This pattern, or set of activities, groups all of the support activities and ongoing activities required for an iteration together into one pattern.  Since the individual ongoing and support activities are not of particular interest by themselves, including this high-level pattern in iteration plans emphasizes the goal to be achieved, but leaves the details of the activities it takes to accomplish the goal to the next level of detail. This allows an activity diagram, such as an iteration workflow, to show these activities going on, without excessively cluttering up the diagram.