Configure Board Elements
To configure the project board, open its form. The SDLC boards consist of the elements that you can configure from the related lists of the Board form:
- Columns – a board column is automatically created for each task State. Some of these columns might be inactive.
- Swimlanes (only for Kanban boards) – create swimlanes to unite the cards according to specified criteria.
- Swimlane Rules (only for Kanban boards) – use this related list to configure the rules according to which the cards are placed in swimlanes. The list appears if at least one swimlane is added to the board.
- Areas (only for Kanban boards) – create areas to unite several columns and specify a common WIP limit for them.
- Badges – use badges to display important information on the cards.
- Color Markers – add color markers to speed up the identification of cards on the board.
- Additional Attributes – configure the additional attributes to display the values of required fields on the card to simplify the interaction with the board.
Access to board elements configuration
- Create
- Update
- Read
- Delete
- pda_admin
- pda_user if they are a team leader on the project or the owner of the product/product module specified at the project creation.
The columns are created automatically. The rest of the elements can be created in modal windows that you can open from the board form related lists.
- pda_admin
- pda_user if they are a team leader on the project or the owner of the product/product module specified at the project creation.
The values of the following fields cannot be edited:
- Columns: Board, State.
- Swimlane rules: Swimlane.
- Other elements: Board.
- pda_admin
- pda_user
- pda_admin
- pda_user if they are a team leader on the project or the owner of the product/product module specified at the project creation.
Columns cannot be deleted. You can deactivate them if you want to hide them from the board.
Columns
The columns are added to the board automatically, one for each choice option of the State column for the third-level task types added to the project. The synchronization takes place when you:
- open the form of the board,
- change the Task types added to the project.
Although the columns are added for all states, only the following are active by default: Backlog, Development, Review, Testing, and Done. The columns that are added for other states, including the custom ones, are inactive by default. If states differ between the third-level task types added to the project, the system adds columns for all states of all task types added to the project, so some of the columns could be relevant only for certain task types.
If there are two or more State choice options with the same Value, only one column is added for all these choice options. It is related to the option with the lowest Order. If the order is identical between such choice options, the column is related to the option that was created earlier. If there are identical options for different languages, the column is related to the option for the language that is displayed higher in the choice option list when it is sorted by the Language column in the acsending order.
If at the synchronization the system finds duplicate columns created for choice options with the same Value, the column updated later is deleted. If you delete one of the choice options with the same Value, the column related to it is attached to another option with the same value.
Also, if you delete a state option with a unique Value that had a related column, that column will be deleted as well.
To configure a column:
- Open the required board form. You can do that:
- From the board form: click Board settings in the left upper corner.
- From the navigator: navigate to SDLC → General Settings → Project Boards, find the required board in the list and open its form.
- From the form of the project to which the board belongs: click Open board on the project form, then Board settings in the left upper corner.
- Find the Columns related list.
- Open the required column form, adjust the settings.
- Click Save or Save and exit to apply the changes.
Column form fields
| Field | Mandatory | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Board | Y | The board to which the columns belongs. |
| Title | Y | Specify the column title. When a column is created, the title is specified automatically according to the title of the choice option, and if there are choice options for other languages, the translations are added for the column. |
| State | Y | The state represented by the column. |
| Order | Y | Specify the order of the column on the board. The higher the value is, the further to the right the column is located. You can use up to 10 symbols. Ensure that the orders are unique and that the column sequence matches the sequence of the state choice options by the Order parameter. Otherwise, the widgets may not work correctly. When columns are added for a new board, the system sets up their order according to the order sequence of the choice options for which they are created. The order of each column is calculated as The order of the previous column + 100. The order of each new column added to the board after the initial column creation is calculated as The highest order among existing columns + 100. |
| Active | N | Select the checkbox if you want the column to be displayed on the board. |
| WIP limit | N | Specify the column WIP limit. If the limit is exceeded, the column is highlighted with red. The field is empty and read-only for Scrum boards. |
| Description | N | Specify the column description. The users can see it if they click near the column title. |
| Color | N | Select the column color. The color is displayed to the left of the state title: The column color is completed automatically with the first found record of the System Color (sys_color) table the Name of which matches the following template: (SDLC) State {Value of the column State choice option}. If no such record is found, a random color from the System Color table is assigned to the column. |
| Board area | N | Select or create a board area that will include the column. The area unites two or more columns sharing the area width equally between all included columns. The area columns share common WIP limit as well. The field is empty and read-only for Scrum boards. |
The board will not be displayed if it has no active columns or the third-level tasks are not added to the project.
Swimlanes
The swimlanes are only used on Kanban boards.
Create swimlanes to group cards vertically according to specified criteria. For instance, you can add a swimlane for the high priority tasks, blocked tasks, or the tasks that belong to the same product module. The swimlanes are displayed on the board if there is at least one Active swimlane. The cards that do not correspond with the conditions of existing swimlanes are included in a default swimlane Other records. You cannot configure this swimlane, and it is always located under all other swimlanes on the Kanban board.
When you create a swimlane, a swimlane rule record is also added. It is displayed in the Swimlane Rules related list. Read more about the swimlane rules below.
To create a swimlane, complete the following steps:
- Open the required board form. You can do that:
- From the board form: click Board settings in the left upper corner.
- From the navigator: navigate to SDLC → General Settings → Project Boards, find the required board in the list and open its form.
- From the form of the project to which the board belongs: click Open board on the project form, then Board settings in the left upper corner.
- Find the Swimlanes related list.
- Click New and fill in the modal window fields.
- Click Create to apply the changes.
Create a swimlane modal window fields
| Field | Mandatory | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Y | Specify the swimlane title. |
| Order | Y | Specify the order of the swimlane on the board. The higher the value is, the further to the right the column is located. You can use up to 10 symbols. |
| Ignore WIP limits | N | Select the checkbox if the tasks of the swimlane are to be excluded from the WIP limits. |
| Active | N | Select the checkbox to make the swimlane visible on the board. |
| Task type | Y | Configure the swimlane rule: select a task type to be included in the swimlane. You can only select from the third-level tasks that are used in the project. |
| Condition for cards | N | Configure the swimlane rule: specify the conditions for the cards to be added to the swimlane in the condition builder. If the card matches several conditions, the condition with the lowest Order is applied. If the rules have identical order, the rule created later is applied. The cards that do not match any condition are added to Other records swimlane. |
Swimlane Rules related list is located on the Swimlane form. There, you can see the list of rules for this swimlane.
Swimlane Rules
Swimlane rules are only used on Kanban boards.
You can configure swimlane rules to define the criteria for the cards to be included in the swimlane. When a swimlane is deleted, related swimlane rules are deleted as well.
You can only create one rule for each task type in a swimlane.
To create a swimlane rule, complete the following steps:
- Open the required board form. You can do that:
- From the board form: click Board settings in the left upper corner.
- From the navigator: navigate to SDLC → General Settings → Project Boards, find the required board in the list and open its form.
- From the form of the project to which the board belongs: click Open board on the project form, then Board settings in the left upper corner.
- Find the Swimlane Rules related list.
- Click New and fill in the modal window fields.
- Click Create to apply the changes.
Create a swimlane rule modal window fields
| Field | Mandatory | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Task type | Y | Select a task type to be included in the swimlane. You can only select from the third-level tasks that are used in the project. |
| Order | Y | Specify the order of the swimlane rule. When the card matches two or more rules at the same time, the rule with the lowest order is applied. If the order is identical, the rule that was created later is applied. |
| Condition for cards | N | Specify the conditions for the cards to be added to the swimlane in the condition builder. |
Areas
Areas are only used on Kanban boards.
Create areas to unite the columns. The area width on the board is split equally between all columns included in an area. The area also has one common WIP limit for all columns included in it. The WIP limit of an area is calculated as the sum of WIP limits of the columns included in the area. If the area WIP limit is exceeded, the area is highlighted with red.
You can see the number of cards included in an area in the area header. Only the cards included in active columns are counted. If the cards are added to a swimlane with a selected Ignore WIP limit checkbox, they are not counted in the overall number of cards in the area and its WIP limits.
To create an area, complete the following steps:
- Open the required board form. You can do that:
- From the board form: click Board settings in the left upper corner.
- From the navigator: navigate to SDLC → General Settings → Project Boards, find the required board in the list and open its form.
- From the form of the project to which the board belongs: click Open board on the project form, then Board settings in the left upper corner.
- Find the Areas related list.
- Click New and fill in the modal window fields.
- Click Create to apply the changes.
Create an area modal window fields
| Field | Mandatory | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Y | Specify the area title. It is displayed on the board. |
| Columns | Y | Specify the columns to be united in the area. You can only select from the columns that are not included in other areas. The area is only displayed if at least two active columns are included in it. If two columns are included in an area and one of them becomes inactive, the area will stop displaying on the board. |
| Order | Y | Specify the order of the area on the board. The higher the value is, the further to the right the column is located. The order of the columns inside the area is defined by their Order. You can use up to 10 symbols. |
| Description | N | Specify the area description. It will be displayed in the hint that appears near the area title. |
The Columns related list is located on the form. It shows the list of columns icluded in the area.
Badges
Use badges to display important information on the cards.
To create a badge, complete the following steps:
- Open the required board form. You can do that:
- From the board form: click Board settings in the left upper corner.
- From the navigator: navigate to SDLC → General Settings → Project Boards, find the required board in the list and open its form.
- From the form of the project to which the board belongs: click Open board on the project form, then Board settings in the left upper corner.
- Find the Badges related list.
- Click New and fill in the modal window fields.
- Click Create to apply the changes.
Create a badge modal window fields
| Field | Mandatory | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Task type | Y | Specify the type of tasks for the badge. You can only select from the third-level tasks that are used in the project. |
| Label | Y | Specify the badge label. This text is displayed on the task card. Maximum length is 6 symbols. |
| Display condition | Y | Specify the condition to display the badge on the card in the condition builder. |
| Order | Y | Specify the order of the badge compared to other badges. The badges with lower order are located in front of the others. You can use up to 10 symbols. |
| Color | Y | Specify the badge color. |
| Hint | N | Add a text hint to the badge. It is displayed when the user moves the pointer over the badge. |
Color markers
Add color markers to speed up the identification of cards on the board.
To create a color marker, complete the following steps:
- Open the required board form. You can do that:
- From the board form: click Board settings in the left upper corner.
- From the navigator: navigate to SDLC → General Settings → Project Boards, find the required board in the list and open its form.
- From the form of the project to which the board belongs: click Open board on the project form, then Board settings in the left upper corner.
- Find the Color Markers related list.
- Click New and fill in the modal window fields.
- Click Create to apply the changes.
Create a color marker modal window fields
| Field | Mandatory | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Task type | Y | Specify the type of tasks for the color marker. You can only select from the third-level tasks that are used in the project. |
| Order | Y | Specify the color marker order. You can add up to 10 symbols. If the card corresponds to the conditions of several color markers, the marker with the lowest Order is applied. If the order is the same, the marker that was created earlier is applied. |
| Condition for color marker | Y | Specify the condition to display the color marker on the card in the condition builder. |
| Color | Y | Specify the marker color. |
| Hint | N | Add a text hint that is displayed when the user moves the pointer over the marker. |
Additional attributes
Configure additional attributes to display the values of required fields on the card to simplify the interaction with the board. For instance, you can display the task priority.
To create additional attributes, complete the following steps:
- Open the required board form. You can do that:
- From the board form: click Board settings in the left upper corner.
- From the navigator: navigate to SDLC → General Settings → Project Boards, find the required board in the list and open its form.
- From the form of the project to which the board belongs: click Open board on the project form, then Board settings in the left upper corner.
- Find the Additional Attributes related list.
- Click New and fill in the modal window fields.
- Click Create to apply the changes.
Create additional attributes modal window fields
| Field | Mandatory | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Task type | Y | Specify the type of tasks the attributes of which you need to display on the cards. You can only select from the third-level tasks that are used in the project. |
| Fields | Y | Specify the columns the values of which must be displayed on the card. You can only select from the columns of the selected task type table. |
There is no order configuration for additional attributes, so they are displayed according to the creation date: the earlier the attribute is added, the higher its position in the list is.