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Options for Kanban Boards

This is a reference for the options available for configuring any type of Kanban board. Each type of board also has its own unique options. In the table below, click the board type to read about the type's unique options.

For an introduction to managing Kanban boards, see Manage Kanban Boards.

The board edit page is organized into three tabs as follows.

General

General fields are:

  • Name
  • Sort order: sets the order of this board in the main board menu. Lower numbers are ordered higher in the menu. Boards with the same sort order value are ordered alphabetically by their name. The board with the lowest sort order is considered the default board, which new users are directed to the first time they log in.
  • Board description: an optional note to explain the board's purpose or configuration
  • Custom fields: select which custom fields are displayed on the card. Most custom field types are supported except for multi-line field types, i.e. text boxes.

In the metrics section, the options available for all boards are:

  • Time in status: shows the sum and average of time in status for cards in each section.
  • Warnings and errors: shows the number of cards with red error tags and orange warning tags, so you can see where the most problematic work is on your boards.
  • Custom fields/UDFs: which numeric custom fields are shown; the average value and sum of the values is shown.

In the swimlanes section, the options available for all boards are:

  • Custom fields/UDFs: grouping cards by custom field values is possible. The following types are supported: text (with entry via form field, dropdown, radio option, etc.), list (single line), and boolean (checkbox)
  • WIP limits per swimlane: causes the WIP min and max from the column section to apply to each swimlane column individually, rather than as a total for all swimlanes. On a technician swimlane board this is useful to define WIP limits for each technician individually rather than for the team as a whole.

In the ranking section, there are no options common to every type of board.

Filters

There are no filters common to every type of board. For a list of filters, refer to the documentation for the type of board you're using, available from the list at the top of the page.

Columns

Columns are configured with these common fields, in addition to other fields unique to each type of board:

  • Name: the name that appears on the column on the Kanban board
  • Statuses/stages: the statuses of cards that appear in the column. Multiple statuses can be assigned to one column. To assign a status, drag it from the Unassigned Status area to the status area in the column. You can also drag the status from one column to another. To unassign the status, drag it back to the Unassigned area.
  • WIP min: the minimum work in progress (WIP), or number of cards, that should be in the column. If the number of cards is below this number, the WIP indicator becomes red instead of green. If the board's swimlane is related to assigned resources (i.e. primary resource or project manager), then you should also enable the "WIP limits per swimlane" option on the General tab.
  • WIP max: the maximum work in progress (WIP) that should be in the column. If the number of cards is above this number, the WIP indicator becomes red instead of green. If the board's swimlane is related to assigned resources (i.e. primary resource or project manager), then you should also enable the "WIP limits per swimlane" option on the General tab.
  • Status age: controls if cards in the column show the length of time they have been in their current status.
  • Age warning: the amount of time a card can be in a status before the status field on the card is highlighted in red. See below for valid formats for this field. This allows you to see at a glance the cards that haven't changed status in a while and may need attention.
  • Age filter: the amount of time a card can be in a status before it is removed from the column and not displayed. This is most commonly used to limit how long work stays in a Completed column. See below for valid formats for this field.
  • Split weight: controls how available space on a board is allocated to columns when there's enough space for some columns to have multiple inner columns. If all columns have split weight=1, then extra inner columns are given to the columns with the most cards. However, you can increase this value to adjust the weighting of the column as space is being allocated. For example, you could set this to 5 to treat the column as if it has 5 times as many cards as it really has, so that it is given extra space even if other columns have more cards. You can set it to 0 to never give the column extra space, even if it has the greatest number of cards.

Time Threshold Formats

The status age, time entry, last note warning, as well as status age or due date warning threshold fields can be entered in one of the following formats, where X represents an integer:

  • "X"- the threshold is X days
  • "Xm" - the threshold is X minutes. For example, to set a threshold of 15 minutes, enter "15m".
  • "Xh" - the threshold is X hours
  • "Xd" - the threshold is X days
  • "Xw" - the threshold is X weeks

For types of records where the fields are dates without times, only the days or weeks formats are available.