Content:
1. How to create the rule?
2. How to set up and enable the rule?
3. Practical examples for using the "Recurring Update Cards" rule?
With this business rule you can set up a schedule and update the details of specified cards automatically. For example, you can configure the system to scan your cards every day and change the color to red for those cards which are assigned to a given user. These rules are executed once per hour.
1. How to create the rule?
Only users with "Account Owners" or "Manage Business Rules" privileges can create business rules.
Go to your Administration panel at the top right of your screen ->open the Business Rules tab -> select the Recurring update cards rule tab.
Note: In case there is a set of defined rules to your account -> use the Add New Rule button at the upper right side of the panel.
2. How to set up and enable the rule?
The "Recurring update cards" configuration panel has the following fields and properties:
In the Name and Description fields, you can change the name of the rule and describe the scenario you will achieve with it. This way you can create an overview of your active business rules, as upon creation every automation is present in the Business Rules panel.
PRO tip: You can specify the board name in the rule name in order to easily distinguish rules configured for each of your boards.
You can share the rule with other users (e.g. Workspace Managers), if appropriate. In this case, they will be able to edit/disable/enable the rule.
The Business Rules are a sort of "point-and-click" programming language with which you can automate any process.
Each Business Rule has three main properties: When; And; Then.
1. WHEN - here you define a schedule for the automatic card update.
Click on Every Day -> select one option -> click on Change.
Practical tip: The Advanced Schedule gives you options like "every x day of the week", "every first/second/third/fourth Monday of every x month", "every June in day x", etc.
Click on Not Set to configure the advanced schedule.
2. AND - here you define the filters, which specify the conditions under which the actions should be triggered.
- When users create a new rule, the Board filter will be applied by default. This means that the rule will be executed only for the boards you specify in the filter. If you remove the board property and enable the rule, it will be executed for the entire account. You can use "or" to add extra boards and optimize the scope of the rule. Use the minus sign to remove the board.
- Click on the Add new property button to add extra filters, if necessary. Select a Regular field or/and a Custom field -> click on Add.
For all time-related fields you can select the following units: Days, Hours, Minutes, Seconds.
When you have added the filter, set it up by clicking on Not set or enter a value.
Note: You can add as many filters as you wish by clicking on Add new property and repeating the steps.
3. THEN - Select an action to be triggered.
Click on Add new action under the type of action you wish to be triggered -> select your preferred action if there are several options -> click on Add -> choose the value from the dropdown or click on Not set to configure it. You can add more than one action from one type by repeatedly clicking on Add new action and configuring it.
The following actions can be triggered:
1) Execute At: Click on the time and select an hour between 00:00 and 23:00. The time zone set for your account is displayed. Note: It is important for the execution of the rule to set up your correct time zone in My Account.
2) Update the card details: The following card details can be updated at the scheduled time
Select a regular field or a custom field that you have created and added to the corresponding boards in your Workspaces- > click on Add. Choose the value from the dropdown or click on Not set to configure the action.
Practical tip: When the scheduled time comes, the Board is "X" and the Title is "XY" -> set an Owner. Define the Owner during the configuration process.
3) Move the card: choose where to move the card. Select a board from the dropdown and a position from the board minimap (you can select a cell or an entire column/swimlane by clicking on its name).
Practical tip: When the scheduled time comes, the Board is "X" and the Priority is "High" -> move the card to the column "Expedite".
4) Send notifications: The system will notify a user of your choice when a card is updated. Create a template for the notification, which is to be sent and click on Save Message.
- In the To:/Cc: field -> use the "add internal users" dropdown which opens a list of all users in your account including: Self, Owner, Watchers, Contributors, Reporter. Select and add the user/s you wish to be notified. The "add custom field" option is used in the following case: if you have a custom field with an email address and the created card contains this custom field, the notification will be sent to this email address.
- The subject of the notification email contains by default the title of the executed rule for the card, the column name, board name and card ID. You can modify the title by clicking on "add card fields" and choosing your preferred field/s or you can remove all fields and select a custom title.
- Email body: you can either keep the predefined text or modify it by deleting and creating a new text.
5) Invoke web service:
Click on Add new action to add a call to external web service -> click on Not Set to configure the parameters.
You can configure the following options:
Name – a human readable identifier for the web service call
URL – the address of the endpoint service
Method – which HTTP method should be used for the call (available options are POST, GET, HEAD, PUT, DELETE, OPTIONS, PATCH)
Authentication – NONE or BASIC authentication supported for the moment
HTTP Body – Whether you want to send the payload as raw JSON-encoded values, directly in the HTTP body
Parameters – parameters to be sent to the endpoint service
Headers – custom headers to be sent to the endpoint service
To send the parameters in the body of the web service call -> activate the checkbox.
Additionally, the POST, PUT, DELETE and PATH requests send an additional parameter – ‘kanbanize_payload’ that contains information about the card that has been created or moved. The payload is in the following format:
{
“trigger” : “taskCreated”,
“timestamp” : “2015-03-04T14:19:38+00:00”,
“card” : {
“taskid” : “35156”,
“title” : “”,
“description” : “”,
“tcolor” : “#34a97b”,
“priority” : “Average”,
“size” : null,
“owner” : “testAdmin”,
“deadline” : null,
“typeName” : “”,
“tags” : “”,
“extLink” : “”,
“reporter” : “testAdmin”,
“createdAt” : “2015-03-04 14:19:33”,
“columnname” : “Requested”,
“lanename” : “Default Swimlane”,
“boardName” : “my board”,
“customFields” : [
],
“boardid” : “131”
}
}
When the payload is received by the endpoint, the content of “kanbanize_payload” can be parsed and the required actions can then be performed by the external system.
Click on the green plus sign to add a parameter. Select a field you wish to set as parameter -> click on Apply.
When you have configured your parameters, use the Test Settings button to send a pre-scanned request for testing and debugging purposes only.
Click on Save Service to save the configuration.
Check Kanbanize API documentation.
To enable the rule-> click on the green check mark at the top right corner of the configuration panel. Click on the red x-sign to cancel the creation of the rule.
3. Practical examples for using the "Recurring Update Cards" rule?
This rule comes in handy when there are a lot of specific cards that need to be updated with the same information. The rule eliminates the need to manually update them and makes sure they are not forgotten. The most common example is to move all the cards in 'Done' to 'Ready to Archive' on month closing. You can achieve this by using this configuration:
Another example is updating cards when their cycle time reaches a certain value and you would like to flag them using a sticker. This is useful for scenarios such as bug reports.
