Getting Started

introduction & purpose the roadmaps feature, available to both customers and their shi account teams, allows for the creation and viewing of custom roadmaps it provides a structured way to plan and visualize your it journey, helping to organize strategic initiatives and track their progress over time this feature is a great way to collaborate with your shi rep on "what matters most" for your it strategy key terms explained understanding these terms is crucial for using the roadmaps feature effectively roadmap the highest level container think of it as a strategic plan or theme (e g , "q3 infrastructure upgrade", "cloud migration strategy") you can have multiple roadmaps initiative a significant piece of work or project within a roadmap (e g , "server refresh", "data center consolidation") a roadmap can contain multiple initiatives each initiative has details like name, description, status, owner, schedule (start/target dates), associated costs, and can contain tasks milestone a distinct, significant point in time or achievement within a roadmap, marked by a target date milestones are standalone entities and do not contain tasks they have details like name, description, status, owner, and schedule (target date) task a specific action item or step required to complete an initiative (e g , "order new servers", "configure firewall rules") an initiative can contain multiple tasks tasks have details like name, schedule (start/end dates), and status tasks can be newly created or existing recommendations imported from assessments, cloud, and more hierarchy customer > roadmap > (initiative or milestone) initiatives can contain tasks functionality overview the roadmaps feature enables you to create multiple custom roadmaps create initiatives within each roadmap, specifying details like name (required), description, owner, status, schedule (start/target dates), associated costs, and "shi is helping" toggle create milestones within each roadmap, specifying details like name (required), description, owner, status, schedule (target date), and "shi is helping" toggle milestones do not have tasks add specific tasks to initiatives create new tasks with details like name and schedule (start/end dates) add existing tasks by importing recommendations from completed assessments (e g , security posture review, azure cloud recommendations) view initiatives and milestones in a filterable grid format (e g , in progress, upcoming, completed) visualize initiatives, milestones, and their tasks on an interactive timeline using the gantt chart view (double click to edit, hover for tooltips, color coded legend) edit the details of existing initiatives and milestones delete initiatives and milestones manage tasks within an initiative view, edit details, set status (doing, done, planning), delete, reorder, and navigate to linked recommendation details using roadmaps (step by step guide) 1\ accessing roadmaps navigate to the roadmaps section using the left hand sidebar menu 2\ creating your first roadmap if no roadmaps exist, the landing page will be empty, showing only a "new roadmap" button click the new roadmap button a modal window will appear enter a descriptive name for your roadmap click the button to confirm (e g , "create" or "save") an empty roadmap with the name you provided will be created and displayed on the landing page select this newly named roadmap to enter the detail view 3\ understanding the roadmap detail view when you select a roadmap from the landing page list, you enter the roadmap detail view you will see two main tabs initiative and gantt note the gantt tab will be disabled or unavailable until at least one initiative has been created for this roadmap 4\ creating a new initiative or milestone ensure you are on the initiative tab within the roadmap detail view if no initiatives exist yet, the grid view under each filter (all, completed, upcoming) will display the message "sorry, no items matching your criteria were in the report select either new initiative or new milestone from the dropdown a modal window specific to your selection will open creating a new initiative if you selected "new initiative", a modal will appear to capture initiative details fill in the fields name (required) a clear title for the initiative description (optional) more details about the initiative's goals owner (optional) the person or team responsible status (optional) the current status of the initiative shi is helping (optional) toggle if shi is assisting schedule (optional) provide both a start date and a target date notes (optional) any relevant notes costs (optional) enter estimated costs under the relevant categories (services, hardware & infrastructure, software licensing, support and maintenance) you can optionally add tasks at this stage (see step 5) or save the initiative and add tasks later you can optionally add assets at this stage assets can be bulk added, grouped by contract or location click the save button at the bottom of the modal the newly created initiative will now appear in the grid view on the initiative tab creating a new milestone if you selected "new milestone", a modal will appear to capture milestone details fill in the fields name (required) a clear title for the milestone description (optional) more details about the milestone's significance owner (optional) the person or team responsible status (optional) the current status of the milestone shi is helping (optional) toggle if shi is assisting schedule (optional) provide a target date notes (optional) any relevant notes milestones do not have tasks or costs associated directly within their creation modal click the save button at the bottom of the modal the newly created milestone will now appear in the grid view on the initiative tab 5\ adding tasks to an initiative tasks can only be added to initiatives , either during creation or by editing an existing one (see step 7) milestones do not have tasks within the "new initiative" modal or the initiative edit drawer, click the add task button this button now has a dropdown with two options "add new task" and "add existing task" adding a new task select add new task from the dropdown a modal for creating a new task will appear for each new task, provide task name a description of the task schedule provide both a start date and end date click the button to save the task (e g , "add task", "save") repeat for all necessary new tasks for this initiative close the task modal when finished adding an existing task (from recommendations) select add existing task from the dropdown a modal will open, allowing you to add existing tasks, primarily by importing recommendations from completed assessments you can browse or search for recommendations from sources like "assessments (e g , security posture review)" or "azure recommendations" select the recommendations you want to add as tasks click the "add" button these imported recommendations will appear as tasks under the initiative display of imported recommendation tasks these tasks have a distinct display they show the title of the recommendation a small icon next to the title an arrow icon and a link are present, directing users back to the specific assessment or source from which the recommendation originates 6\ viewing initiatives (grid filters) on the initiative tab in the roadmap detail view, you'll see the grid displaying your initiatives and milestones the grid shows columns like name, status, owner, schedule, and cost (for initiatives) above the grid, there are filter pills to sort the displayed items, for example in progress (green) upcoming (pink) completed (blue) click these pills to filter the items displayed in the grid based on their status 7\ editing an initiative from the initiative tab grid view, click on the initiative you wish to edit a drawer view will slide open, displaying the full details of the selected initiative modify any fields as needed (name, description, owner, schedule, costs) click the save button within the drawer to apply your changes 8\ deleting an initiative open the initiative's detail drawer view as described in step 7 locate the delete button or icon within the drawer click the delete button you may be asked to confirm the deletion once confirmed, the initiative will be removed from the roadmap 9\ managing tasks within an initiative (viewing, editing, deleting, reordering) open the initiative's detail drawer view as described in step 7 within the drawer, navigate to the tasks tab you will see a grid view listing all tasks associated with this initiative viewing see task details in the grid editing select a task (by clicking the task row) to modify its details (name, schedule) save changes setting status for each task in the grid, there is a status dropdown you can set the task's status to options like doing , done , or planning accessing linked recommendation details if a task is an imported recommendation, clicking on its name (which acts as a link) will open an "assessment recommendation details" view or modal this view provides more specific information about that particular recommendation deleting locate the trash can icon associated with the task you want to remove in the grid view click the icon and confirm if prompted reordering use the dots icon (drag and drop handle) within the task grid to change the sequence of tasks 10\ using the gantt chart view once at least one initiative or milestone exists in the roadmap, the gantt tab in the roadmap detail view becomes available click the gantt tab the gantt view displays your created initiatives, milestones, and tasks visually on a timeline items are shown as pills corresponding to their scheduled dates interactivity edit on double click double clicking any pill (initiative, milestone, or task) on the gantt chart will open its details view/modal, allowing for direct editing tooltip on hover hovering your mouse cursor over any pill will display a tooltip showing key information about that item (e g , name, dates, status) legend/key the gantt view includes a legend to help users understand the color coding of items on the timeline typically green represents items that are "in progress" or "doing" pink represents items that are "upcoming" or "planning" blue represents items that are "completed" or "done" the timeline section will show these items as pills corresponding to their scheduled dates and status colors