Sanplex provides a Kanban project management model that enables visual project management through a dedicated Development Kanban Board.

【视频介绍】

The following sections explain how to use Kanban projects and the Development Kanban Board.

I. Create a Kanban Project

When creating a project, on the Project Management Mode page, select Kanban (Development Kanban Project Management).

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Create a Kanban project:

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Access control for a Kanban project works the same way as for other project types. However, for permission control, only Inherited is available, which combines system permissions and project permissions. Custom project-specific permission settings are not supported.

The Budget and Permissions fields are collapsed under More. Click More to expand and complete these settings.

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II. Create a Board

After the Kanban project is created successfully, you can create boards for it.

In the project list, click the Kanban project name to enter the project’s Board List page.

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On the board list page, you can filter boards by All, In Progress, Not Started, Suspended, and Closed.

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On the project board list page, click Add Board to open the board creation page.

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After a Kanban board is created, it is displayed as a card under the Kanban project.

• The board status appears before the board name on the card.
• The lower-left corner of the card shows board team members.
• The lower-right corner of the card shows the board’s access control.
• When you hover over the upper-right corner of the card, more action buttons appear. You can configure the board, change its status, or delete it.

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Click Board Settings in the card’s more actions menu to open the board settings page.

Board settings are essentially the board edit page. After updating the information, click Save.

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III. Board Settings

Click a board name to enter the board. By default, the Overview Board is displayed, showing the Requirements, Tasks, and Bugs boards together.

You can also switch to a single-board view to display only the Parent Development Requirements board, Development Requirements board, Task board, or Bug board. Each board shows its default columns and subcolumns.

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1. Create button

There is a Create button in the upper-right corner of the board. From here, you can:

• create a requirement
• batch create requirements
• link requirements
• link requirements by plan
• create a bug
• batch create bugs
• create a task
• batch create tasks

After items are created or linked successfully, they appear in the corresponding columns of the appropriate swimlane.

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In addition to the Create button in the upper-right corner, there are also Create buttons in the upper-right corner of the Backlog column on the Requirements board, the Not Started column on the Task board, and the To Confirm column on the Bug board.

You can also use these buttons to create or link requirements, tasks, and bugs.

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The following example uses requirement creation to illustrate the board’s Create functionality.

Click Create Requirement to open the requirement creation page.

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When linking requirements, Link by Plan allows you to select the plan whose requirements should be linked.

After the link is completed successfully, the requirements under that plan appear in the Backlog column of the Requirements board.

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Requirements created or linked in this way are displayed on the Requirements board.

Click the avatar in the lower-right corner of a requirement card to assign the requirement.

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2. Board configuration

To the left of the Create button is the Board Settings button. From here, you can:

• add a board section
• set swimlane height
• set column width
• edit the board
• change board status
• delete the board

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2.1 Add a section

Click Add Section in the settings menu to create a new board section. The new section can either be customized or copied from the default section layout.

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A successfully created section appears below the default section. If you copy the default section layout, the new section will have the same board structure as the default section. If you choose a custom section layout, the new section is empty and you need to create swimlanes and configure columns manually.

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You can also use the more actions menu in the upper-right corner of the board to edit and create swimlanes.

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2.2 Set swimlane height and card count

By default, swimlane height is Auto, which adjusts automatically to the height of the cards. For example, if there are 10 cards, all 10 are displayed directly as long as no scrollbar is needed.

If you choose Custom, the swimlane height is controlled by the number of visible cards. The value must be greater than 2. For example, if it is set to 3 and a column contains 4 cards, only 3 cards are displayed, and the fourth card can be viewed by scrolling.

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The following shows the display after the setting is applied.

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2.3 Set column width

By default, board columns use a fixed width, which means all columns in the section have the same width.

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Board display with fixed column width:

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After changing to adaptive column width, columns in the board swimlane are displayed dynamically and no longer use a uniform width.

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The Edit Board, Change Board Status, and Delete Board options in the board settings menu work the same way as the corresponding options in the project board’s more actions menu, so they are not described again here.

2.4 Configure board column colors

You can edit board columns and configure Work in Progress (WIP) settings.

When editing a board column, you can change the column name and the color of the column name.

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In the WIP settings for a board column, the default is no limit, which means the WIP value is unlimited.

You can set a specific limit as needed.

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2.5 Set WIP limits for board columns

When the number of items in a board column exceeds the configured WIP limit, the column background turns red. Hover over the question mark icon to see a message indicating that the WIP limit has been exceeded.

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If a board has subcolumns, the total WIP limit of the subcolumns cannot exceed the WIP limit of the parent column.

Likewise, the WIP limit of the parent column cannot be smaller than the combined WIP limits of its subcolumns.

The following example uses the Development column and its subcolumns In Progress and Done on the Requirements board.

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If the WIP limit of the parent Development column is smaller than the combined WIP limit of its subcolumns, the settings cannot be saved and a warning message is displayed.

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If the WIP limit set for a subcolumn exceeds the WIP limit of its parent column, the settings cannot be saved and a warning message is displayed.

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2.6 Swimlane settings

When you hover over a swimlane, more action buttons appear. You can configure the swimlane or delete it.

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In swimlane settings, you can change the swimlane name and background color.

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After the setting is applied:

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After a swimlane is deleted, the data in the swimlane is hidden, but not deleted.

A deleted swimlane can be restored from Admin > System > Data > Trash.

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IV. Using the Board

The following examples use the Requirements board to explain board usage in detail. The Bug board and Task board work in largely the same way and can be used as a reference.

1. Sort and view board cards

After switching to the Requirements board, requirement cards are displayed using the default sort order.

You can change the view to sort by:

• requirement priority
• requirement category (type)
• requirement module
• requirement source
• assignee

When sorted by assignee:

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2. Drag and drop cards

On the Requirements board, you can drag a requirement card from the Backlog column to the Ready column and release the mouse to complete the move.

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After the card is moved successfully to the Ready column:

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3. Display rules

3.1 Rules for displaying requirements in board columns

• Newly created requirements are displayed by default in the Backlog column. Requirements can be dragged back and forth between Backlog and Ready.
• A requirement is displayed in the In Progress or Done subcolumn under Development based on the status of its linked development-type tasks. If a linked development-type task is in progress, the requirement is displayed in Development > In Progress. If the task is completed, the requirement is displayed in Development > Done.
• A requirement is displayed in the In Progress or Done subcolumn under Test based on the status of its linked test-type tasks. If a linked test-type task is in progress, the requirement is displayed in Test > In Progress. If the task is completed, the requirement is displayed in Test > Done.
• A requirement is displayed in the Accepted column after a completed requirement is edited and its stage is changed to Accepted.
• A requirement is displayed in the Released column after a completed or accepted requirement is edited and its stage is changed to Released.
• A requirement is displayed in the Closed column after the requirement is closed.

The development status of a requirement stays aligned with the status of its linked development tasks:

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After the linked development-type tasks are completed, the requirement is displayed in the Done subcolumn under Development.

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3.2 Rules for displaying data on the Bug board and Task board

• The display rules for the Bug board and Task board are relatively simple. Newly created bugs appear in To Confirm, and newly created tasks appear in Not Started.
• On the Bug board, bugs can be dragged from To Confirm to Confirmed or Resolving (In Progress / Done).
• On the Bug board, bugs can be dragged from Done to Testing (In Test / Test Complete).
• On the Bug board, bugs can be dragged from Testing (In Test / Test Complete) to Closed.
• On the Task board, tasks are displayed in the corresponding columns according to task status.

3.3 Synchronization between requirement and bug lists and board data

For products linked to a Kanban project, operations performed on requirements and bugs in the product requirement list and bug list are synchronized to the board.

Likewise, actions performed on the board, such as creating items or changing status by drag and drop, are also synchronized back to the requirement and bug lists.

3.4 View the board in full screen

Click the Full Screen button in the upper-right corner of the board to view it in full screen mode.

Press Esc to exit full screen mode.

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V. Cumulative Flow Diagram

Kanban boards include a Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD).

A CFD, also known as an area chart, is a project management tool that can effectively track and forecast project delivery.

The X-axis represents time, and the Y-axis represents quantity, that is, the number of requirements, tasks, or bugs.

Over time, it shows the changes and trends in Work in Progress (WIP) across board columns in a clear visual way.

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1. Default display range of the CFD

• By default, the CFD shows data for the most recent 14 days, including weekends. If the board has existed for fewer than 14 days, all available data since the board was created is shown. For example, if the board started on July 13 and today is July 17, the displayed range is July 13 to July 17.
• On the day a board is created, a CFD cannot be generated, and the system displays No data.
• You can choose whether weekends are shown. If weekends are excluded, the default display range becomes 10 days.

2. View up to 3 months of CFD data

• You can use the date selector to switch the date range. The maximum supported time range is 3 months.

3. Other notes

• Currently, the CFD supports statistics and display only for data in the default board columns.

VI. Differences Between Development Kanban Board and General Kanban Board

Sanplex currently provides two types of Kanban:

• Development Kanban Board under Kanban projects, which is the feature set described above
• General Kanban Board under the Kanban view

General Kanban Board:

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1. Different target users

• The Development Kanban Board is mainly intended for project and development teams.
• The General Kanban Board is mainly suitable for managing non-development work and can also be used for personal task management.

2. Different functionality

• The Development Kanban Board manages projects through Requirements, Bug, and Task boards.
• The General Kanban Board can be used to build custom workflows for managing day-to-day work.

3. Different flexibility

• In the Development Kanban Board, dragging board items is constrained by status rules and linked data.
• The General Kanban Board is more flexible. Board items can be dragged more freely, and it supports Personal Space, Collaboration Space, and Public Space.

4. Similarities

• Both the Development Kanban Board and the General Kanban Board support team collaboration and visual management through boards.
• Both also support personalized configuration of board columns.