1. What is JERBO?
  2. Why try JERBO?
  3. Installation
  4. User Guide
    1. Application Interface
    2. Application Views
      1. Admin View
      2. Project View
      3. Release View
      4. Sprint View
  5. Quick Start
    1. Add application users
    2. Create new project
    3. Grant project access to users
    4. Create new release
    5. Build release backlog
    6. Create Sprint
    7. Build sprint team
    8. Create Sprint backlog
    9. Execute Sprint and track progress
  6. Jerbo and Scrum synch up
  7. Acronyms and Abbreviations

What is JERBO?

JERBO is a free web-based application which facilitates project development with Scrum. It helps to focus on getting things done leaving the agile team freedom to find its own way to do Scrum. JERBO was designed for Scrum methodology and contains just those features which help you to plan and track your Scrum projects. It is a better and more interesting and organized way to Scrum for the team.

If you are new to Scrum, you definitely need to read some books about the methodology and some stories about how it has been done by others, especially who are doing it well. As Scrum is just a set of general guidelines and principles and there is no manual telling you how exactly to do it, you will need to experiment and continuously adapt the process to find your own way to do your project in an agile way based on your project context. Simple and well-focused Scrum tool like JERBO will be very helpful in doing Scrum in a more effective way and increasing collaboration, transparency and flexibility to adapt to the emerging business realities.

"Scrum and XP from the Trenches", by Henrik Kniberg has provided the JERBO team with lots of inspiration and ideas. We highly recommend this book for JERBO users and those who want to know good stories about how other teams do Scrum.

Why try JERBO?

If you have already used whiteboard or spreadsheets to do Scrum, then you probably started thinking about how to do it better. Those means could still be good in some cases but definitely not enough when you need to share project information and your team is geographically distributed, or you need to limit access to some project information, or your need to run reports and track project history.

JERBO is free, simple, easy to use and install, and contains everything you need for scrumming. It is a web application which contains only four screens: one to manage users and project access, and other three for project development with Scrum. JERBO will become your Scrum software if you are looking for simple and focused Scrum planning application with the following features:

We believe that JERBO will make it simple to start scrumming and execute your Scrum project effectively.

Installing JERBO

JERBO-1.0-RELEASE is the latest release of the application and it should run on the most Unix, Linux, Mac, Mac Server and Windows systems and supported by all modern browsers: Internet Explorer starting from version 10.0 and all latest versions of Google Chrome, Firefox and Safari.

JERBO is available in two distributions: web application archive and  Windows GUI installer.

When preparing to install JERBO, you should decide which distribution format to use for the installation. For Windows users and users with no Java experience Windows GUI installer is the right choice.

Windows GUI installer is the simplest and easiest way to install JERBO with all required components preconfigured.  It installs and configures the following:

There is no additional software installation or manual configuration required.

Web Application Archive is more generic and platform agnostic distribution format. It contains JERBO web application archive only and requires installation and configuration of the following additional software: Java Runtime [version 1.6 or above], Tomcat server [version 7.0 or above], and MySQL database [version 5.1 or above]. This distribution becomes helpful if you already have Java, Tomcat and MySQL already installed on your computer or for Linux or Mac OS users who cannot use Windows installer.

Installing with Windows GUI Installer

JERBO installation using Windows GUI installer is straightforward:

After the successful login you will be redirected to the JERBO Admin View. Change and remember new administrator credentials. At this moment, JERBO is up and running and you are ready start using it for your Scrum project.

Installing and Configuring Web Application Archive

To be able to run JERBO web application you will need download and install the following software:

Please follow installation instructions and ensure that your can start-stop Tomcat and MySQL instances before you proceed to the next step.

Database Configuration

Before you deploy JERBO you have to create MySQL database and user accounts which will be used by the application. If you are planning to use values other than those provided in the example [which is strongly recommended] you will need to update the JERBO application property file stored in the following location:

<TOMCAT_HOME>\webapps\jerbo\WEB-INF\classes\app-config.properties

Tomcat server must be restarted for the change to take effect.

Default database configuration properties are:

Database name: jerbo_db
Host:localhost
Port:3306
User name: jerbo_db_user
Password: jerbo_prod_#

  1. Open command line and connect to the database server as the MySQL root user:

    2. mysql -u root -p

  2. Create a database:

    3. create database jerbo_db;

  3. Create a user:

    4. create user 'jerbo_db_user'@'localhost' identified by 'jerbo_prod_#';

  4. Grant permission and privileges to the user:

    5. grant all on jerbo_db.* to 'jerbo_db_user'@'localhost' identified by 'jerbo_prod_#';

Application installation

  1. Download the latest JERBO application archive from here
  2. Unzip and copy JERBO ‘war’ file into the Tomcat's ‘webapps’ directory...

    3. <TOMCAT_HOME>\webapps\

  3. To avoid out-of-memory type issues adapt JVM heap size by editing [create if it does not exist] the following file in the ‘bin’ directory in the Apache Tomcat directory...

    On Unix, edit [create] ‘setenv.sh‘ file and add:

    export CATALINA_OPTS=" -Xms128m –Xmx768m -XX:PermSize=64m -XX:MaxPermSize=256m"

    On Windows, edit [create] ‘setenv.bat‘ file and add:

    set CATALINA_OPTS=”-Xms128m -Xmx768m -XX:PermSize=64m -XX:MaxPermSize=256m”

  4. Start Tomcat server. A directory containing the content of the WAR file is created in the server’s ‘webapps’ directory.

If you need to modify database configuration properties, stop Tomcat and update the following file:

<TOMCAT_HOME>\webapps\jerbo\WEB-INF\classes\app-config.properties

Open browser and open the following url: http://[your_hostname]:[port]/jerbo-[version]

http://localhost:8080/jerbo-1.0-RELEASE

If installation and deployment went well you will see the JERBO login page. Login as administrator with the default credentials:

Username: jerboAdmin
Password: jerbo4Admin

After the successful login you will be redirected to the JERBO Admin View. Change and remember new administrator credentials. At this moment, JERBO is up and running and you are ready start using it for your Scrum project.


User Guide

Before you start using JERBO you first need to familiarize yourself with the application user interface and conventions. Alternatively you can go to the Quick Start section of this guide if you prefer a jump start.

Application Users & Security Roles

There are three roles in JERBO from the security and permission perspective: ADMIN, USER, and GUEST. All members of Scrum team must have USER security role and will have one of the following roles in Scrum team: Product Owner, Scrum Master, or Developer.

ADMIN – this role is for the users with administrator"s privileges. Administrators have access to the admin view and can create and delete projects, add new users, and grant and revoke project access to the users.

This role is to be used for administrative purposes only. Users with this role couldn’t be part of the SCRUM team. If you are planning to be the administrator and a member of the Scrum team, you have to create two different users, one with ADMIN and another with USER security role.

Since this version of the application doesn’t provide password recovery and 'forgot password' functionalities, it is strongly recommended to have several ADMIN users.

USER – this role is for all SCRUM team members [SCRUM master, developers and the product owner]. Users with this role have all permissions except those reserved for the administration.

To work on a project, any USER has to be granted project access.

GUEST – this role is for the users with view-only permissions. Users with this role have access rights as regular USER but cannot modify [add, remove, delete] project data.

To let user with the GUEST role access project information, it has to be granted project access.

Application Interface

There are four application views: Admin, Project, Release, and Sprint. Each view consists of one or two panels, and the panels in turn could contain several tables. The following image shows the application interface, followed by its main components description Release View Screenshot

  1. Header
    • Navigation bar
    • Logged in user information
    • Link to JERBO on-line documentation page
  2. Left panel
    • Release backlog table
  3. Right panel
    • Release Details table
    • Release Sprints table
    • Release Teams table

Icons

Many application actions are decorated with icons. Listed below are the different icons your will see in JERBO:

Icon Description
Action Icons
Create/Add new instance.
Update/Edit instance.
Delete instance.
Filter Icons
Expand row.
Collapse row.
Expand all rows.
Collapse all expandable rows.
Show tasks with status "Not Started".
Hide tasks with status "Not Started".
Show tasks with status "In Progress".
Hide tasks with status "InProgress".
Show tasks with status "Impeded".
Hide tasks with status "Impeded".
Show tasks with status "Done".
Hide tasks with status "Done".
Show my tasks only.
Reset filter.
Other Icons
Warning notification icon.
Change view.
Ascending ordering
Descending ordering

Navigation and action links

Navigation and action links are green. You can use a navigation link to change the application view and an action link to open modal window for editing. All navigation menu links are view change links, as well as all panel tables links followed by the ‘Change view’ icon. For example, sprint name in the ‘Release Sprints’ table [or ‘Release Backlog’ table] is a change view link and opens ‘Sprint View’. In contrast, story name in the ‘Release Backlog’ table is the edit link and opens edit story modal window.

Table headers

To keep tables compact multiple table headers contains acronyms and abbreviations. Place the mouse over the table column header to see its meaning.

Some tables have sortable columns. If the table column is already sorted, sorted column icon appears in the right side of the column header. Click on the sortable table column header to change sorting direction.

Expandable table rows

Table rows followed by the "Expend/Collapse row" icon are expandable. For example, team name in "Release Teams" table is expandable and, if you click on 'expand' icon, will show all team memberships.

Expandable tables

Tables having "Show/Hide All" icon have expandable rows. For example, if you click on the 'Show All' icon above the release backlog table, all tasks for all stories in this table will be shown.

Table data presentation

To present information in a compact way, some table headers contains abbreviations and all long values in table rows are truncated. To see the meaning of the abbreviation or truncated table entries in full simply move the mouse over the table header or long table entry [truncated entries are followed by three dots - "…"] For the same purpose, the 2-3 letter initials field is required to create new application user, and this field will be used instead of the full user name in different views and tables, and as usual, full name will be displayed on mouse over.

Errors

To keep project information consistent, multiple constraints are used by the application. Most of them related to the data provided while adding or editing project information [format, range, etc.]. If any of the application constraints is violated, an appropriate error message will appear on the modal window [used for creation, editing, and deletion], explaining which field data is not valid and which value is expected. For example, when you create new release, release dates will be validated to ensure they are within the project date range.

Application Views

Admin View

This view is for application administration. It combines a set of features for project and user management. Application administrators use this view to manage application users, projects and permissions.

Interface & Features

[Admin view screenshot]

Admin Screen short goes here with the following numbers on it:

Acronyms & Abbreviations

View Table Acr & Abbr Meaning
Admin
Users INL Initials
Projects & Users AE Account Expired
Projects & Users AL Account Locked
Projects & Users PE Password Expired

Rules, Conventions, Limitations

Project View

This view is for all users and is the place they can see projects, project releases, and sprints. This view is used for release planning and navigation through the project tree [releases and sprints].

Interface & Features

[Project view screenshot]

The only panel has one table –PROJECT LIST. This panel contains functions for release planning: adding and editing release information. ‘PROJECTS’ table rows could be sorted by ‘Name’ column. Releases and sprints are sorted by start date; the way that the most recent ones come first in the list. Project timeline visualizes the project, release and sprint schedule and duration.

Acronyms & Abbreviations

View Table Acr & Abbr Meaning
Projects
Projects RLSs Releases
Projects SPRs Sprints
Projects SE Sprint Estimation

Rules, Conventions, Limitations

Release View

This view is for sprint planning. It combines a set of features to work with release and sprint backlogs [stories and tasks], sprint planning, and sprint team management.

Interface & Features

[Release view screenshot]

Left panel contains just one table – RELEASE BACKLOG. This panel contains functions for backlog maintenance and can be used to add and edit stories and tasks. Stories in release backlog are sorted by priority, name, and sprint. Stories not included in any sprint are shown in the top of the backlog. Stories from different sprints have different background colors.

Right panel contains three tables: RELEASE DETAILS, RELEASE SPRINTS, and RELEASE TEAMS. This panel contains functions for release, sprint and team planning and could be used to create and edit release and sprint information [RELEASE DETAILS table], view sprint details [RELEASE SPRINTS table], and build teams for each sprint [RELEASE TEAMS table].

Acronyms & Abbreviations

View Table Acr & Abbr Meaning
Release
Release Backlog Imp. Importance [priority]
Release Backlog Est. Estimate
Release Details NBD Number of business days in sprint
Release Sprints FF Focus Factor
Release Sprints EV Estimated Velocity
Release Sprints SE Sprint estimation
Release Teams INL Initials
Release Teams AVT Availability

Rules, Conventions, Limitations

Sprint View

This view is for sprint execution [sprint task board]. It contains set of features to work with Sprint backlog [task board], track progress [burndown chart], and run sprint report. This view keeps all sprint related information summarized and provides some convenient sprint backlog view filters. This is the primary view used by the team during the Daily Stand Up meetings.

Interface & Features

[Sprint view screenshot]

Left panel contains just one table – SPRINT TASK BOARD. This panel contains functions for sprint backlog maintenance and can be used to edit stories and tasks [assign task to team member, update task status etc.]. Stories in sprint backlog are sorted by priority and name. View filters could be used to filter tasks by status and ownership

Right panel contains three tables and SPRINT BURNDOWN chart. SPRINT DETAILS table contains sprint detail information and could be used to generate sprint report [PDF export icon]. SPRINT TEAM shows sprint team membership details. SPRINT BACKLOG SUMMARY provides summarized sprint backlog information. SPRINT BURNDOWN chart provides a simple view of the sprint progress.

Acronyms & Abbreviations

View Table Acr & Abbr Meaning
Sprint
Sprint task board SE Story Estimation
Sprint task board STE Story Task Estimation
Sprint task board AN Assignee
Sprint task board NS Not Started
Sprint task board IP In Progress
Sprint task board IM Impeded
Sprint task board DN Done
Sprint details FF Focus Factor
Sprint details EV Estimated velocity
Sprint details SE Sprint Estimation
Sprint team INL Initials
Sprint team AVT Availability
Sprint team ASP Assigned Story Points
Sprint team TMV Team Member Velocity
Sprint backlog summary Imp. Importance [priority]
Sprint backlog summary Est. Estimation

Rules, Conventions, Limitations

Quick Start

This Quick Start will guide you through the steps you need before you start the first Sprint.

1. Add application users [Admin View -> New User].

Before you start a project, all members of you Scrum team have to be added to the application user list and they have to be granted project access.

  1. Log into the application with ADMIN rights.
  2. Click on ‘New User’ link, provide user details and copy user’s password.
  3. Send user credentials to the user. If user’s password is lost, it could be regenerated.
  4. Click 'Create'.
  5. New user record appears in the "Users" table. To edit user details, click on user name.
  6. Repeat this step to add all team members to the application users list. All Scrum team members should have ‘USER’ security role. If you plan to give view-only type of access to a user, select ‘GUEST’ role from the security role drop-down list.

2. Create new project [Admin View -> New Project].

  1. Click on "New Project" link, provide project details and click "Create’.
  2. New project record appears in the "Projects and Users" table.

3. Grant project access to users [Admin View -> Grant Access].

  1. Click on "Create" icon in the project row, select a user and click "Create’. Users with the USER or GUEST security roles only appear in the users drop down list.
  2. New user record appears in the project access list below the project row.
  3. To revoke project access, click on "Delete" icon in the corresponding row from the project access list.

4. Create new release [Project View -> Create Release].

  1. Log into the application as a USER. Project view will display all accessible projects.
  2. Click on "Add/Create" icon in the corresponding project row to add new Release. Provide Release details and click "Create’. Release start-end dates have to be within the project’s start-end date.
  3. New Release record [light orange background] appears below the project row.
  4. To edit Release details, click on ‘Edit’ icon in the respective project Release row.

5. Build release backlog [Project View -> Release View].

  1. Click on the Release name in the ‘Projects’ table to navigate to the ‘Release View’.
  2. Create new story [View screenshot]
    1. Click on the "New Story" link, provide story details and click "Create’.
    2. New Story record appears in the "Release Backlog" table. Newly added story will remain highlighted for several seconds.
    3. To edit Story, click on the Story name.
  3. Create story task [View screenshot]
    1. Click on the "Create" icon in the respective Story row. Provide Task details and click "Create’.
    2. New Task record appears below the story row and remains highlighted for several seconds.
    3. To edit Task click on the Task name.

6. Create Sprint [Release View -> Create Sprint].

  1. Click on the ‘New Sprint’ link, provide sprint details and click ‘Create’. Sprint start-end dates have to be within the respective Release dates.
  2. New Sprint record appears in the ‘Release Details’ and ‘Release Sprints’ tables and new Team record appears in the ‘Release Teams’ table. New Team is automatically created when new Sprint is created. Newly created Team doesn’t have any members and that is why Sprint EV will be 0 for the newly created Sprint and will be recalculated as soon as new team member is added to the team [Developer role].
  3. To edit Sprint details, click on the Sprint name in the "Release Details" table.
  4. To edit Team details, click on the Team name in the "Release Teams" table.

7. Build sprint team [Release View -> Create new membership].

  1. To add a member, to the team click on the ‘Create’ icon in the respective team row, provide details and click ‘Create’
  2. New member record appears below the team row and remains highlighted for several seconds. Sprint EV will be recalculated with any team membership changes.
  3. To edit team member details, click on the member’s name.

8. Create Sprint backlog, sprint planning [Release View].

At this point, the team decides how many stories to include in the sprint based on the following values: story priority, story estimation and team estimated velocity.

  1. Estimate task and stories. Story estimation is a sum of all tasks' estimations. During the Sprint planning meeting, team estimates tasks for the top priority stories [1 SP = 1 ID]. To provide task estimation, click on the task name, provide estimate and click ‘Update’. Story estimate will be recalculated.
  2. Include stories in the Sprint. Estimated velocity value [calculated based on sprint duration, focus factor, team size and team member’s availability] in ‘Release Sprints’ table shows how many SPs team can complete in the current Sprint. To include top priority Story in the Sprint, click on the Story name in the ‘Release Backlog’ table, select the respective Sprint name from the Sprint drop down list and click ‘Update’. Story included in the Sprint moves down in the ‘Release Backlog’ table; Sprint name appears in the ‘Sprint Name’ column and Sprint estimation [SE] is recalculated. If Sprint estimation [SE] value exceeds the team estimated velocity [EV], notification icon appears in the respective Sprint row indicating that the Sprint contains too many Stories and this Sprint needs re-planning [reprioritizing; story slicing and dicing; sprint focus factor, duration or team lineup adjustment].

9. Execute Sprint and track progress [Sprint View -> Update Task].

  1. Click on the Sprint name in the ‘Release Backlog’ or ‘Release Sprints’ table to navigate to the Sprint View. Stories included in Sprint are shown in the ‘Sprint Task Board’ table.
  2. To assign task to a team member, click on the task name, select team member name from the ‘Team Member’ drop down list and click ‘Update’. Team member’s initials appear in the ‘Assignee’ column.
  3. To change the status of the task, click on the task name, select task status from the ‘Task Status’ drop down list and click ‘Update’. Task status color will be changed in one of the task status columns respectively.
  4. Sprint Burndown chart shows the progress of the team in the current Sprint.

Jerbo and Scrum synch up

The following table briefly describes how different Scrum artifacts and notions are implemented in JERBO.

SCRUM JERBO View Comments
NA App users Admin View JERBO administrator manages application users, projects and permissions.
NA Project Project View Scrum team works on a project. Project has Releases and Releases have Sprints. Project view shows all active projects and provides release and sprint schedule details.
NA Release Release View Release is a deployable software package, the result of several iterations – Sprints. Release backlog contains stories scheduled for this release and Sprint backlog is a subset of stories from the release backlog. Release view is used for Release and Sprint planning.
Sprint Sprint Release view,
Sprint view		 Scrum Master creates new Sprint from the Release view [Release Details table] providing start and end dates, focus factor and a goal. Team is created automatically for each new Sprint. Team size and member’s availability could be different from sprint to sprint.
Team Team Release view
[Release Teams]		 Team is created automatically for each new Sprint. Users having project access [and role USER] could be added to the team.
Scrum Master, Product Owner, Developer Scrum Master, Product Owner, Developer Release view
[Release Teams]		 Each team member in Sprint team has one of the following roles: Scrum Master, Product Owner, or Developer. Team members with "Developer" role only will be taken into account for Sprint velocity calculation.
Product Backlog Release backlog Release view
[Release Backlog]		 Project may have multiples releases. Release may comprise multiple stories forming Release Backlog. Project backlog does not exist in JERBO, it is spread in multiple release backlogs.
Sprint planning, Sprint Backlog Sprint Backlog Release view,
Sprint view
[task board]		 During the Sprint planning meeting, team decides which stories from the Release backlog [prioritized and estimated] could be implemented in the next Sprint. Stories included in Sprint form Sprint backlog.
Estimation Estimation Release view Story estimate is a sum of all story tasks" estimates. Task estimation unit is Story Point which, in our case, is equal to one ideal man-day [8 hours of work without interruptions].
Focus Factor Focus Factor Release view
[Release Sprints]		 Focus Factor [FF] is an estimate of how focused the team is. Team provides FF value when it creates new Sprint. A low FF value means that team expects to have many disturbances. For a new team, FF equal to 60% will be a good starting point.
Estimated Velocity Estimated Velocity Release view
[Release Sprints]		 Sprint Estimated Velocity is calculated based on number of business days in sprint, focus factor, available man-days [team size and team members" availability]. The goal is to help team simply to decide which stories to include in the sprint.
Technical Debt Technical Debt Release view,
Sprint view		 Each Story in application has one of the following types: Feature, UnPlanned, Defect and TechDebt
Definition of
Done		 NA There is no functionality related to DoD.
Impediment Backlog NA Release View,
Sprint View		 Tasks in JERBO may have one for the following statuses: NotStarted, InProgress, Impeded, and Done. Impeded tasks have red color in respective task status columns.
Burndown Chart Burndown Chart Sprint View Sprint Burndown chart is built based on the current Sprint state and lets the team track Sprint progress.

For detailed information, please see respective section of this guide.

Acronyms and Abbreviations


View Table Acr & Abbr Meaning
Admin
Users INL Initials
Projects & Users AE Account Expired
Projects & Users AL Account Locked
Projects & Users PE Password Expired
Project
Projects RLSs Releases
Projects SPRs Sprints
Projects SE Sprint Estimation
Release
Release Backlog Imp. Importance [priority]
Release Backlog Est. Estimate
Release Details NBD Number of business days in sprint
Release Sprints FF Focus Factor
Release Sprints EV Estimated Velocity
Release Sprints SE Sprint estimation
Release Teams INL Initials
Release Teams AVT Availability
Sprint
Sprint task board SE Story Estimation
Sprint task board STE Story Task Estimation
Sprint task board AN Assignee
Sprint task board NS Not started
Sprint task board IP In Progress
Sprint task board IM Impeded
Sprint task board DN Done
Sprint details FF Focus Factor
Sprint details EV Estimated velocity
Sprint details SE Sprint Estimation
Sprint team INL Initials
Sprint team AVT Availability
Sprint team ASP Assigned Story Points
Sprint team TMV Team member velocity
Sprint backlog summar Imp. Importance [priority]
Sprint backlog summary Est. Estimation