Using the Convert option

[Legacy User]

The convert option allows you to convert a feature to a capability or strategic theme. If I use this option to convert a feature to a capability, will it copy all of the information over from the feature when it converts it to a capability. I want to know because I don't want to covert a bunch of features and lose descriptions and other work in the process.

 

Thanks.

[Christian J Maldoff]

Hello Glen,

 

Thank you for posting your question.  I have included the following link which provides more information on converting Portfolio items.

 

CA Agile Central Portfolio Manager Quick Start Guide | CA Agile Central Help 

 

Existing epic story hierarchies can be converted to a portfolio. You may also bulk choose existing stories and portfolio items to add to a new hierarchy.

 

Convert user stories	Assign multiple children

Use the hierarchy apps for a way to manage hierarchies using drag-and-drop.

 

Create Roadmaps | CA Agile Central Help 

 

Convert A User Story To A Portfolio Item

You can only convert a user story's basic fields to a portfolio item of the lowest level type. The original user story remains in its original location and schedule state.

To convert a user story to a portfolio item:

1. Locate the user story you wish to convert and access its detail page.
2. Select the Actions gear menu next to the name of the portfolio item and select Convert to Portfolio Item. 

The children user stories, attachments, and discussions are moved with the parent story. Custom fields, defects, defect suites, and test cases are not converted. The original user story remains behind in the state it was in before it was converted.

User stories can have either portfolio items or other user stories as parents, but not both.

 

Note:

• If the portfolio item has any required fields other than Portfolio Item Type, you cannot convert a user story.
• If you convert a user story with children to a portfolio item, ensure all children are at the same level under the portfolio item. We do not recommend using both portfolio and user story parents in the same hierarchy.

 

 

Please let us know if you have any further questions.

 

Thank you,

 

Christian 

[Legacy User]

Glen;

 

Christian's answer is absolutely correct and I'd add that if you're converting from one portfolio item type to another then there are a couple of additional things that you should think about. Before you can convert the feature you'd have to disassociate it from any child user stories and from any parent portfolio items. If the feature in question has these associations then I think that it's easier to make a copy of the feature, promote the copy and then deal with the associations from the original feature. That way you don't need to make any special notes, etc about those associations before you commence converting.

 

Hope that helps. 

 

-Eric

[Niveditha (Nivi) Gadamchetty]

I have a question related to this topic. 
After I convert a work item (could be anything to anything, say defect to story, story to portfolio item etc), how do I find the new work item?
Say, I know a defect was converted to a story and I know the defect number. But how can I find the Story that it is now converted to?

If the name is retained, then I can find it through the search functionality. But if it is changed, then I don't know of a way to find these converted items.

Any tips/tricks/help will be appreciated!

Regards,
Nivi

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Project Coordinator
John Deere
Cedar Falls, Iowa
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[Mitch Goldman]

We convert defects to user stories and you're right, there is no link between them. We just make it a practice to add text at the top of the defect that says something like this " Converted to user story USxxxxx" and then we change the resolution drop-down in the defect to "Converted". This has been the only way that we have found to easily figure out what the new work item is post-conversion.

[Nik Antonelli]

My curiousity was piqued by this request, so I had a play....

The old version of the item is placed in the recycle bin and the title is changed to be prefixed with "(Converted to xxxx)". So it just happens that you can go to the search bar, put in "(Converted to" and then click the recycle bin tab and it tells you that the item was converted to xxxx. The unfotunate thing is that it doesn't give the full formattedID on the new item :-(

If it is just something you did recently, then this can help you locate it.

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Nik
Ask me a question, I'm All Ears!
Rally Sales Engineer
Rally Software
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[Niveditha (Nivi) Gadamchetty]

Hey Nik,

 

The defect after conversion used to be deleted. But now, the pop up says it will "not" be deleted. The defect is just moved to Closed and Resolution marked as Converted.

 

And I have items that were converted a while ago, and titles were changed. The only place where any record is available on conversion is the Revision history. But the Search functionality doesn't look through revision history.

 

So, this feels like a big crack through which all conversions just fall into and vanish.

 

Regards,

Nivi

 

[Niveditha (Nivi) Gadamchetty]

Thanks for the information Mitch.

I have been trying to manage this by entering the story number in the Discussions tab, when ever I come across these.

 

I'll try to make it a process for people to enter the IDs as soon as conversion takes place, so we don't miss any.

 

Regards,

Nivi