationships with:

  • Other portfolio backlog items
  • Other entities, including requests, projects, programs, and project tasks. These entities are defined as references of the backlog item. For details, see Add references to requests.

The relationships between the entities include:

  • Informational. The two entities are related to each other.
  • Predecessor. Action is not allowed on one entity until the referenced entity closes.
  • Successor. Action is not allowed on a referenced entity until the entity closes.
  • Finish/Finish predecessor. The two entities must complete at the same time.

These relationships are considered in portfolio dependencies, and viewable from the following tabs:

  • Dependency tab. Shows dependencies associated with all backlog items in a portfolio.
  • Backlog tab. Shows dependencies for each portfolio backlog item.

Back to top

View dependencies from Dependency tab

You can view dependencies associated with all backlog items in a portfolio from the Dependency tab.

Note: To show the Dependency tab in a portfolio, you must enable it. For details, see Set up portfolio tabs.

View dependencies

The Dependency tab shows the dependency information as follows:

Action Details

Upon initial access

When accessed for the first time, the Dependency tab provides an overview of dependencies at the portfolio level.

  • Blue card. Represents the current portfolio.
  • White cards. Represent the entities having a dependency relationship with the portfolio backlog items.
  • Blue lines. Represent a dependency relationship between the connected entities.
  • Gray lines. Represent a parent child relationship between the connected entities.
Click the current portfolio

By clicking the current portfolio, all direct entities included in the portfolio are displayed, connected to the current portfolio by gray lines.

  • Blue card. Represents the current portfolio.
  • White cards. Represent the entities directly included in the portfolio and entities having a dependency relationship with the portfolio backlog items.
  • Blue lines. Represent a dependency relationship between the connected entities.
  • Gray lines. Represent a parent child relationship between the connected entities.

Note: When a proposal in a portfolio becomes a project, and a project becomes an asset, the original proposal and original project are excluded from the portfolio. However, they are shown as a linked item to the corresponding project or asset in the Dependency tab.
Expand all

By clicking the Expand All button, all lifecycle entities in the portfolio, including those within sub-portfolios and programs at all levels, are displayed.

  • Blue card. Represents the current portfolio.
  • White cards. Represent the backlog items included in the portfolio and entities having a dependency relationship with the portfolio backlog items.
  • Blue lines. Represent a dependency relationship between the connected entities.
  • Gray lines. Represent a parent child relationship between the connected entities.

View different parts of the chart

To view different parts of the chart, drag the chart and zoom in or out using the zoom button. Click to show the entire chart on the screen.

Search for and open an entity

To search for a specific entity by its name or entity ID, use the Search button. Only the entities displayed on the screen can be searched.

To open the details page of an entity, click the entity ID on the card.

Back to top

View dependencies from Backlog tab

You can view the dependencies for each portfolio backlog item from the Backlog tab.

To view dependencies in Backlog tab:

  1. Open a portfolio's Backlog tab.

  2. Select the Plain List or Hierarchy view.

    Portfolio backlog items in a dependency relationship are marked with a dependency icon in the Has Dependencies column.

  3. To view which entities have a dependency relationship with a particular portfolio backlog item, check the following columns in the backlog item:

    Column Description
    Dependencies

    Hover over the Dependencies column of a backlog item, entities having a dependency relationship with the backlog item are listed. Clicking an entity name redirects you to its details page.

    Has Dependencies

    In the Has Dependencies column of a portfolio backlog item, click the Show dependencies button to open the Dependencies map.

    Entities in a dependency relationship with the backlog item are displayed as cards, connected to the backlog item by blue lines.

Back to top

See also: