General Kanban

ZenTao version 16.0 has added a General Kanban feature.

 

General Kanban is very flexible and suitable for non-R&D affairs management, users can easily build specific workflow through Kanban to manage daily affairs or team collaboration in a visual way.

1. Kanban Space

1.1 The Concept of Space

It includes Private Space, Cooperation Space, and Public Space. Different types of spaces have different attributes and collaboration methods, in the convenience of users with the different requirements to select.

 

A space can be understood as a project, where all the transactions involved in a project can be displayed, tracked, and managed through a Kanban board.

 

"Involved": Filter all spaces and Kanban boards that the current user is involved in (users in spaces, teams, and whitelists).

 

"Closed": It can be combined with the current tag filter conditions to control whether to show closed spaces. It is not enabled by default. 

1.2 Maintenance of Space

1.2.1 Assign Space Privilege

Before using Kanban, you need to go to More--Admin--Member--Privilege, to assign space privilege.

 

The General Kanban is a general-purpose function, and all privileges are recommended to be open. 

1.2.2 Create a Space

Click the button below to create a space. 

or 

There are 3 types of space: Private Space, Cooperation Space, and Public Space. Next, we will introduce them in detail. 

1.2.3 Public Space

Some public affairs within the company can be managed through the public space to enhance the transparency of affairs.

 

The operation privilege of public space is mainly controlled by the space owner and team members.

 

Non-owners and non-team members only have the view privilege in the public space, they can review all the Kanban in the public space. 

1.2.4 Cooperation Space

Cooperation Space is newly added. It has certain privacy and can only be accessed by the space owner and team members, which is for the convenience of users to collaborate.

 

The operation privilege of collaboration space is mainly controlled by the space owner and team members.

 

Non-owners and non-team members only have the view privilege in the collaboration space. The history space data belongs to the collaboration space after the upgrade, and the whitelist members will be added to the team members. 

1.2.5 Private Space

My Space in the previous General Kanban has been adjusted to Private Space, which is completely a personal space.

 

The team settings, as well as public and private access controls, are removed from the private space, only the whitelist is retained, and the whitelist members only have the view privilege.

1.2.6 How to use Space

Let's take a cooperation space as an example to introduce how to use it.

 

Create a Space 

Select cooperation space as the type and then enter the name, owner, team, and description, finally click Save. 

Create one or more Kanban in the cooperation space.

Enter the name, owner, team, and description, and then click Save. 

The creation of space and Kanban in the collaboration space is complete now. 

2. How to Use Kanban

2.1 Enter a Specific Kanban

Click the Kanban name to enter a specific Kanban.

2.2 Region

There is a default region in a Kanban, which can be used as a tool for business type division. The region may not be used for simple transaction management. But when managing cross-departmental matters in a Kanban, it can be used to divide them: personnel region, administrative region, financial region and etc.

 

Multiple regions can be added to a Kanban, and all of them can be expanded/collapsed.

The region feature can be used for large scale management or company business planning, with a single Kanban to get a global view of the entire company's operation.

2.3 Column

There are 4 default columns in the system: wait, doing, done, and close, which represent the workflow of specific transactions.

 

Users can customize personalized workflows by adjusting the names of columns according to the actual business scenarios. 

Not only the column name and color can be edited, but also the WIP settings, split column, create column on left/right, archive column, delete column can be set.

2.4 Lane

There is only one default lane in the Kanban board, and it is enough to manage simple matters through one lane, users can add multiple lanes according to actual needs, of course.

 

There are many practical scenarios for lanes. They can be used as tools to classify functional modules or business types, importance, or priority. 

2.5 Create a Card

Click the button below to create one or more cards.

Enter the card name, lane, assignee and etc, and then click Save.

2.6 More about Card

Click "More" on the top right corner of a card to edit card, archive card, delete card, move card, and set the card color.

2.7 Move a Card

The target Kanban column will be highlighted in orange when a card is dragged. Release the card to complete the move, and you can also sort the cards by dragging them up and down in the column.

Or you can click "Move Card" if there are too many columns.

2.8 Card Color Setting

The card is white by default and can be set to red for blocking, orange for warning, and green for urgent.

3. Kanban Settings

3.1 Kanban Settings

Click "Setting" to view more features:

• Import: Kanban is allowed to import product plan, release, execution, build, and other Kanban cards.
• Archive: Archive columns and cards.
• Column Width: Set the column width as required.
• Done Function: Complete and activate the card. 

3.2 Import

3.2.1 Enable the Import Function

Click "Settings" -> "Import" in the top right corner, tick the box "Enable the import function, you can only import content that you have permission to view.", "Product Plan", "Release", "Build", "Execution", and "Other Kanban Cards", finally click Save. 

Click "+" in the lane column, the Card, Import -- Plan, Release, Execution, Build will be shown in the pop-out window.

3.2.2 Transfer Card

Users can transfer cards from other accessible Kanban to the current board.

 

Click "+" in the "wait" column, and then click "Card" in the drop-down menu, the cards accessible will be shown in the pop-out window.

Select Kanban and target lane from the drop-down menu, tick the box of the cards required, and then click "Card" to transfer the card.

The cards will be transferred and shown in the target column.

3.2.3 Import Plan

Click "+" in the "wait" column, and then click "Import" -> "Plan" in the drop-down menu.

 

Note: A product is selected by default on the Import Plan page, but as for other import pages, All Products are selected by default.

Select product and target lane from the drop-down menu, tick the box of the cards required, and then click "Import".

The plan card with its icon, name, status, time period and owner will be shown in the target column. Click the plan name to view the detail.

3.2.4 Import Release

Click "+" in the "wait" column, and then click "Import" -> "Release" in the drop-down menu.

 

Select product and target lane from the drop-down menu, tick the box of the cards required, and then click "Import".

The release card with its icon, name, status, time period and owner will be shown in the target column. Click the release name to view the detail.

3.2.5 Import Execution

Click "+" in the "wait" column, and then click "Import" -> "Execution" in the drop-down menu.

 

Select product and target lane from the drop-down menu, tick the box of the cards required, and then click "Import".

The execution card with its icon, name, status, time period and owner will be shown in the target column. Click the execution name to view the detail.

3.2.6 Import Build

Click "+" in the "wait" column, and then click "Import" -> "Build" in the drop-down menu.

 

Select product and target lane from the drop-down menu, tick the box of the cards required, and then click "Import".

The build card with its icon, name, status, build time and owner will be shown in the target column. Click the execution name to view the detail.

4. Done Function

Cards in the General Kanban support completion and activation operations, and are not bound to the column status, but simply identify whether the card is completed.

 

The Done function needs to be enabled before the Finish Card and Active Card are shown in the menu.

How to enable the Done function: Click "Setting" -> "Done Function" in the top right corner, tick the box of "Enable" and click Save. 

Click "Finish Card" and then there will be a "Finished" sign in front of the card.

Or click "Finish Card" on the card detail page.

A finished card can be activated. Click "Activate Card", it will back to normal status.

5. Column Width Setting

General Kanban, Task Execution Kanban, and Execution Kanban (Professional R&D Kanban) all support lane column width settings.

 

Column width can be fixed or auto-adjusted. Click "Setting" -> "Column Width" in the top right corner, tick the box of "Fixed" or "Auto Width" and click Save. 

6. Archive and Delete

The archive feature is not enabled by default and needs to be enabled in the settings. 

And then you can view the archived card and the archived column.

6.1 Archive Card

Click "More" -> "Archive Card" in the top right corner of a card. 

There will be a reminder popped out. 

Click "OK", the card won't be shown in the Kanban column but shown in the "View archived card".

The archived card can be restored or deleted.

6.2 Archive Column and Delete Column

Click "More" -> "Archive Column" or ''Delete Column'' in the top right corner of a column. 

6.2.1 Archive and Delete Parent-Column

Click "More" -> ''Delete Column'', there will be a reminder popped out "Are you sure to delete this column? After deleting the column, all cards in this column will also be deleted".

Click "More" -> ''Archive Column'', there will be a reminder popped out "Are you sure to archive this column? After archiving the column, the column and all cards in the column will be hidden. You can view the archived columns in the Region - Archived".

Click "Archive" -> ''View archived column'', and then click ''OK'' in the pop-out window, the archived column with its cards will be restored.

6.2.2 Archive and Delete Sub-Column

Click "More" -> ''Delete Column'' in a sub-column, there will be a reminder popped out "Are you sure to delete this column? After deleting a column, all cards in the column will be moved to the parent column."

Click "More" -> ''Archive Column'' in a sub-column, there will be a reminder popped out "Are you sure to archive this column? After archiving the column, the column and all cards in the column will be hidden. You can view the archived columns in the Region - Archived."

Click "Archive" -> ''View archived column'', and then click ''OK'' in the pop-out window, the archived column with its cards will be restored.

6.2.3 Archive and Delete Single Sub-Column

 Click "More" -> ''Delete Column'' in a single sub-column, there will be a reminder popped out "Are you sure to delete this column? After deleting a column, all cards in the column will be moved to the parent column."

Click "More" -> ''Archive Column'' in a single sub-column, there will be a reminder popped out "Are you sure to archive this column? After archiving the column, the column and all cards in the column will be hidden. You can view the archived columns in the Region - Archived."

Click "Archive" -> ''View archived column'', and then click ''OK'' in the pop-out window, the archived column with its cards will be restored.