This groundbreaking feature allows you to synchronize your Workload Plans, Holiday Plans, Resources and Teams with their counterparts in the Tempo app of your choice! As a result of this integration, the BigPicture will allow you to access objects in your Tempo add-ons. The purpose of this article is to get into detail on how this synch-up works and how it can be used.
Tempo Apps Which Synchronize With BigPicture
Synchronization with Tempo was added to BP Enterprise with version 2.1.0. Starting with this release, BP can now integrate with any plugin mentioned below:
- Tempo Timesheets for JIRA v. 7.9 (released on 2014-05-05) and above
- Tempo Planner for JIRA v. 1.3 (released on 2014-06-11) and above
- Tempo Budgets for JIRA v. 8.0 (released on 2015-05-01) and above
Synchronization between BPE and Tempo plugins will only work if plugins are installed within the same instance of Jira environment (this applies for Jira Server as well as Jira Data Center)
What features can be synchronized?
For the time being the synchronization allows BigPicture to manage Workload Plans ( a.k.a Workload Schemes in Tempo ), Holiday Plans ( Tempo’s Holiday Schemes ), and Resources. In the near future we are planning to add synchronization between Teams and their Members, so please stay tuned!
On the following BP pages: Workload Plans, Holiday Plans and Resource Manager you may now find „Synchronize with Tempo” button. This button allows you to trigger the synchronization between BigPicture Enterprise and Tempo plugin of your choice. It is important to bear in mind that a user ‚triggers’ the synch-up. The synchronization between our plugin and Tempo plugins can now be achieved only on user’s request. It has to be ‚triggered’ manually. Automatic synchronization has not yet been implemented, yet we are planning to add it very soon.
With the new synchronization scheme, there’s a set of rules that has to be applied. To make it easier for you to understand all of them we will explain them with examples of use-cases. As these rules apply likewise to both: Workload and Holiday Plans we will explain them in one chapter. Rules of the Resource module synchronization will be mentioned in a separate chapter.
How does the Workload and Holiday Plans synchronization work?
On the screenshots above we can see a list of BigPicture’s Workload Plans (left) and list of Tempo’s Workload Schemes (right). In the BP no Workload Scheme can be seen, as we have not synchronized them yet.
Next graphics show what would happen after pressing „Synchronize with Tempo” button visible in the top-right corner of our plugin.
You've probably already noticed that in the Workload Plans which were imported from Tempo plugin - the Tempo name is now displayed. This way we can distinguish BigPicture’s native Workload Plans from the ones which were pulled from Tempo - external ones.
Also codes of these external Workload Plans were automatically generated in order to describe the external (Tempo's) WP's. These codes also have Tempo attached to their name so you cannot mistake them for our native codes.
You might have also noticed that if before the synchronization in BP and in the Tempo plugin there were two workload patterns recorded under the same name: a Workload Plan and a Workload Scheme named „Full-time”, then after we proceed with the synchronization of a Workload Scheme - a new „Full-time” Workload Plan was generated. As a result, we have two Workload Plans named: „Full-time” of which one is native and one is external. This decision was made in order to avoid any unwanted mistakes and keep our project safer. This is why we do not merge any objects and do not alter any data nor information in any of your Workload records (even if they carry the same name).
[The same rule applies to our Holiday Plans. As we’ve already mentioned both Plan types go under the same set of rules].
It is also good to note that by clicking „Synchronize with Tempo” executes a full sync-up all Tempo’s Workload Plans, meaning that it is collective. Please remember though, that synchronization performed on the Workload Plan page will ONLY perform a full sync of Workload Plans / Schemes, leaving Holiday Plans and Resources untouched for further synchronization on pages dedicated to these records (modules).
What will happen when we decide to modify Workload / Holiday Plan which has already been synchronized with BP directly from Tempo?
Will these changes be directly reflected in the BigPicture plugin?
The answer is: „No, they won’t”. And it is not and error - it is indeed a feature. A feature which intends to give a user as much control over a project, as it is possible. In order for the External Workload/Holiday plans to be synchronized correctly after changes were implemented in Tempo Schemes, you will have to use the „Synchronize with Tempo” button. This sort of behaviour may seem to be far from intuitive, though (as we’ve mentioned) it is intended in order to give you as much control over the data-flow between both plugins as it is possible. Nevertheless, we are planning to implement automatic synchronization between Tempo and BP in future. The feature naturally will allow you to decide if you’d wish for the automatic sync-up to take place or not.
As we can see on the picture above - we’ve modified one of Workload Schemes, adding „(40 hours)” part to its name.
As you can see, the change is not reflected in BigPicture. It will only appear after clicking on the „Synchronize with Tempo” button. [as seen on the picture below].
Naturally, not only Scheme Names are synchronized. Most importantly, it is daily workloads of each Workload Scheme that follow the synchronization. (Same goes for the synchronization of Holiday Plans - names as well as all fixed and floating holidays are synchronized in this case).
What will happen if you decide to modify synchronized Workload/Holiday Plan in BigPicture?
Is it even possible? Well… It is indeed, though any changes made in BigPicture will not be ever reflected in Tempo (as for now), since the „Synchronize with Tempo” button is only present in BP. Such a ‚sync-up’ button is not present in Tempo plugin, therefore we will not be able to migrate changes in our record into Tempo’s Workload Scheme.
We may modify anything we want in BigPicture, though these changes will only be reflected in our PPM plugin. This of course brings us up to the following conclussion: that the Synchronization with Tempo plugin works only in a one direction. BP is capable of reading objects in Tempo and pulling them into its own structure, though it is not capable of transferring changes back to Tempo plugin.
What is also very significant, is the fact that right after you modify and external object, which was beforehand synchronized with Tempo, it stops being ‚synchronized’ and becomes an ‚overwritten’ object. Let’s see an example in which we modify "Half-time" Workload Plan by changing its daily workloads. This is how this Workload Plan is now shown on the list:
As you can see on the screenshot above, our modification resulted in the immediate addition to the name of this Workload Plan - the „OVERWRITTEN” banner.
What does that mean? It means that from now on whenever synchronizing Workload Plans with Tempo, BP will ignore changes which we’ve made in Tempo in that specific Workload Scheme, in order for user not to lose changes made from the BP perspective. [same goes for Holiday Plans]
What will happen when we decide to delete from Tempo Workload/Holiday Scheme which is synchronized with BP? It really depends if the object which you’ve deleted was either ‚synchronized’ or ‚ovewritten’.
- If the object is marked as ‚synchronized’, then during the Synchronization with Tempo it will also be deleted from BigPicture.
- If the object is marked as ‚overwritten’ (which means, you’ve implemented some changes from the perspective of BP, which are only visible in BP), then during the following Synchronization with Tempo it WILL NOT be deleted and will become a ‚native’ object.
Below screenshots may shed some more light over the above statement:
On the picture above we've presented two external Workload Plans. One of which is synchronized and one is overwritten. Let's have a look what will happen if we delete both corresponding schemes in the Tempo, and press the "Synchronize with Tempo":
Just as we expected, the synchronized "Full-time (40 hours)" Workload Plan was automatically deleted and the overwritten "Half-time" Workload Plan has become native. What would happen if we've deleted an external Workload Plan which is pulled from Tempo? Well... The answer to this is: "This is not possible, such action is prohibited." You may have already noticed that for external Workload Plans their corresponding "Delete" buttons are simply disabled:
It isn't crucial if such an external object is 'synchronized' or 'overwritten'. It really matters that it is 'external' and BP will prevent it from being deleted. If we want it to be deleted, we need to purge it from its native environment (which in this case is Tempo).
Is it possible for the overwritten Workload / Holiday Plan to become synchronized once again? It is indeed! In order to do that, please go to overwritten Workload Plan’s details and at the top of the page you will see: „Resynchronize with Tempo” button. This button forces the plugin to once again synchronize the Workload Plan with its Tempo counterpart.
Workload and Holiday Plans synchronization rules
Type of Action Performed in Tempo | What will happen during Synchronization in BigPicture |
|---|---|
Adding Workload/Holiday Scheme | Creation of a new - external Workload/HolidayPlan with the data stored in Tempo. • Warning: An external Workload/Holdiay Plan will be generated even if a native W/H Plan is already in place in BP (with the same name and/or the same daily workloads). |
Modifying Workload/Holiday Scheme | • If corresponding Workload/Holiday Plan is synchronized, then all changes will be implemented. • If corresponding Workload/Holiday Plan is overwritten, then all changes will be ignored. |
Deleting Workload/Holiday Scheme | • If corresponding Workload/Holiday Plan is synchronized, then the Workload/Holiday Plan will be deleted. • If corresponding Workload/Holiday Plan is overwritten, then the status of that W/H Plan will be set to ‚native’. |
Type of Action Performed in BP | What will happen with the ‚external’ Workload Plans (ones which were pulled from Tempo)? |
Adding native Workload/Holiday Plan | • Nothing will happen with the external Workload/Holiday Plan. The W/H Plan will just added as a ‚native’ one. |
Adding external Workload/Holiday Plan | • Such operation cannot be performed. In BigPicture only native Workload/holiday Plans can be added and the external ones are generated only through the Synchronization with Tempo. |
Modifying native Workload/Holiday Plan | • Nothing will happen with the external Workload/Holiday Plans. The W/H Plan will just be modified and stay in the native status. |
Modifying external Workload/Holiday Plan | • If Workload/Holiday Plan is synchronized, then changes will be applied and W/H Plan will change its status to ‚overwritten’. • If Workload/Holiday Plan is overwitten, then changes will be applied without a status change. Warning: It is possible to switch ‚overwritten’ Plan back to its ‚synchronized’ state by clicking the ‚Resynchronize with Tempo’ button in detailed view of that specific W/H. |
Deleting native Workload/Holiday Plan | • Nothing will happen with the external Workload/Holiday Plans. The W/H Plan will just disappear. |
Deleting external Workload/Holiday Plan |
It is only possible by deleting the Plan from Tempo plugin! |
How does the Resource synchronization work?
Which Resource attributes are synchronized with Tempo? When synchronizing Resources, what BigPicture does is really synchronization of Resources in Workload and Holiday Plans. When it comes to Resource’s other attributes (name, surname, avatar etc.), those are being pulled directly from JIRA as both: BP and Tempo are JIRA plugins and use the same pool of information.
Resource synchronization rules
Rules which apply to Resource synchronization are a bit different from rules of Workload and Holiday Plans Synhronization, but differences are really subtle since as we’ve already mentioned, both plugins use Resource data which is predefined in the user base in JIRA and both pool the same data. This means that for both: Tempo and BP we are capable of finding the JIRA user which represents the same Resource. Below you can find a table which sums up and describes rules of Resource synhronization. Those which differ Workload an Holiday Plan synchronization from Resource synchronizarion are marked with a blue colour.
It is worth mentioning that as Resources are dependent on W&H Plans, the BigPicture performs the implicit synchronization of Workload and Holiday Plans during a Resource synchronization.
Action performed in Tempo | What will happen with the Data in BP during the synchronization? |
|---|---|
Adding a Resource | • If in BP the Resource already exists for the same user in JIRA, the the Resource will become synchronized, and its status will become synchronized with its counterpart in Tempo, meaning the Resource will be assigned to the Workload and Holiday Plan which was predefined and assigned to in Tempo plugin. • If in BP the Resource does not exist for the same JIRA user, then with data pulled from Tempo, a new external synchronized Resource will be created. |
Resource Modification | • If the corresponding Resource is synchronized, then changes will be synchronized. • If the corresponding Resource is is overwritten, then changes will be ignored. |
Deleting Resource | • The corresponding Resource changes its status to ‚native’ (regardles if it was synchronized or overwritten) |
Action performed in BigPicture | What will happen with the external Resource (coming from Tempo)? |
|---|---|
Adding a new Resource |
|
Adding an external Resource |
|
Modifying a native Resource |
|
Modifying an external Resource | • If the Resource is synchronized, then changes will be applied, and the Resource will change its status to ‚overwritten’. Warning: It is possible to switch ‚overwritten’ Resource back to its ‚synchronized’ state by clicking the ‚Resynchronize with Tempo’ button in detailed view of that specific Resource. |
Deleting a native Resource |
|
Deleting an external Resource |
|
Questions and answers
If I decide to overwrite a Workload/Holiday Plan, will that automatically overwrite Resources linked to that Workload/Holiday Plan?
You are probably wondering how would BigPicture act in case when:
- You’ve synchronized Workload Plan, Holiday Plans and Resources with Tempo which creates dependency in which in BP you have synchronized Resources which are assigned to synchronized Workload and Holiday Plans.
- You’ve modified in BP one of synchronized Workload Plans (or Holiday Plans) which made it to become ‚overwritten’.
Will that make Resources (which are linked to it) ‚overwritten’ too?
The answer is: "No." Changing status of W/H Plans from synchronized to overwritten will not affect Resources assigned to them. It is possible then to have synchronized Resource that is assigned to overwritten Workload / Holiday Plan.