Initiative Tracking Module

The initiative tracking module allows engineering leaders to make sure engineering is appropriately staffed and working on the right priorities to achieve business outcomes.

You can keep critical work on track and understand what is running behind, leveraging this visibility to make better decisions with your partners in Product and Finance.


Accessing the Initiative Tracking Module

The Initiative Tracking Module is accessible under the Initiative Tracking folder within Faros Reports. It is a premium add-on in the Faros platform. Under Dashboards > Dashboards Directory, select Faros reports. It is also accessible via the Modules drop down at the top left of the Faros application. 


Initiative Tracking Dashboards

The Initiative Tracking module is composed of four dashboards, providing views at different levels and answering different questions:

  • The Initiative Tracking Summary Dashboard gives an overview of all company initiatives, their progress and comparative investments.

  • The Initiative Tracking Detail Dashboard provides insights on a specific initiative, including progress to goal, staffing, investment to date and underlying epics

  • The Initiative Tracking Epic Details Dashboard provides insights on a particular epic, including progress to goal, staffing, investment to date, underlying work (tasks) and teams involved

  • The Initiative Tracking Team Details Dashboard gives insights on what a particular team is working on, including time spent on key initiatives and underlying epics 

We will go into detail about each one and how to set them up below.


Initiative Tracking Summary Dashboard

The Initiative Tracking Summary Dashboard provides an overview of all key initiatives for your organization, their progress and comparative investments. You can identify at a glance which initiatives are on track and which ones are at risk of being delayed or run over budget, so corrective actions can be taken.

The dashboard is structured into four primary sections: initiatives health, investment to date and divergence with goals, initiatives summary, and initiatives investment breakdown.

All metrics can be filtered by team, initiative and a specific time period. 

  • The desired team can be set using the Teams filter, and defaults to all teams. It is also possible to click on any of the team traces to drill down to a specific team

  • The desired time period is set by the Date filter at the top of the page, and defaults to the previous 3 months. 

  • By default all initiatives are shown. You can select a specific initiative or set of initiatives as desired using the Initiative dropdown menu

The Initiatives Health section provides a visualization of initiatives based on their likelihood to run overtime or over budget. It also shows investments to date, remaining budget and trends compared to the previous month.

MetricDescription
Initiatives HealthProjected outcome per initiative, based on current rate of progress. Each bubble represents an initiative. The size of the bubble is proportional to the allocated budget for that initiative. The percentage values reflect how much the actual time or budget is projected to exceed, or be lower than, planned expectations. Positive percentage values indicate over budget or time. Negative percentage values indicate on time or under budget. Large bubbles in the top right section of the chart are typically most concerning
Time Investment to DateCumulative amount of time that has been invested in all selected initiatives up to the present date and monthly trend
Remaining Dev Hours in BudgetRemaining amount of time based on allocated dev weeks. It shows how much time is left for completing development tasks within the allocated time. A negative number means being over time. 
Cost To DateTotal amount that has been invested in all selected initiatives up to the present date and monthly trend
Remaining Cost in BudgetRemaining budget. It shows now much allocated budget is left for completing development tasks within the allocated budget. A negative number means being over budget.

The Investments to Date and Divergence with Goals section shows actual investments vs budgeted for each initiative. In addition it tracks how projected delivery date and budget have deviated from what was planned for each initiative over time.

MetricDescription
Time Investment Per InitiativeActual time investment to date and allocated dev weeks per initiative. Highlights initiatives that are over time
Predicted Delays In Delivery Based On Planned DatePredicted delays in delivery for each initiative, taking into account the progression of activities over time and since from the initiative's outset and assuming a similar rate of progression moving forward. A negative number indicates an earlier than planned expected delivery
Cost Per InitiativeActual budget spent to date and allocated budget per initiative. Highlights initiatives that are over budget
Predicted Budget Overrun Based On Planned BudgetPredicted budget overrun for each initiative, based on expenditures over time, assuming a similar rate of progression moving forward. A negative number indicates a delivery expected to be under budget

 The initiatives Summary table provides details on ongoing initiatives.

MetricDescription
Initiatives TableEach row represents an initiative. For each initiative, the following information is provided: name, owner, starting date, status, how much of the underlying tasks have been completed, dev hours allocated and spent to date, number of engineers involved, budget allocated and spent to date 

The Initiatives Breakdown section provides a comparative breakdown of investments in terms of people, time and budget for each initiative.

MetricDescription
Total FTE Breakdown By InitiativeBreakdown of developers per initiative. It provides a visual representation of the number of developers involved in each initiative
FTE Count By Team Per InitiativeBreakdown of developers in each team per initiative. It helps compare the contribution of different teams to each initiative
Number Of FTEs Per Initiative Over TimeNumber of developers per initiative over time. It helps visualize resource allocation for each initiative over time and see which ones are ramping up or scaling down
Total Time (Dev Hours) Breakdown By InitiativeBreakdown of time investments per initiative. It provides a visual representation of relative time invested in each initiative
Time Spent (Dev Hours) By Teams Per InitiativeBreakdown of time investments by team and initiative. It helps compare the contribution of different teams to each initiative
Time Spent (Dev Hours) Per Initiative Over TimeTime investments per initiative over time. It helps visualize time investments for each initiative over time and see which ones are ramping up or scaling down
Total Cost Breakdown By InitiativeBreakdown of budget allocated per initiative.  It provides a visual representation of budget invested in each initiative
Cost By Teams Per InitiativeBreakdown of budget invested by team and initiative. It helps compare the contribution of different teams to each initiative
Cumulative Cost Of Initiatives Over TimeBudget invested per initiative over time. It helps visualize budget allocated for each initiative over time and see which ones are ramping up or scaling down

Initiative Tracking Detail Dashboard

The Initiative Tracking Detail Dashboard provides insights on a specific initiative and its underlying epics.You can get a quick sense of whether an initiative is on track or running behind and identify which underlying epics are causing delays and may require additional attention.

The dashboard is structured into four primary sections: initiative investment summary, initiative progress, epics health and investment by epics over time.

All metrics can be filtered by team, initiative and a specific time period. 

  • The desired team can be set using the Teams filter, and defaults to all teams. It is also possible to click on any of the team traces to drill down to a specific team

  • The desired time period is set by the Date filter at the top of the page, and defaults to the previous 3 months. 

  • By default all initiatives are shown. You can select a specific initiative or set of initiatives as desired using the Initiative dropdown menu.

The Initiative Investment Summary section summarizes how much has been invested on an initiative so far and how much is left for completion.

MetricDescription
Time Spent To DateNumber of hours spent on initiative to date and monthly trend
Remaining Dev Hours From BudgetRemaining number of hours based on allocated number of dev weeks for this initiative and monthly trend
Cost Spent To DateBudget spent to date and monthly trend
Remaining Cost From BudgetRemaining budget based on allocated budget for this initiative
Number of FTEs InvolvedTotal number of FTEs that contributed to at least one underlying task for this initiative

The Initiative Progress section provides details on progress towards completion and break down by epics, status and team.

MetricDescription
Percent Done For InitiativePercentage of the initiative’s underlying activities that have been completed to date
Percent Done By EpicsPercentage of the initiative’s underlying activities for each epic that have been completed to date
Percentage Done Over TimeCompletion rate of the underlying activities of an initiative over time
Status Breakdown Per EpicBreakdown for each underlying epic of an initiative of the status of activities for this epic 
Status Breakdown Per TeamBreakdown for each team of the status of the activities belonging to this initiative

The Epics Health section dives deeper into the health of underlying epics so you get a better sense of which ones are on track and which ones are running behind, and even more importantly how that impacts the delivery of the initiative.

MetricDescription
Projected Epics Contribution to Time and Budget OverrunsProjected contribution of each epic to time or budget overrun for this initiative. Each bubble represents an epic and its size is the allocated budget. Bubbles on the top right are epics which contribute the most to the initiative being late or over budget
Epics At Risk - Time Spent vs Work RemainingEpics that are most at risk based on time spent and work remaining. Each bubble represents an epic and its size is the total number of its underlying activities.  Bubbles on the top right are epics for which a lot of time has already been spent with a lot of work still remaining
Epic Contribution to Time OverrunBreakdown of how each epic contributes to the time overrun for the initiative, based on allocated dev hours. The taller a bar, the larger the contribution to overrun. It helps identify areas where time overrun are occurring and which may require better resource allocation and planning
Epic Contribution to Cost OverrunBreakdown of how each epic contributes to budget overrun for the initiative, based on allocated budget. The taller a bar, the larger the contribution to overrun. It helps identify areas where time overrun are occurring and which may require better resource allocation and planning

The Investment by Epics Over Time section provides a comparative breakdown of investments in terms of people, time and budget for each epic in this initiative.

MetricDescription
Number of FTEs Per MonthBreakdown of developers per epic. It provides a visual representation of the number of developers involved in each epic
Number Of FTEs Broken Down By TeamsBreakdown of developers in each team per epic. It helps compare the contribution of different teams to each epic
Number Of FTEs Over TimeNumber of developers per epic over time. It helps visualize resource allocation for each epic over time and see which ones are ramping up or scaling down
Time Spent (Dev Hours) Per MonthBreakdown of time investments per epic. It provides a visual representation of relative time invested on each epic
Time Spent (Dev Hours) Broken Down By TeamsBreakdown of time investments by team and epic. It helps compare the contribution of different teams to each epic
Activities Completed Over TimeActivities completed per epic over time. It helps visualize work being completed for each epic over time and see which ones are ramping up or scaling down
Cost Spent Per MonthBreakdown of budget allocated per epic.  It provides a visual representation of budget invested in each epic
Cost Spent Broken Down By TeamsBreakdown of budget invested by team and epic. It helps compare the contribution of different teams to each epic
Budget Spent Over TimeBudget invested per epic over time. It helps visualize budget allocated for each epic over time and see which ones are ramping up or scaling down

Initiative Tracking Epic Details Dashboard

The Initiative Tracking Epic Details Dashboard provides insights on a specific epic. It helps narrow down on what may cause an epic to run over time and budget so that corrective actions can be taken.

The dashboard is structured into four primary sections: epic investment summary, epic progress and task breakdown overview, investment on epic over time, and details of underlying tasks and most active contributors.

All metrics can be filtered by team, epic and a specific time period. 

  • The desired team can be set using the Teams filter, and defaults to all teams. It is also possible to click on any of the team traces to drill down to a specific team

  • The desired time period is set by the Date filter at the top of the page, and defaults to the previous 3 months. 

  • By default all epics are shown. You can select a specific epic or set of epics as desired using the Epic dropdown menu.

The Epic Investment Summary section summarizes how much has been invested on an epic so far and how much is left for completion.

MetricDescription
Time Spent To DateNumber of hours spent on epic to date and monthly trend
Remaining Dev Hours From BudgetRemaining number of hours based on allocated number of dev weeks for this epic and monthly trend
Cost Spent To DateBudget spent to date on epic and monthly trend
Remaining Cost From BudgetRemaining budget based on allocated budget for this epic
Number of FTEs InvolvedTotal number of FTEs that contributed to at least one underlying task for this epic

The Epic Progress and Task Breakdown Overview section provides details on progress towards completion and break down by type of tasks, status and team.

MetricDescription
Percent Done For EpicPercentage of the epic’s underlying tasks that have been completed to date
Status Breakdown of TasksBreakdown of the epic’s underlying tasks by status
Number of FTE Per MonthNumber of FTEs working on this epic each month
Type Breakdown of TasksBreakdown of the epic’s underlying tasks by type
Number Of Tasks Per Type Over TimeBreakdown of the type of tasks in the epic over time
Task Status ChartBreakdown of the status of the tasks in the epic over time
Tasks Completed Over TimeNumber of tasks in this epic completed over time
Cumulative Cost Over TimeBudget spent on this epic over time

The Investment on Epic Over Time section provides a view on time and budget spent on this epc over time as well as a view of teams contributing to this epics and their impact on time and budget overrun.

MetricDescription
Time Spent Per Month On EpicsTotal time spent on epic per month
Time Spent By Teams Over TimeTime spent on epic per month, broken down by team
Total Time Spent By TeamsTotal time spent on epic, broken down by team
Cost Spent Per Month On EpicsBudget spent on epic per month
Cost Spent By Teams Over TimeBudget spent on epic per month, broken down by team
Total Cost Spent By TeamsBudget spent on epic, broken down by team
Team Contribution to Time OverrunBreakdown of how each team contributes to the time overrun for the epic, based on allocated dev hours. The taller a bar, the larger the contribution to overrun. It helps identify teams running behind and which may require better resource allocation and planning
Team Contribution to Cost OverrunBreakdown of how each team  contributes to budget overrun for the epic, based on allocated budget. The taller a bar, the larger the contribution to overrun.  It helps identify teams running over budget and which may require better resource allocation and planning

The Details of Underlying Tasks and Most Active Contributors section provides granular information on the tasks of this epic and who is most involved.

MetricDescription
Task Level DetailsList of tasks belonging to this epic with their priority, type, status, time spent and cost
Top 5 FTEs with Maximum Tasks AssignedDevelopers who have been assigned the most task for this epic 
Top 5 FTEs with Maximum Time SpentDevelopers who have spent the most time on this epic 

Initiative Tracking Team Details Dashboard

The Initiative Tracking Team Details Dashboard provides insights on what a particular team is working on, including key initiatives and underlying epics. I can help investigate whether a team is staffed appropriately to accomplish its goals.

The dashboard is structured into four primary sections: team time investment overview, team time investments compared to other teams, team contributions to time and budget overruns and details of recent tasks and most active contributors

All metrics can be filtered by team and a specific time period. 

  • The desired team can be set using the Teams filter, and defaults to all teams. It is also possible to click on any of the team traces to drill down to a specific team

  • The desired time period is set by the Date filter at the top of the page, and defaults to the previous 3 months. 

The Team Time Investment Overview section provides visibility into the initiatives, epics and tasks a team has been working on.

MetricDescription
Time Breakdown By InitiativeTime spent broken down by initiative. This helps visualize which initiatives a team has spent most time on
Ratio Of Time Spent By Initiative Over TimeRation of time spent by initiative over time. This helps visualize which initiatives are consistently being worked on by a team and which initiatives the team is more punctually involved with 
Number Of Tasks Closed By Initiative Over TimeNumber of tasks closed by team over time and by initiative. This helps visualize which initiatives is a team ramping up on or winding down on
Time Breakdown By EpicTime spent broken down by epic. This helps visualize which epics a team has spent most time on
Ratio Of Time Spent By Epic Over TimeRation of time spent by epic over time. This helps visualize which epics are consistently being worked on by a team and which epics the team is more punctually involved with 
Number Of Tasks Closed By Epic Over TimeNumber of tasks closed by team over time and by epic. This helps visualize which epics is a team ramping up on or winding down on
Type Breakdown of TasksTasks handled by a team, broken down by type. This helps see if a team is mostly focusing on keeping the lights on and fixing bugs or working on new features
Number Of Tasks Per Type Over TimeRatio of time spent on different types of tasks over time. This helps see if a team has a healthy mix of bugs and other types of tasks and how is this mix evolving over time
Number Of Tasks Closed By Type Over TimeNumber of tasks closed by team over time and by type. This helps see if a team has a healthy mix of bugs and other types of tasks and how is this mix evolving over time

The Team Time Investments Compared to Other Teams section lets you compare the investments and key priorities of different teams.

MetricDescription
Time Spent Broken Down By Initiative Per TeamBreakdown of time spent per initiative, for each team. This is helpful to compare the investment profiles of different teams
Time Spent Broken Down By Epic Per TeamBreakdown of time spent per epic, for each team. This is helpful to compare the investment profiles of different teams
Ratio Of Tasks Per Type Per TeamBreakdown of tasks by type, for each team. This is helpful to compare the type of work handled by different teams

The Team Contributions To Time and Budget Overruns section highlights which initiatives and epics are most dependent on this team and what is the team running behind on.

MetricDescription
Team Contribution to Time Overrun By InitiativeBreakdown of how a team contributes to the time overrun of different initiatives, based on allocated dev hours. The taller a bar, the larger the contribution to the overrun. It helps identify initiatives this team is running behind on and which may require better resource allocation and planning
Team Contribution to Cost Overrun By InitiativeBreakdown of how a team contributes to the budget overrun of different initiatives, based on allocated budget. The taller a bar, the larger the contribution to the overrun. It helps identify initiatives this team is running over budget on and which may require better resource allocation and planning
Team Contributions to Time Overrun By EpicBreakdown of how a team contributes to the time overrun of different epics, based on allocated dev hours. The taller a bar, the larger the contribution to the overrun. It helps identify epics this team is running behind on and which may require better resource allocation and planning
Team Contributions to Time Overrun By EpicBreakdown of how a team contributes to the budget overrun of different epics, based on allocated budget. The taller a bar, the larger the contribution to the overrun. It helps identify epics this team is running over budget on and which may require better resource allocation and planning

The Details of Recent Tasks and Most Active Contributors section provides granular information on the tasks handled by a team and who is most involved.

MetricDescription
Recently Closed TicketsList of tasks handled by this team with their priority, type, status, time spent and cost
Top 5 FTEs with Maximum Tasks AssignedDevelopers who have been assigned the most tasks 
Top 5 FTEs with Maximum Tasks Assigned By InitiativeDevelopers who have been assigned the most tasks, broken down by initiative 
Top 5 FTEs with Maximum Tasks Assigned By EpicDevelopers who have been assigned the most tasks, broken down by epic 
Top 5 FTEs with Maximum Time SpentDevelopers who have spent the most time on tasks
Top 5 FTEs with Maximum Time Spent By InitiativeDevelopers who have spent the most time on tasks, broken down by initiative 
Top 5 FTEs with Maximum Time Spent By EpicDevelopers who have spent the most time on tasks,, broken down by epic 

Setting up the Initiative Tracking Module

The Initiative Tracking Module focuses on bringing visibility into Initiatives. Initiatives are large projects which are critical to the business. They can involve multiple teams and multiple projects. Their size and duration can vary, but typically an initiative would be large enough to be monitored at the Leadership level where they constitute the most common zoom level to report on the progress and outputs of the product and engineering organization.

In Faros, Initiatives are defined based on a filtering logic on tasks. A prerequisite for using the Initiative Tracking Module is thus to connect your Task Management System. You will then be able to create Initiatives directly in Faros as explained below.

Platform Prerequisites

The following should be set up on Faros in order to get the full functionality of the Initiatives module:

  • Task Management, TMS: Talks will be linked to a specific initiative

  • Organization and Team Members: This is needed for selecting who's the owner of the initiative and correctly linking activities to participants

Creating Initiatives in Faros

The Set up for the Initiative Tracking module is accessible under the Admin Settings > Module Setup.

Click the “New Initiative” button in the middle of the page or the “New” button on the top right, and fill the required information on the side panel. 

For each initiative you can describe the initiative (name, owner etc),  define which tasks belong to the initiative via filtering logic on tasks and input expected dev hours and budget so you can track and monitor progress over time compared to plans. 

You can edit the configuration at any time and it will be reflected in the dashboards on the next sync.

To create an Initiative, start by inputting the following information: 

NameName of the initiative
Description of initiativeDescription of the initiative
OwnerEmployee owner for the initiative
StatusEither Planned, In Progress, Completed or Canceled
Start DateDate initiative started
End DateDate initiative is expected to be completed
Allocated Budget Number of dev weeks allocated for the initiative
Average Hourly RateAverage hourly rate for the engineers working on the initiative

Next, you will need to indicate how effort is tracked on the filtered tasks by selecting one of three options:

1. Time in progress: Hours are calculated based on the amount of time the Task has been in progress

You can also indicate if you have custom statuses that do not correspond to active development time, such as “Waiting”. Time spent in these stages will not be taken into account, making the effort calculation more accurate.

2. Story Points: Hours are calculated mapping story points to hours. When selected you will also need to indicate which field on the Task stores the points and how each possible value or range of values is mapped to hours, as shown below:

3. Custom Field: Choose this option if you already have a field on Task storing effort (hours) and select which field it is:

Optionally, you can indicate the percentage of work in this initiative that can be considered R&D Work. This will be leveraged to automate R&D Cost Capitalization by the R&D Cost Capitalization Module. You can also set this value later when setting up this module.

Finally, you can use customizable filter conditions for selecting which tasks should be linked to this initiative:

Additional notes on how effort is calculated for each initiative: 

  • The “started at” value for an activity comes from the first time the task was moved to “In Progress”.

  • The “ended at” value for an activity will only be filled if the task current status is “Done” with the time the status was changed to it.

  • The “status” value for an activity is a direct mapping from the task status (Todo->Planned, InProgress->InProgress, Done->Completed)

  • The “participant” value for the activity will reference to the task last assignee (the tms_User needs to be correctly linked to an org_Employee - see Platform Prerequisites above).

  • When selecting the “Time in Progress” option, extra computation is performed to make sure time is not counted multiple times when several tasks are “in progress” in parallel. Time for overlapping tasks (for the same developer) is allocated to the first task in the overlapping tasks set that changes status after this time in common starts. We assume that is the one the developer was actually working on during that overlapping time. This way time is attributed to only one task for any given hour of the week.

  • When selecting the “Time in Progress” option, only business hours are taken into account (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm PST). Evenings and week-end hours are not counted. If you have different business hours, please contact the Faros team.