Content:
1. Introduction to Board Policies
2. Board level Policies
3. Workflow Policies
4. Column Policies
5. Lane Policies
6. Cell Policies
1. Introduction to Board Policies
To improve the visualization of your process policies, you can use the “Board policies” feature.
When you open it from the sidebar menu, a window with 5 sections will pop up:
“Board level policies”
"Workflow Policies"
“Column Policies”
“Lane Policies”
“Cell Policies”
For easier navigation, and when working with more complex boards, you can use the ‘hide empty policies’ option to only display sections that have some information in them.
In order to see the Column, Lane, or Cell policies of a workflow, you have to select the desired workflow from the dropdown menu:
2. Board-Level Policies
You can use the Board Policies description field to input a description of your board. For example, you can include specific guidelines that your team needs to follow when working on a given board. You can display images here too, so it can be used as a type of bulletin board as well.
In addition to that, you can configure a default card template for the whole board so it will be applicable to all new cards created on that board. More on card templates can be found in the dedicated article.
You would be also able to apply the Calculated card size and Calculated card deadline from the Field formulas section.
Finally, you could also create Arrival and Departure rules that would be applicable to the whole board.
Arrival rules can restrict cards from being moved to the board unless they meet a specific condition.
Similarly, Departure rules can be implemented in order to prevent cards from moving out of the board unless a specific condition has been met.
More on Arrival and Departure rules can be found in the dedicated article.
3. Workflow Policies
The Workflow policies section is similar to the Board policies section - you can configure a default card template and arrival/departure rules, but those would only be applicable to the workflow you have selected from the dropdown menu at the beginning.
4. Column Policies
The Column Policies provide additional information on the different columns/stages in your work process. Under every column, you will find what policies apply to it (if any).
They are organized into 7 groups:
“Description”
“Service Level Expectations” (only applicable to columns from the 'Requested' and ‘In Progress’ sections)
“Exit Criteria”
“Card Ordering”
“Arrival rules”
“Departure rules”
“Business Rules”
The Description window of the Column Policies works differently than the one for the Board Rules.
From the Column Policies Description menu (which can be accessed by clicking on the pencil icon), the following window will appear and allow you to edit the selected column settings:
- Column name (1) - From here you can change the name of the column as it appears on the board
- Column limit (2) - From here you can change the limitation of cards for the selected column. Whether or not this is calculated based on the cards' count or size can be changed via 'Edit workflows'.
- Cards per row (3) - From here you can configure how many rows of cards would be visualized - by default, this is set to 1.
- Column description (4) - Here you can outline specific instructions or procedures for your team regarding the intended usage of this column. They will be visible in the board policies tab or by clicking on the information icon next to the column name.
- Exit Criteria (5) - Here you can set a specific requirement (6) that needs to be completed before the card can move out of the current column. Click on Add (7) to save the exit criteria.
- Column type (8) - You can change the type (activity or queue) of the column from this window if needed. More on that can be found here.
From the Service Level Expectations menu (which can be accessed by clicking on the pencil icon), the following window (shown below) will appear. From the window, you can (1) Create a new SLE for the selected column or (2) change an existing one as well as enable or disable them. You can also search for SLEs from the filter at the top.
From the Business Rules menu (which can be accessed by clicking on the pencil icon), you can access the list of rules that are applied to the selected column. If there are no such rules applied, the business rule administration window (that contains all rules) will open instead. From this window, you can (1) add new rules, (2) edit existing rules, and (3) enable/disable rules. You can also search for a specific business rule from the filter.
There are two main ways we recommend utilizing the column rules:
- The description can be used to explain the process that happens in each column or outline the exit conditions of cards from said columns.
- Monitoring the policies, business rules, and SLEs applied to the columns in the workflow.
5. Lane Policies
As the name suggests, “Lane Polcies” visualizes the lanes in your process including the policies that apply to them. Just like the Column Policies, it gives you a summary of the existing description, SLEs, and business rules for a given lane and allows you to edit them.
6. Cell Policies
The “Cell policies” dropdown allows you to set the following three functionalities on a per-cell basis:
Card ordering - ordering cards according to configured criteria.
Arrival rules - rules that restrict cards from entering a specific cell unless they meet a specific condition.
Departure rules - rules that prevent cards from exiting the cell unless a specific condition is met.