In this section, you can determine how time periods of the new tasks added to the scope react to other changes (e.g. task dependencies or parent/child relationship in the task structure) and align your tasks with the start/end dates of created Boxes.
Security and Access
- Only a user with a minimum Box admin security role can access and change the Box configuration.
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Configuration
- You can set the period mode for each of the Boxes in Box Configuration > Tasks > Scheduling. To access this page you need the Box Administrator security role.
You can set the default period mode used whenever you create a new Box by configuring a Box type in App administration > Box types. To access the Box type configuration you need an App admin security role.
- The period mode can synchronize with Jira using a custom field - Select List (single choice) type, created during the installation. You can add this field to issue screens and change the period mode by editing the issue without opening the App.
Scheduling mode
Default scheduling mode is applied to new tasks (added to the scope of the Box for the first time). If a task is already within a scope of any other Box, its scheduling mode will not be overwritten.
There are different ways to add tasks that will be treated as new. These include:
- using the '+' (add task) button in different modules,
- changing the Box scope - for example, add a new filter to the automatic rules,
- updating the task so that it fits within the Box scope definition - for example, move the task to a project added to the Box scope.
We recommend using the 'Manual' period mode to assure that your task will not be automatically rescheduled based on the configuration of structure builders and dependencies. You can always enable the automation at any time but you might not be able to easily revert changes.
For example: All tasks are in the auto bottom-up period mode and the manual mode is set for newly added tasks - OA-135: 
Task period alignment
You can adjust the start and end dates of the task assigned to a Box (or sub-Box) so that they start and finish within the Box period. Switching to 'Precise alignment' or 'Smart adjustment' will reschedule all the tasks which were already assigned to those Boxes.
This configuration applies to the Box which is configured and not to its sub-Boxes. If you want to align tasks only on, for example. the Iteration level use the option - 'Set alignment on lower levels" described below.
Please note, that this sync mechanism is:
- unidirectional: planning tasks in using Boxes (for example: Program Increments or Iterations) updates the tasks' to fit within the Boxes' duration. However, updating the tasks' date estimates does not add a task to the Box.
- single-shot operation: a task period is always updated once the task is planned for a Box (e.g. using Board module), but if you adjust the task's period once it is planned for a box (e.g. on the Gantt module) the app will not validate the adjustment even if the new period would not fit the Box's period.
The above-mentioned update of the task period will be executed properly only if all task scheduling rules (parent-child relation, period mode, inward dependency, etc.) allow executing the operation. E.g. if a Story has a parent task in the task structure that has a "lock" mode set, the app may not update the Story period if it exceeds the parent period after the update.
Please note, that once a task period is rescheduled, it may trigger a rescheduling of related tasks (linked tasks or parent/children in the task structure).
Set alignment on lower levels
This configuration applies to the sub-Boxes and you can set the alignment for two levels of sub-Boxes. For example: PI Planning Program Box consists of Program increment sub-Boxes - which in turn, consist of Iteration sub-Boxes.
Task scheduling options
To learn more go to Task period alignment.
To update the date estimates at the task level use the Precise alignment or Smart adjustment.
Feature | Description |
|---|---|
No alignement | Task's period will not align with the box's period. The fields mapped as start and end dates will not get updated when a task is planned in one of the Timeboxes. |
Precise alignement (see Iteration 1) | Task's period will align exactly with the box's period. The fields mapped as start and end dates will get updated to match the boxes start and end dates when a task is planned in one of the Timeboxes. |
Smart adjustment (see Iteration 2) | Task's period will align to the start or end date of the box without changing the tasks duration (if possible). The fields mapped as start and end dates will get updated, when a task is planned in one of the Boxes, such that the task will start on the start date of the box (when moved to a future box) or end on the end date of the box if moved to a previous Box. |
The two Iterations have different Task alignment settings:
- Iteration 1 has the alignment set to 'Precise alignment'. In this case when a task is added to Iteration 1 using the Board module or by editing the synchronized field, the App will update the task's date estimates such that it starts on the first working day of the Iteration's period (23rd) and end on the last working day of the iteration's period (9th). The App will change the duration of the tasks to match the Iteration period.
- Iteration 2 had the alignment set to "Smart adjustment". In this case the duration of the task will remain unchanged unless it exceeds the duration of the Timebox. There are other rules which apply which are described in task period alignment (smart adjustment section of the document).
