6th Sense Analytics User Guide

6th Sense Analytics is the inspiration of software professionals who need to know how software development time and efforts are actually spent. The information is essential for understanding personal and team productivity as well as for planning, tracking, and managing software development projects. The 6th Sense Analytics system offers benefits for developers, project managers, and IT executives:

As a developer, you can find out how you actually spend your days and when you are most productive. You can improve your understanding of your actual development practices. 6th Sense Analytics enables you to benchmark yourself against other developers. Personal reports give you effective tools to communicate with your management.

As a project manager, you can plan projects and track them using actual development effort data. You can measure the progress of each system your team is developing throughout its lifetime, spotting issues before they result in costly overruns or delays. You can use collected team data to scope out new contracts. Analytic reports give you insight to promote persistent best practices and re-use.

As an IT executive, you can monitor progress on strategic systems and leverage the resources necessary to keep those systems on track. With analytic reports, you can make quantifiable planning and resourcing commitments to ensure that your software products are delivered on time, in budget, and with the required features.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
    1. Quickstart for Managers
    2. Quickstart for Developers
    3. Navigating 6th Sense Analytics
      1. Your 6th Sense Home Page
      2. Understanding Page Organization
      3. About Workspaces
      4. Viewing Reports
      5. Viewing Settings
      6. Exploring 6th Desktop
  2. Logging Time with 6th Desktop
    1. Installing 6th Desktop
      1. Downloading and Running the Installer
      2. Choosing an Install Set
      3. Configuring a Proxy
      4. Uninstalling 6th Desktop
    2. Running 6th Desktop
      1. Launching 6th Desktop
      2. 6th Desktop Features
      3. Securing Desktop-to-Server Communications
      4. Responding to Alerts (Windows systems only)
    3. Working Behind a Firewall
    4. Managing Sensors
      1. About Sensors
      2. Viewing Your Sensors
      3. Finding and Downloading Sensors
      4. Installing Downloaded Sensors
      5. Uninstalling and Removing Sensors
      6. Installing Build Sensors
    5. Updating 6th Desktop Components
    6. Controlling Data Collection
      1. Setting the Data Collection Mode
      2. Auditing and Reviewing Data
      3. Excluding Data
    7. Configuring Browser Sensors
    8. Using the Windows Sensor
    9. Gathering Enterprise-Level Information
      1. About Enterprise Sensors
      2. Enabling and Installing Enterprise Sensors
      3. Creating Run Tasks
      4. Scheduling Runs
  3. Understanding Data Metrics
    1. Sources of Development Activity Data
    2. Active Time vs. Flow Time
    3. Refining Flow Time Metrics
    4. Refining Active Time Metrics
    5. Relating Active Time to Change Requests
    6. About Users
    7. About Time Intervals and Time Units
  4. Establishing Settings
    1. About Settings
    2. About Permissions
    3. Determining Personal Settings
      1. Viewing and Editing Your Personal Information
      2. Monitoring 6th Desktop Installations
      3. Viewing 6th Desktop Installation Details
      4. Auditing Activity Data
      5. Scheduling Inactivity Alerts
      6. Viewing and Granting Permissions
    4. Managing Teams
      1. About Teams
      2. Opening Teams Settings
      3. Viewing Inactive Users and Deactivated Users
      4. Searching for Teams and Users
      5. Accessing Personal Settings of Team Members
      6. Granting Team-Based Permissions
      7. Renaming Teams and Changing Team Leaders
      8. Moving Teams and Team Members
      9. Adding Teams and Team Members
      10. Removing Teams and Team Members
    5. Attributing Active Time to Categories, Systems, and Projects
      1. About Categories, Systems, and Projects
      2. Default Categories and Systems
      3. Permissions on Categories, Systems, and Projects
      4. Working with Attribution Rules
        1. About Attribution Rules
        2. Creating Attribution Rules
        3. Specifying File/URL Filters
        4. Understanding Attribution Rule Status
        5. Committing Rule Changes
      5. Creating and Deleting Categories and Systems
    6. Changing Sensor Settings
      1. Viewing Enterprise Systems and Removing Obsolete Systems
      2. Editing Settings for Change Request Sensor Data
      3. Working with Usermaps
  5. Generating Reports
    1. Report Basics
    2. Choosing Workspaces
    3. Changing Your Workspace Quicklist
    4. Setting Time Intervals
    5. Sharing Dynamic Charts and Tables
    6. Emailing Reports
    7. Saving Reports as PDF Documents
    8. Creating Custom Reports
      1. Creating a Blank Report
      2. Choosing a Time Interval
      3. Adding Charts and Tables to Custom Reports
      4. Modifying and Removing Custom Reports
  6. Working with Personal Reports
    1. Benchmarking Reports
    2. Personal Time Trends Reports
      1. Personal Time Trends: Top 15 Categories by Active Time
      2. Personal Time Trends: Top 15 Projects by Active Time
      3. Personal Time Trends: Top 15 Systems by Active Time
      4. Personal Time Trends: Top 15 Tools by Active Time
      5. Personal Time Trends: Top 15 Technologies by Active Time
    3. Status Reports
    4. Audit Reports
  7. Working with Team Reports
    1. Team Benchmarking Reports
    2. Team Status Reports
    3. Time Trends Reports
      1. Team Time Trends: Activity Category
      2. Team Time Trends: Project
      3. Team Time Trends: System
      4. Team Time Trends: Tool
      5. Team Time Trends: Technology
    4. Organizational Health Reports
    5. Installation Status Reports
  8. Working with Community Reports
    1. Community Reports: Community Activity
    2. Breakdown Reports
      1. Community Active Time Breakdown: Technology
      2. Community Active Time Breakdown: Activity Category
      3. Community Active Time Breakdown: Tool
    3. Community Trends Reports
    4. Community Flow Reports
      1. Flow Percentage by Day of Week
      2. Weekly Flow Percentage
  9. Planning and Tracking Projects
    1. Preparing for Projects
    2. Viewing Project Settings
    3. Creating and Managing Projects
      1. About Project Velocity
      2. Creating New Projects
      3. Assigning Teams to Multiple Projects
      4. Editing, Closing, and Deleting Projects
      5. Reviewing Estimated Velocity
      6. Changing Project Permissions
    4. Choosing Project Tasks
      1. Opening Project Details
      2. Adding Tasks to Projects
      3. Removing Project Tasks
      4. Reviewing Project Task Assignments
    5. Tracking Project Burn-Up
      1. Project Burn-Up Charts
      2. Project Burn-Up by Activity Categories
      3. Project Burn-Up by Team Members
      4. Project Burn-Up by Systems
    6. Tracking Project Tasks
      1. Tasks Active but Not Closed
      2. Tasks with Recent Activity
      3. Tasks by Difference From Estimate
  10. Appendix
    1. Appendix A: System Requirements
    2. Appendix B: Sensors
    3. Appendix C: Run Requirements for Enterprise Sensors
    4. Appendix D: Configuring Change Request Systems
    5. Appendix E: Charts for Personal Reports
    6. Appendix F: Charts for Team Reports
    7. Appendix G: Charts for Project Reports
    8. Appendix H: Charts for 6th Community Reports

About This User Guide

The 6th Sense Analytics User Guide gives complete information on how to use the 6th Sense Analytics system. The User Guide includes quickstarts for new users, explanations of how to set up and understand the 6th Sense Analytics environment, and descriptions of analytic reports on software development activities.

The table of contents is available in three places: 1) on the left side navigation bar; 2) from the Table of Contents link at the top of the navigation bar; and 3) on the Welcome page.

The User Guide is a wiki. As such, it provides two special features:

  1. Search. Anyone can search the wiki for any topic by using the Search field at the top of the page.
  2. Comments. Registered users can make comments on how they use individual reports. Comments become part of the official documentation.

The User Guide is open to everyone. You do not have to log in to search for or access topics. You must log in to make comments. Your login name and password are the same as on the 6th Sense Analytics system.

Trademarks

Delphi and JBuilder are registered trademarks of Borland Corporation. ClearCase is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corp. Eclipse is a registered trademark of the Eclipse Foundation, Inc. EMACS is a trademark of The Free Software Foundation. IntelliJ is a registered trademark of JetBrains. NetBeans is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Komodo is a trademark or registered trademark of ActiveState Software, Inc. Internet Explorer, Windows, Visual Basic, Visual Studio, Visual SourceSafe, Team Foundation Server, Issue Tracker, Office XP, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Excel are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. XML Spy is a trademark of Altova GmbH registered in numerous countries. Acrobat Reader is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States. Subversion is a trademark of The Subversion Corporation. Firefox and Bugzilla are trademarks or registered trademarks of the Mozilla Foundation. JIRA and Atlassian are trademarked terms in Australian Copyright Law. All other marks are properties of their respective owners.

Table of Contents

  1. Welcome
  2. Introduction
    1. Quickstart for Managers
    2. Quickstart for Developers
    3. Navigating 6th Sense Analytics
      1. Your 6th Sense Home Page
      2. Understanding Page Organization
      3. About Workspaces
      4. Viewing Reports
      5. Viewing Settings
      6. Exploring 6th Desktop
  3. Logging Time with 6th Desktop
    1. Installing 6th Desktop
      1. Downloading and Running the Installer
      2. Choosing an Install Set
      3. Configuring a Proxy
      4. Uninstalling 6th Desktop
    2. Running 6th Desktop
      1. Launching 6th Desktop
      2. 6th Desktop Features
      3. Securing Desktop-to-Server Communications
      4. Responding to Alerts (Windows systems only)
    3. Working Behind a Firewall
    4. Managing Sensors
      1. About Sensors
      2. Viewing Your Sensors
      3. Finding and Downloading Sensors
      4. Installing Downloaded Sensors
      5. Uninstalling and Removing Sensors
      6. Installing Build Sensors
    5. Updating 6th Desktop Components
    6. Controlling Data Collection
      1. Setting the Data Collection Mode
      2. Auditing and Reviewing Data
      3. Excluding Data
    7. Configuring Browser Sensors
    8. Using the Windows Sensor
    9. Gathering Enterprise-Level Information
      1. About Enterprise Sensors
      2. Enabling and Installing Enterprise Sensors
      3. Creating Run Tasks
      4. Scheduling Runs
  4. Understanding Data Metrics
    1. Sources of Development Activity Data
    2. Active Time vs. Flow Time
    3. Refining Flow Time Metrics
    4. Refining Active Time Metrics
    5. Relating Active Time to Change Requests
    6. About Users
    7. About Time Intervals and Time Units
  5. Establishing Settings
    1. About Settings
    2. About Permissions
    3. Determining Personal Settings
      1. Viewing and Editing Your Personal Information
      2. Monitoring 6th Desktop Installations
      3. Viewing 6th Desktop Installation Details
      4. Auditing Activity Data
      5. Scheduling Inactivity Alerts
      6. Viewing and Granting Permissions
    4. Managing Teams
      1. About Teams
      2. Opening Teams Settings
      3. Viewing Inactive Users and Deactivated Users
      4. Searching for Teams and Users
      5. Accessing Personal Settings of Team Members
      6. Granting Team-Based Permissions
      7. Renaming Teams and Changing Team Leaders
      8. Moving Teams and Team Members
      9. Adding Teams and Team Members
      10. Removing Teams and Team Members
    5. Attributing Active Time to Categories, Systems, and Projects
      1. About Categories, Systems, and Projects
      2. Default Categories and Systems
      3. Permissions on Categories, Systems, and Projects
      4. Working with Attribution Rules
        1. About Attribution Rules
        2. Creating Attribution Rules
        3. Specifying File/URL Filters
        4. Understanding Attribution Rule Status
        5. Committing Rule Changes
      5. Creating and Deleting Categories and Systems
    6. Changing Sensor Settings
      1. Viewing Enterprise Systems and Removing Obsolete Systems
      2. Editing Settings for Change Request Sensor Data
      3. Working with Usermaps
  6. Generating Reports
    1. Report Basics
    2. Choosing Workspaces
    3. Changing Your Workspace Quicklist
    4. Setting Time Intervals
    5. Sharing Dynamic Charts and Tables
    6. Emailing Reports
    7. Saving Reports as PDF Documents
    8. Creating Custom Reports
      1. Creating a Blank Report
      2. Choosing a Time Interval
      3. Adding Charts and Tables to Custom Reports
      4. Modifying and Removing Custom Reports
  7. Working with Personal Reports
    1. Benchmarking Reports
    2. Personal Time Trends Reports
      1. Personal Time Trends: Top 10 Categories by Active Time
      2. Personal Time Trends: Top 10 Projects by Active Time
      3. Personal Time Trends: Top 10 Systems by Active Time
      4. Personal Time Trends: Top 10 Tools by Active Time
      5. Personal Time Trends: Top 10 Technologies by Active Time
    3. Status Reports
    4. Audit Reports
  8. Working with Team Reports
    1. Team Benchmarking Reports
    2. Team Status Reports
    3. Time Trends Reports
      1. Team Time Trends: Activity Category
      2. Team Time Trends: Project
      3. Team Time Trends: System
      4. Team Time Trends: Tool
      5. Team Time Trends: Technology
    4. Organizational Health Reports
    5. Installation Status Reports
  9. Working with Community Reports
    1. Community Reports: Community Activity
    2. Breakdown Reports
      1. Community Active Time Breakdown: Technology
      2. Community Active Time Breakdown: Activity Category
      3. Community Active Time Breakdown: Tool
    3. Community Trends Reports
    4. Community Flow Reports
      1. Flow Percentage by Day of Week
      2. Weekly Flow Percentage
  10. Planning and Tracking Projects
    1. Preparing for Projects
    2. Viewing Project Settings
    3. Creating and Managing Projects
      1. About Project Velocity
      2. Creating New Projects
      3. Assigning Teams to Multiple Projects
      4. Editing, Closing, and Deleting Projects
      5. Reviewing Estimated Velocity
      6. Changing Project Permissions
    4. Choosing Project Tasks
      1. Opening Project Details
      2. Adding Tasks to Projects
      3. Removing Project Tasks
      4. Reviewing Project Task Assignments
    5. Tracking Project Burn-Up
      1. Project Burn-Up Charts
      2. Project Burn-Up by Activity Categories
      3. Project Burn-Up by Team Members
      4. Project Burn-Up by Systems
    6. Tracking Project Tasks
      1. Tasks Active but Not Closed
      2. Tasks with Recent Activity
      3. Tasks by Difference From Estimate
  11. Appendix
    1. Appendix A: System Requirements
    2. Appendix B: Sensors
    3. Appendix C: Run Requirements for Enterprise Sensors
    4. Appendix D: Configuring Change Request Systems
    5. Appendix E: Charts for Personal Reports
    6. Appendix F: Charts for Team Reports
    7. Appendix G: Charts for Project Reports
    8. Appendix H: Charts for 6th Community Reports
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