ScrumEdge 2.0 Released

We are pleased to announce that ScrumEdge 2.0 is release today. We have added many new features in this release and resolved some issues reported by our users. Some of the major changes in this release are listed below.

New intuitive Setup Wizard

We have done away with the old Setup Wizard and built a new one from scratch. The new Setup Wizard is easier to use and has write ups for each step to assist users. Check out the demo video for the Setup Wizard to find out more.

ScrumMasters can be assigned tasks on sprints

ScrumEdge now allows ScrumMasters to be assigned to tasks in a sprint. When ScrumMasters sign in they should see a ‘Sprint' Log’ tab on their Dashboard. If they are assigned any tasks on the current sprint they should be able to report their effort on each task under the ‘Sprint Log’ tab.

New Team Member dashboard

We have changed the dashboard for Team Members so they can view charts for any sprint assigned to the project they are working on. This will allow Team Members to view a project’s details from the very beginning.

Ability to zoom charts on the dashboard

All ScrumEdge users can now zoom any chart on their dashboard. This feature is particularly useful for teams with long sprint durations.

Interface Updates

We have updated the way projects, sprints, stories, users, tasks, issues and retrospectives are added and modified. In ScrumEdge beta all additions and modifications were made through pop-up dialogs and many users reported issues when using IE 7 and IE 8. ScrumEdge 2.0 no longer uses pop-up dialogues. Check out the demo video for the Tasks page to see the new addition and modification mechanism

More AJAX – Faster Processing

ScrumEdge 2.0 uses a lot more AJAX so you will see very few post backs. This has made processing faster and should improve the overall user experience.

Take ScrumEdge 2.0 for a test drive and let us know what you think. We always encourage user feedback as it helps us make ScrumEdge a better online scrum management tool for you. You can send us your feedback at info@scrumedge.com or from our ScrumEdge Feedback page.

Coming Soon: ScrumEdge 2.0

ScrumEdge 2.0 is set to launch on November 25, 2009. In this new version we have added some new features requested by ScrumEdge users and removed issues reported by others.

New Features

• New intuitive Setup Wizard
• ScrumMasters can be assigned tasks on sprints
• ScrumMasters working on a sprint can report their time on the sprint log
• New Team Member dashboard
• Ability to zoom charts on the dashboard

Issues Resolved

• IE8 issues when trying to edit stories
• IE8 issues when trying to edit journals
• Old markup editor replaced with a new one

The Sign Up Process Explained

Who should sign up?

Only ScrumMasters are required to sign up for ScrumEdge. When a ScrumMaster signs up, they are set up as Administrators for their company’s ScrumEdge account. Administrators can add as many team members and other ScrumMasters as their plan allows. The basic plan available to all users allows Administrators to add up to 5 users.

What should team members do?

If you are a team member and would like to sign up, simply contact your ScrumEdge Administrator so they can add you to their ScrumEdge account as a team member.

How to find out who your ScrumEdge Administrator is

To find out who your ScrumEdge Administrator is, click on the Sign Up button on the main page to bring up the Sign Up window. Type in your company name in the selection box to see if it already exists. If you can’t find your company name in this selection box, then you don’t have a ScrumEdge Administrator yet. At this time you may sign up as your company’s ScrumEdge Administrator.

If you company name exists in the selection box, simply fill in the rest of the fields and click the Sign Up button. This will send your ScrumEdge Administrator an email with your sign up request. Once your ScrumEdge Administrator adds you as a new user, you should receive a confirmation email.

How does the ScrumEdge Administrator add a team member?

ScrumEdge Administrators can add new users, both ScrumMasters and Team Members, from the Users page. Details about adding users can be found on the ScrumEdge Help Topics page under the Users label.

Backlog Effort Section

We have added a new section called ‘Backlog Effort’ under the Product Backlog tab. This section displays the following information:

• Total stories in the Product Backlog
• Pending stories in the Product Backlog
• In Progress stories in the Product Backlog
• Complete stories in the Product Backlog

This information is also displayed in a pie chart.

Stakeholder Role Added

Some users recently asked that we add a new role for Stakeholders. This role has now been introduced in ScrumEdge.

How this role works

Stakeholders can't change any project or sprint related information. The purpose of introducing this role is to allow stakeholders to view all project and sprint related information, in the interest of transparency.

Stakeholders can view the following in ScrumEdge:

• Burndown Charts
• Burn Rate Charts
• Budget Charts
• Upcoming Demos
• The issue log
• Product backlogs
• Sprint logs
• Sprint retrospectives
• The ScrumEdge Community

Assigning Tasks to ScrumMasters

ScrumEdge now allows tasks to be assigned to ScrumMasters. Many users had requested this feature as their ScrumMasters work on actual tasks through the course of a sprint.

Before you can assign tasks to a ScrumMaster, you will first have to add them to a Scrum Team. The following steps will help you do so:

• Click on the Projects link on the left to bring up the Projects page
• Click theicon next to the Project you want to add the ScrumMaster as a team member to bring up the Edit Project window
• Add the ScrumMaster to your Scrum Team and click the Update button

Once you have followed these steps, you should be able to assign sprint tasks to the ScrumMaster.