1. Introduction
The ‘Progress configuration’ section of a Column’s settings lets you define a completion percentage for each column on a board.
Previously, only the ‘Done’ and ‘Ready to Archive’ columns contributed to a card’s completion status. Cards in those columns were considered 100% complete, while cards in any other column were treated as 0% complete.
This new functionality gives you greater control over how progress is measured, providing a more accurate and meaningful reflection of overall project completion.
2. How to Set up the Progress configuration of a column
There are 2 ways to do this:
After opening a Board you can use ‘Edit workflows’ and click the cogwheel on each of the Columns in a Workflow. In the newly opened window you’ll find the ‘Progress configuration’ section:
Alternatively, you can use the Board sidebar and go to ‘Board policies’. Each column in a workflow will be visible under ‘Column policies’ – you can click on the Edit icon next to ‘Description’ and you’ll be able to adjust the ‘Progress configuration’ for the chosen column.
There are several options available:
Cards progress – allows you to set a custom completion percentage, that will be shown on every card in the chosen column.
Progress roll-up method – determines the method by which cards will contribute to their parents’ progress.
Note: In order to be able to change between the different roll-up methods, you need to define a value (percentage value) for the 'Cards progress' first.Card size with fallback to cumulative size – this option uses the Size set for the card and multiplies it by the completion percentage set in the ‘Cards progress’ field.
If no Size is set, the Cumulative Size will be multiplied by the value in ‘Cards progress’.
If the Size is not set and the Cumulative Size is 0, i.e. the card has no child cards of its own, then the value in ‘Cards progress’ will be multiplied by a default value of 1.
Cumulative size with fallback to card size – this option uses the Cumulative Size of the card and multiplies it by the completion percentage set in the ‘Cards progress’ field.
If the Cumulative Size is 0, the Size of the card will be multiplied by the value in ‘Cards progress’.
If the Cumulative Size is 0 and the Size is not set, then the value in ‘Cards progress’ will be multiplied by a default value of 1.
Card size only – this option uses only the Card’s Size and multiplies it by the ‘Cards progress’ value. If the size is not set, the value in ‘Cards progress’ will be multiplied by a default value of 1.
Important note: Cards that have their Size explicitly set to 0 do not contribute to their parents’ progress.
3. Example Use Cases
This section illustrates how the ‘Progress Configuration’ feature can be applied in various scenarios.
Note: Percentages are rounded down for completion progress.
Scenario 1
We’ve an initiative with 2 child cards. The initiative doesn’t have a Size set, nor does its column have a Cards progress % set.
The first child card is in the ‘Requested’ column, has a size of 10 and its column's Cards progress is set to 75%.
The second child card is in the ‘In Progress’ column, also has a size of 10 and its column's Cards progress is set to 25%.
Note: In this scenario all columns can use any ‘Progress roll-up method’ setting, the result will always be the same.
We multiply each child card’s Size by its column’s Cards progress value and we divide the sum by the total size of the child cards.
The completion percentage of the main initiative should be (0,75*10 + 0,25*10) / (10+10) = 50%.
Scenario 2
We’ve an initiative with 2 child cards. The initiative has a Size of 70 set, but its column doesn’t have a Cards progress % set.
The first child card is in the ‘Requested’ column, has a size of 10 and its column's Cards progress is set to 75%.
The second child card is in the ‘In Progress’ column, also has a size of 10 and its column's Cards progress is set to 25%.
Note: In this scenario all columns can use any ‘Progress roll-up method’ setting, the result will always be the same.
Since the parent initiative has a Size, but not a Cards progress % set for its column we once again multiply each child card’s Size by its column’s Cards progress value and we divide the sum by the total size of the child cards.
The completion percentage of the main initiative should be (0,75*10 + 0,25*10) / (10+10) = 50%.
Scenario 3
We’ve an initiative with 2 child cards. The initiative doesn’t have a Size set, but its column has its Cards progress % set to 9.
The first child card is in the ‘Requested’ column, has a size of 10 and its column's Cards progress is set to 75%.
The second child card is in the ‘In Progress’ column, also has a size of 10 and its column's Cards progress is set to 25%.
Note: In this scenario all columns can use any ‘Progress roll-up method’ setting, the result will always be the same.
Since the parent initiative has a Cards Progress % set for its column, this takes priority over the Cards Progress % set for the columns where its child cards reside. As such the initiative has its completion percentage set to 9%.
The completion percentage of the main initiative should be equal to the Cards progress value of the Initiative column = 9%.
Scenario 4
We’ve an initiative with 2 child cards. The initiative has a Size of 70 set and its column has its Cards progress % set to 9.
The first child card is in the ‘Requested’ column, has a size of 10 and its column's Cards progress is set to 75%.
The second child card is in the ‘In Progress’ column, also has a size of 10 and its column's Cards progress is set to 25%.
Note: In this scenario all columns can use any ‘Progress roll-up method’ setting, the result will always be the same.
Since the parent initiative has a Cards Progress % set for its column, this takes priority over the Cards Progress % set for the columns where its child cards reside. As such the initiative has its completion percentage set to 9%.
The size of the initiative is excluded from the calculation, since the completion percentage is set directly for the whole column.
The completion percentage of the main initiative should be equal to the Cards progress value of the Initiative column = 9%.
Scenario 5
We’ve an initiative with 2 child cards. The initiative doesn’t have a Size set, nor does its column have a Cards progress % set.
The first child card is in the ‘Requested’ column, has a size of 10 and its column's Cards progress is set to 75%.
The second child card is in the ‘In Progress’ column, also has a size of 10 but doesn’t have Cards progress set for its column.
Additionally, it has 2 children, each of which is in a separate column. The first 2nd level child has a size of 30 and its column has its Cards progress set to 50%. The other 2nd level child has a size of 50 and its column has its Cards progress set to 25%.
Note: In this scenario all columns can use any ‘Progress roll-up method’ setting, the result will always be the same.
We multiply the Size of the first child by its column’s Cards progress. We also multiply the sizes of the 2nd level children by their respective columns' Cards progress values. Everything is then summed up and divided by the total size.
We exclude the size of the second 1st level child, since it doesn’t have a Cards progress value set.
The completion percentage of the main initiative should be (0,75*10 + 0,5*30 + 0,25*50) / (10+30+50) ~ 38%.
Scenario 6
We’ve an initiative with 2 child cards. The initiative doesn’t have a Size set, nor does its column have a Cards progress % set.
The first child card is in the ‘Requested’ column, has a size of 10 and its column's Cards progress is set to 75%.
The second child card is in the ‘In Progress’ column, also has a size of 10 and has Cards progress set for its column to 50%.
Additionally, it has 2 children, each of which is in a separate column. The first 2nd level child has a size of 30 and its column has its Cards progress set to 50%. The other 2nd level child has a size of 50 and its column has its Cards progress set to 25%.
Note: The completion percentage for the main initiative will vary based on whether we decide to use the option ‘Cumulative size with fallback to card size’, since that will prioritise using Cumulative size, rather than Card size.
If we decide to use Cumulative size, we multiply the size of the first child card (since it doesn’t have any children, so its cumulative size is 0) by its respective column’s Cards progress and we multiply the Cards progress of the second child’s column by its cumulative size. We then sum those and divide them by the sum of the first child’s size and the second child’s cumulative size.
If we decide to use Card size, we multiply the sizes of each of the children cards by the Cards progress of their respective columns and we divide the sum by their total size.
The completion percentage of the main initiative will change based on whether we’re using Card Size or Cumulative Size for the columns:
(0,75*10 + 0,5*10) / (10+10) ~ 62% when using Card Size
(0,75*10 + 0,5*(30+50)) / (10+(30+50)) ~ 52% when using Cumulative Size
Scenario 7
We’ve an initiative with 2 child cards. The initiative doesn’t have a Size set, nor does its column have a Cards progress % set.
The first child card is in the ‘Requested’ column, has a size of 10 and its column's Cards progress is set to 75%.
The second child card is in the ‘In Progress’ column, has a size of 0 and has Cards progress set for its column to 50%.
Additionally, it has 2 children, each of which is in a separate column. The first 2nd level child has a size of 30 and its column has its Cards progress set to 50%. The other 2nd level child has a size of 50 and its column has its Cards progress set to 25%.
Note: The completion percentage for the main initiative will vary based on whether we decide to use the option ‘Cumulative size with fallback to card size’, since that will prioritise using Cumulative size, rather than Card size.
If we decide to use Cumulative size, we multiply the size of the first child card (since it doesn’t have any children, so its cumulative size is 0) by its respective column’s Cards progress and we multiply the Cards progress of the second child’s column by its cumulative size. We then sum those and divide them by the sum of the first child’s size and the second child’s cumulative size.
If we decide to use Card size, we multiply the size of the first card by its column’s Cards progress and exclude the second Child by multiplying it by its size of 0. This is then divided by the total size of the first level children.
The completion percentage of the main initiative will vary based on whether we’re using Card Size or Cumulative Size:
(0,75*10 + 0,5*0) / (10+0) ~ 75% when using Card Size
(0,75*10 + 0,5*(30+50)) / (10+(30+50)) ~ 52% when using Cumulative Size
Scenario 8
We’ve an initiative with 2 child cards. The initiative doesn’t have a Size set, nor does its column have a Cards progress % set.
The first child card is in the ‘Requested’ column, has a size of 0 and its column's Cards progress is set to any %.
The second child card has a size of 10, and its column has its Cards progress set to 100%. The ‘Done’ and ‘Ready to Archive’ columns contribute 100% to their parents’ progress by default.
Note: In this scenario, all columns can use any ‘Progress roll-up method’ setting, the result will always be the same.
The completion percentage of the main initiative will always be shown as !99%, since there’s at least one unfinished child with a size of 0.
Scenario 9
We’ve an initiative with 2 child cards. The initiative doesn’t have a Size set, nor does its column have a Cards progress % set.
The first child card is in the ‘Requested’ column, has a size of 10 and its column's Cards progress is set to 100%.
The second child card is in the ‘Done’ or ‘Ready to Archive’ column, i.e its contribution to its parent’s progress is 100%.
Note: In this scenario, all columns can use any ‘Progress roll-up method’ setting, the result will always be the same.
The completion percentage of the main initiative will always be shown as !99%, since there’s at least one child that is in a column that is not ‘Done’ or ‘Ready to Archive’. Child cards that are in a column with Cards progress set to 100% manually are not treated as ‘Done’, they need to be moved to the ‘Done’ or ‘Ready to Archive’ column.
Scenario 10
We’ve an initiative with 2 child cards. The initiative doesn’t have a Size set, nor does its column have a Cards progress % set.
The first child card is in the ‘Requested’ column, has a size of 10, but doesn’t have Cards progress for its column. It also shares a child with the second child card.
The second child card is in the ‘In Progress’ column, also has a size of 10 but doesn’t have Cards progress set for its column.
It also has 2 children, each of which is in a separate column. The first 2nd level child has a size of 30 and its column has its Cards progress set to 100%. The other 2nd level child has a size of 50 and its column has its Cards progress set to 60%.
Note: In this scenario all columns can use any ‘Progress roll-up method’ setting, the result will always be the same.
Here we exclude the first child card from the calculation, since it doesn’t have a Cards progress set for its column and its child is shared with the second child card.
For the second child card we multiply the sizes of each of its children by their respective columns’ Cards progress values. This is then divided by the total size of the 2nd level child cards.
The completion percentage of the main initiative should be (1*30 + 0,6*50) / (30+50) = 75%.
Scenario 11
We’ve an initiative with 2 child cards. The initiative doesn’t have a Size set, nor does its column have a Cards progress % set.
The first child card is in the ‘Requested’ column, has a size of 10 and has Cards progress for its column set to 40%. It also shares a child with the second child card.
The second child card is in the ‘In Progress’ column, also has a size of 10 but doesn’t have Cards progress set for its column.
It also has 2 children, each of which is in a separate column. The first 2nd level child has a size of 30 and its column has its Cards progress set to 100%. The other 2nd level child has a size of 50 and its column has its Cards progress set to 60%.
Note: In this scenario we use ‘Card size with fallback to cumulative size’ or ‘Card size only’.
For the first child we multiply its size by its column’s Cards progress. For the second child card we multiply the sizes of each of its 2nd level children by their respective columns’ Cards progress values. We sum the two and then divided that by the sum of the first child’s size and the total size of the 2nd level children.
The completion percentage of the main initiative should be (0,4*10 + 1*30 + 0,6*50) / (30+50) = 71%.
Scenario 12
We’ve an initiative with 2 child cards. The initiative doesn’t have a Size set, nor does its column have a Cards progress % set.
The first child card is in the ‘Requested’ column, has a size of 10 and has Cards progress for its column set to 40%. It also shares a child with the second child card.
The second child card is in the ‘In Progress’ column, also has a size of 10 but doesn’t have Cards progress set for its column.
It also has 2 children, each of which is in a separate column. The first 2nd level child has a size of 30 and its column has its Cards progress set to 100%. The other 2nd level child has a size of 50 and its column has its Cards progress set to 60%.
Note: In this scenario we use ‘Cumulative size with fallback to card size’.
For the first child we multiply its cumulative size by its column’s Cards progress. For the second child card we multiply the sizes of each of its 2nd level children by their respective columns’ Cards progress values. The sum of those is then divided by the total size of the 2nd level children.
The completion percentage of the main initiative should be (0,4*30 + 1*30 + 0,6*50) / (30+50) = 90%.
Scenario 13
We’ve an initiative with 2 child cards. The initiative doesn’t have a Size set, nor does its column have a Cards progress % set.
The first child card is in the ‘Requested’ column, has a size of 10 and has Cards progress for its column set to 40%. It also shares a child with the second child card.
The second child card is in the ‘In Progress’ column, also has a size of 10 and has its column Cards progress set to 5%.
It also has 2 children, each of which is in a separate column. The first 2nd level child has a size of 30 and its column has its Cards progress set to 100%. The other 2nd level child has a size of 50 and its column has its Cards progress set to 60%.
Note: In this scenario we use ‘Card size with fallback to cumulative size’ or ‘Card size only’.
Since both children have a Cards progress set for their column we multiply their Cards progress value by their sizes and then sum them. This is then divided by the sum of their sizes.
The completion percentage of the main initiative should be (0,4*10 + 0,05*10) / (10+10) ~ 22%.
Scenario 14
We’ve an initiative with 2 child cards. The initiative doesn’t have a Size set, nor does its column have a Cards progress % set.
The first child card is in the ‘Requested’ column, has a size of 10 and has Cards progress for its column set to 40%. It also shares a child with the second child card.
The second child card is in the ‘In Progress’ column, also has a size of 10 and has its column Cards progress set to 5%.
It also has 2 children, each of which is in a separate column. The first 2nd level child has a size of 30 and its column has its Cards progress set to 100%. The other 2nd level child has a size of 50 and its column has its Cards progress set to 60%.
Note: In this scenario we use ‘Cumulative size with fallback to card size’.
Since both children have a Cards progress set for their column we multiply their Cards progress value by their cumulative sizes and then sum them. This is then divided by the sum of their cumulative sizes.
The completion percentage of the main initiative should be (0,4*30 + 0,05*80) / (30+80) ~ 14%.