The Sprint Budget Chart maps how a team consumes its budget over the length of the sprint relative to the planned budget consumption calculated by ScrumEdge. This chart is based on three variables, the Planned Budget, Budget Used and Actual Completed.
Planned Budget
Once sprint planning is complete and tasks have been assigned to Team Members, ScrumEdge calculates the Planned Budget by assigning a percentage value to each day of the sprint.
Planned Budget:
Planned Budget = Previous Day’s Planned Budget + (100 / Total Days in Sprint)
Example: If a team is working on a 10 day sprint their Planned Budget value will be calculated as follows:
Day 1: 0% + (100 / 10) = 10%
Day 2: 10% + (100 / 10) = 20%
Day 3: 20% + (100 / 10) = 30%
…
Day 10: 90% + (100 / 10) = 100%
Budget Used
The Budget Used line shows what percentage of the the planned budget a team member has used. It is calculated every day by dividing the total number of hours burnt till that day by the total number of hours estimated in the sprint.
Budget Used (Whole Team):
Budget Used = (Total Team Hours Burnt till this Day/ Total Team Hours Estimated in Sprint) * 100
Budget Used (Team Member):
Budget Used = (Total Member Hours Burnt till this Day / Total Member Hours Estimated in Sprint) * 100
Example: If a 2 team plans a sprint where their total task estimates are 100 and burns a total of 12 hours on the first day, and 15 hours on the second day their Budget Used for the first two days will be as follows:
Day 1: (12 / 100) * 100 = 12%
Day 2: (27 / 100) * 100 = 27%
Actual Completed
The Actual Completed line shows the percentage of actual work that is completed in the sprint and is calculated only when a task is completed. The Actual Completed is calculated by dividing the total estimates for completed tasks by the total number of hours that are estimated in the sprint.
Actual Completed (Whole Team):
Actual Completed = (Total Task Estimates for Completed Tasks/ Total Hours Estimated in Sprint) * 100
Actual Completed (Team Member):
Actual Completed = (Total Task Estimates for Completed Tasks for Member/ Total Member Hours Estimated in Sprint) * 100
Example: A team plans a 100 hour, 10 day sprint. 1 task with estimates equaling 7 hours is completed on Day 2 and another with estimates equaling 3 hours on Day 3. On Day 4 a task with estimates equaling 12 hours is complete. The Actual Burn for this sprint would be calculated as follows:
Day 1: (0 / 100) * 100 = 0%
Day 2: (7 / 100) * 100 = 7%
Day 3: (10 / 100) * 100 = 10%
Day 4: (22 / 100) * 100 = 22%
Analyzing the Budget Chart
If used properly the Budget Chart can be a powerful tool. During the course of a sprint, the ScrumMaster can use the Budget Chart to see how much of the plan budget their team uses every day and how much actual work is completed based against the team’s budget consumption.
If the Budget Used line goes over the Planned Budget line, the ScrumMaster should immediately recognize that the team is taking longer to complete tasks than they had estimated. However, this does not mean that the sprint is headed for disaster. It is normal for team members to go over their estimates from time to time. A good ScrumMaster should investigate further to see if this could actually a problem later on in the sprint.
The Actual Completed line is an important indicator of how much work is actually being completed through the sprint. There may be a case that the Budget Used and Planned Budget lines match up perfectly but the Actual Completed line hovers at 0%. This would indicate that the team is using up the time they had planned to spend on tasks, but not actually completing any tasks. It is normal for the Actual Completed line to hover close 0% at the start of the sprint and pick up as the sprint moves forward and tasks are completed.
It is important for ScrumMasters to understand these trends and facilitate the team members in completing committed tasks.
