Support for Atlassian Server Products (and apps like BigPicture) has ended in February 2024.

Are you planning a migration to Cloud? Make sure you don't lose your BigPicture data/configurations in the process. Check out this page for information on how to migrate BigPicture's data to Cloud. If you have any questions please email support@appfire.com

Group tasks

Introduction

The Group tasks option grants you the possibility to sort and organize data using different field values with just a few clicks. To simplify data analysis, the created groups will be marked in colors, both, on the task list and on the timeline indicating the earliest start and the latest date of the tasks in a particular group. 

Grouping doesn't permanently alter the WBS (task structure) - data is temporarily reorganized. As a result, the task hierarchy is not displayed when data is grouped.

Configuration

Activate grouping

Expand the Data drop-down menu and select the Group tasks option.

Next, you will be able to perform the following actions:

  • activate grouping elements to create groups

  • define the order of grouping elements

  • specify the color of grouping elements

Coloring groups

The color is reflected:

  • on the task structure

  • on the timeline

To select a color, click on the icon in the Color column:

Deactivate grouping

Method 1: 

  1. Hover the mouse cursor over a group you want to disable.

  2. Click to deactivate a particular grouping.
    When grouping by a few elements (multi-level grouping), you need to disable each group separately.

Method 2: 

  1. Go to Data > Group tasks. 

  2. Deactivate grouping by:

    1. adjusting toggle switches

    2. using the Deactivate all button

  3. Click Apply to save changes

Available grouping options

To group using a specific field, make sure it is added as a column using first. 

Multi-level grouping

With the multi-level grouping method, tasks will be counted in each group. The group structure will be based on the active grouping elements. The order of grouping elements (fields) defines the group hierarchy. 

A task cannot be duplicated, which means that a task can belong to a single group only.

Let's have a closer look at the example presented in the picture. 

The tasks were sorted by the Status field and next by Priority. You can collapse/expand the groups. Based on the information displayed, we can see that there are four "lowest" priority tasks in a "To Do" status.


Filter grouped tasks

The grouping functionality can be combined with other filters (such as search, date filters, and Quick filters).

Inline edit fields

When the grouping option is enabled, you can inline edit fields. To see changes, refresh the page.

Limitations

  • The Key and Summary columns cannot be used for grouping.

  • All WBS (task structure operations) are disabled - when task grouping is active, the WBS structure is ignored and can't be modified.

  • Grouping task limit = 50000 tasks. If you have more than 50000 tasks in a box, use filters (search, quick filters, date filters etc.) to narrow the scope of the operation. Then, perform grouping. 

To set a task limit on how many tasks a box can have to allow grouping, go to App settings > App Configuration > Advanced > Technical Info.

Preconditions

  • Grouping is based on visible columns - if the new column view doesn't contain columns that were used for grouping, grouping is cleared.