In this article:
1. How to Create the Rule?
2. How to Set Up and Enable the Rule?
3. Practical Examples of Using the 'Relative Card is Moved' Rule
This Business rule will automatically move a card to a specified position when its relative card is moved to a predefined position. A typical example would be to have two relative cards on different boards, so when the card on board A is moved to a given column/lane, then its relative in board B will be moved to the defined column/lane too.
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, and select the "Relative card is moved" rule.
Note: If 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 "Relative card is moved" configuration panel has the following fields and properties:
In the Name and Description fields, you can define the name of the rule and give a description of 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 rule 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. with a Workspace Manager of a board), if appropriate. In this case, they will be able to edit/disable/enable the rule.
Every business rule has three main control settings: When; And; Then. It is a sort of "point-and-click" programming language with which you can automate any process. The way it works is based on the programming conditional statement “if this, then that.”
To save/enable a rule click on the Save button at the lower right corner of the configuration panel.
1. WHEN - this is the event that will trigger an action when it occurs (i.e. a relative card is moved).
2. AND - here you define the filters that specify the conditions under which the actions should be triggered. There are two mandatory filters:
- Board — Select the board(s) where the rule will be applied.
- Position — There are two options: position is/is not. Select one of the options from the dropdown. Click on Not Set to 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).
Click on "or" to add extra positions and optimize the scope of the rule. Use the delete sign to remove a position.
- Click on the Add new property button to add extra filters, if necessary. Select a Regular field or/and a Custom field and click on Add.
For all time-related fields, you can select the following units: Days, Hours, Minutes, and Seconds. You can also set Custom Fields that you have created and added to the corresponding boards in your Workspaces as a filter. 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
You have two main actions here:
- update the relative card with a predefined action when the other relative moves to a certain position on the board.
- configure this rule to move a card's relative when the other relative card is moved. For example, we have relative X and relative Y. We can configure this rule so that when relative X is moved to one place, relative Y moves to another place. To define the position where the other relative card (relative Y) is to be moved, you need to click on Choose where to move and select the board and position from the board minimap (you can select a cell or an entire column/swimlane by clicking on its name).
In addition, for cases where you have more than 2 relative cards linked to the initial card, you can create a filter that specifies where to move each relative card separately. To define where multiple relative cards should be moved to, all you have to do is click on Add new move action and create a specific filter (e.g. board, workflow, swimlane, etc.) for it.
3. Practical Examples of Using the 'Relative Card is Moved' Rule
This rule comes in handy when a lot of connected cards on the same level (relatives) are involved. You use this rule to solve various scenarios, but the most common one is the cross-board moving of relatives.
Here is an example of what that would look like in a software development scenario:
- Whenever a card is moved to 'Done' (i.e. Developed) on the Development workflow, move the relative to the Ready to Start (i.e. Ready for testing) on the QA workflow.
The rule automates the process of moving these related cards which ensures they are not forgotten and further improves process efficiency.
In addition, you can use this rule for a scenario with multiple relatives. Imagine a card with 3 relatives where only some of them need to move when a specific one is moved. For example, if they are a part of the same project but belong to different swimlanes / are different types of work.