In this article:
1. Introduction to Board Policies
2. Board-Level Policies
3. Workflow Policies
4. Column Policies
5. Lane Policies
6. Cell Policies
In Businessmap, the “Board policies” feature helps you configure and manage your work process policies on a granular level. Divided into five sections, you can set up your process policies on a board, workflow, column, lane, or cell level.
Whether you need to define board descriptions, configure default card templates, set arrival and departure rules, or manage column, lane, or cell policies, this article provides detailed insights to help improve your workflows.
1. Introduction to Board Policies
You can use the "Board policies" feature to improve the visualization of your process policies. To access the feature, click on the Board policies icon located in the sidebar. When you open it, you will see a menu with five sections:
- 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.
To see the column, lane, or cell policies of a workflow, you need to select the respective workflow from the dropdown menu:
2. Board-Level Policies
The board-level policies help you define general rules and configurations for your board divided into several categories:
- Description — You can use the board policies description to explain what your board is about and any guidelines your team should follow. You can also add pictures, turning it into a sort of bulletin board.
- Default template — 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. You can learn more about card templates here.
- Arrival rules — You can create arrival and departure rules applicable to the entire board. Arrival rules can restrict cards from being moved to the board unless they meet a specific condition.
- Departure rules — Similarly, Departure rules can be implemented to prevent cards from moving out of the board unless a specific condition has been met. To learn more, read our article on arrival and departure rules.
- Field formulas — Here you can configure formulas to define the card size, deadline, and custom fields of the cards on the board. For example, you can configure an automatic deadline of 3 working days for every card created on the board (see image below). Note: Under Custom fields, you will see all custom fields of type calculated number and calculated date that have been added to the board. To edit them, you need to navigate to the Custom fields menu.
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 you can access by clicking on the pencil icon), the following window will appear and allow you to edit the selected column settings:
- Column name (1) — Here you can change the name of the column as it appears on the board.
- Column limit (2) — Here, you can adjust the number of cards allowed in the selected column. You can change whether this limit is based on the card count or size from the Edit Workflows menu.
- Cards per row (3) — 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. You can learn more about process efficiency here.
Service Level Expectations
From the Service Level Expectations menu (click on the pencil icon to access it), the following window will appear (see image below). From the window, you can create a new SLE (1) for the selected column or change an existing SLE (2) as well as enable or disable them. You can also search for SLEs from the filter at the top.
Business Rules
From the Business Rules menu (click on the pencil icon to open it), 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 add new rules, edit existing rules, and 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 functionalities on a cell level:
- Service Level Expectations — (only applicable to columns from the 'Requested' and ‘In Progress’ sections)
- 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.