Meet the new BigPicture navigation
A faster, smarter, and more intuitive way to work is here. We’ve redesigned BigPicture navigation to give you a smoother experience and better access to what matters most.
→ Discover what’s new, explore key improvements, and review feature name updates on the New navigation page.
→ The rollout will happen gradually, and the previous navigation will be retired in September 2026.
Glossary
Allocation
The actual or planned workload of the individual resources or a Team. The effort expressed as the time or number of Story Points required to complete a task is evenly distributed over the task's duration.
Baseline
To assess your project's performance over time, you can set Baselines and track deviations from your initial schedule.
The Baselines can be synchronized with Jira (Tasks require Jira Admin permissions), and the synced fields can be added to Column views or as fields to the Task / Risk Cards.
You can create and delete Baselines for all the tasks in the scope of the Box or for selected tasks only. They are displayed as bold lines, showing the position of the task at the moment of creating the Baseline.
Basic task
The App stores basic tasks and they are NOT synchronized with Jira or other connected tools like Trello. Basic tasks can be viewed only using the App's Gantt, Scope, Board modules, or the WBS Widget.
They can coexist with other tasks, work great as placeholders or temporary tasks, simulate higher levels in the hierarchy, or serve as additional information boxes.
The App uses them to replace non-issue Jira entities (like Components, Versions, and Projects), which it cannot recreate in Jira while cloning the scope.
Box
A box is a customizable structured space (container) where you organize and visualize your project, program, and portfolio elements, such as tasks, deliverables, resources, risks, and even other boxes (sub-boxes).
Boxes are equipped with all the essential tools for efficient management, allowing you to adapt seamlessly to various project management approaches, including Agile, scaled Agile, Hybrid, and Waterfall. You can also customize them to support unique methodologies that do not fall into any of those categories.
Each box can be customized based on the specific tools (modules) needed for your project, the scope of work, and the security roles required for viewing and managing the box.
Box hierarchy
Box hierarchy is a structured system for organizing and managing the various elements of projects, programs, and portfolios.
At the top of the box hierarchy is the Home (root) box, which acts as a container for all the boxes created within your organization. Boxes created under the root can also house additional boxes (sub-boxes).
All those boxes form parent-child hierarchies, allowing you to view and aggregate project, program, or portfolio data at both high and low levels. You can view the entire box hierarchy in the Overview module using the Hierarchy and Timeline modes.
By default, only specific box types can serve as parents to other box types. However, you can redefine the parent-child relationships between your boxes and sub-boxes to create custom hierarchies that align with your business needs.
The sub-boxes can inherit specific settings from their parents or have a separate configuration.
Box type
Box template, which defines the most relevant characteristics of a Box (node), such as:
types of parent Boxes under which a Box of a given type can be nested
default module configuration and names
default column view of different modules
default card layout
default Period mode
Box types can be defined by BigPictures administrators.
Box module
The following modules are available in BigGantt:
Overview
Gantt
The following modules are available in BigPicture:
Overview
Gantt
Risks
Roadmap
Board
Calendar
Resources
Teams
Most of the modules can be preconfigured using Box types.
Box switcher
The box switcher, located in the upper-left corner of the application, displays the name of the current Box you are viewing. When you click it, a drop-down list containing the Box hierarchy tree is displayed. You can then select a specific Box from the hierarchy to switch to.
Use the box switcher to switch between different boxes easily. Once opened, the active box is highlighted, so you can easily switch to a sub-box or a different box.
You can browse only the Boxes to which you have permission (you can't see a box that you can't access).
The Box switcher is displayed in the Apps header for each module and in the WBS Widget and Skill Widget, which can be added to the issue screen.
The box switcher, located in the upper-left corner of the application, displays the name of the current Box you are viewing. When you click it, a drop-down list containing the Box hierarchy tree is displayed. You can then select a specific Box from the hierarchy to switch to.
Use the box switcher to switch between different boxes easily. Once opened, the active box is highlighted, so you can easily switch to a sub-box or a different box.
You can browse only the Boxes to which you have permission (you can't see a box that you can't access).
The Box switcher is displayed in the Apps header for each module and in the WBS Widget and Skill Widget, which can be added to the issue screen.
Box status
The status of the box determines your ability to modify the box details or adjust the box configuration.
This status is visible beside the box name within the box switcher. You can update it across various sections of the application. In the Overview module, you can modify it by right-clicking or using drag-and-drop while in Kanban mode. Additionally, you can adjust the status through the Board module. For sub-boxes, you can alter their status on the Scope definition page (Box configuration).
The status is indicated using colors, and The following color-coded statuses are available:
Not started - gray
In progress - blue
Done - green
Capacity
The App calculates individual and team capacity.
The capacity of your resources is calculated based on Workload Plans and non-working days resulting from Holiday Plans and individual Absence Plans. It reflects the workload resources are capable of after everything has been considered.
Column views
Column Views allow you to add different fields as columns to the task list and configure their display and aggregation settings, which determine how data is presented in the Gantt and Scope type module's task list.
Connected tools
The App can connect different tools to your Jira instance. These include tools like other Jira Cloud instances, Trello, or MS Azure (coming soon). The connection field (status) informs you if your instance was already connected.
Context Box
A Box which you are currently viewing. The Box name and its status are displayed in the Box Switcher.
Critical path
The critical path is the most extended sequence of tasks that determines the project duration. This feature highlights all the tasks on the critical path with the red color. Tasks on the Critical path will also be listed in the Gantt Infobar.
To highlight the entire sequence, you must define dependency links between tasks. Only the strong links that impact scheduling will determine the tasks on the critical path.
Dependency
Dependencies specify the relationships between tasks, milestones, and other items that can be presented on the timeline and displayed by the Gantt and Board type modules (Gantt and Board are the default module names used). By defining dependencies, you can automate task scheduling and highlight relations between tasks without impacting the schedule. Remember that the items presented on the Gantt chart are system-wide, and changing their dependencies might affect tasks in other Boxes or connected tools.
The Gantt module takes linking to the next level, and you can use non-Jira links to define dependencies between Issues and non-issues, such as Projects, Versions, Components, Sprints and Backlog, Checklists, etc. You can visualize up to five different links. Almost any native Jira link or custom link can be synchronized.
The Board module dependencies are color-coded so that you can easily find the tasks that need your attention.