1. Apply Card Templates from Business Rules
In the latest version of Businessmap - 8.13, we’re releasing the ability to apply templates when creating cards from the business rules. This saves you time when you want to automatically create cards with a certain template. Moreover, if you decide to change the details on a given card template, you won’t have to go back and forth editing all the rules that use it.
To make this possible, when adding a “Create card” action in a business rule (where that’s applicable), you will see a dropdown where you can create cards in the following ways:
- With custom properties - manually configure the details of a card
- From a template - choose one of your templates to directly apply on a card
Keep in mind that if you choose to create a card(s) from a template, you will only have to define its position from the Board Minimap.
2. Rolling Begin/End Period in Monte Carlo (How Many)
To facilitate how you plan the number of work items you can finish in a given timeframe, we’re introducing a rolling begin/end period in the Monte Carlo (How Many) chart. This functionality represents a window inside the “Simulation Control” part of the chart. There, you can specify how many days in the future you’d like to get a forecast for without having to use the standard begin/end dates.
For example, if you decide to get data for the next 14 days, all you have to do is input this number in the window. The Monte Carlo (How Many) simulation will take priority over the begin/end dates and provide you with a forecast for the specified period.
3. Batch Modification of Subtasks
To save you time when dealing with multiple subtasks, you can now modify them in a batch. All you have to do is hold the Ctrl key on your keyboard and select your chosen subtasks inside a card (you’ll notice a Hint about this operation in the Subtasks tab of a card). You can then simultaneously assign them to a user, delete, or convert them into cards.
It’s also important to mention that from now on, even if a subtask is marked as complete, you will still be able to delete or convert it to a card.
4. Other Improvements
- Synchronize the order of subtasks through business rules
Previously, when using some of the business rules, you could only synchronize subtasks between linked cards when their values or status changed. We’ve improved this behavior to also include the synchronization of the subtask’s order, whenever it changes between linked cards.
- Copying boards will now include exit criteria
From now on, when copying a particular board, this will also include its existent exit criteria.
5. Kanban Simulation
Apart from the product updates in Businessmap 8.13, we’d like to inform you about the integration of a Kanban simulation on our website: https://businessmap.io/simulation. With its help, you can simulate an approximation of a real-world board flow scenario based on certain criteria.
For example, you can replicate your own workflow by:
- Changing/adding columns or sub-columns on a board
- Setting up WIP limits (per stage, per person)
- Configuring team rules
- Defining a work creation/sizing strategy including a prioritization method
We’ve also added the main charts of our Analytics module to the simulation. As a result, when work gets completed, you can see the progressive accumulation of delivery data to simulate an analysis of a real-world Kanban workflow.
To learn how to use the Kanban simulation in detail, check out our dedicated article.
Happy Kanbanizing with version 8.13!