The FAQs page handles the most common questions about SwiftKanban. The questions are grouped under various categories. For a full list of frequently used terms, have a quick look at the glossary page.

Account and Profile Settings

Dashboard

Board

Team Member

Backlog

Kanban Board

Cards

Card Hierarchy

Metrics

People

Webservices

ESP & Risk Module

Integration

Account Settings

How can I change my password?

When logged into your account, click the ‘Profile’ link on the top-right corner, then click the Change password option and change your password.

Do I need to reset the default password on the very first log in?

Yes, in fact without resetting the default password, you will not be able to access the application, even via Web Services.

Can I change my account details?

You can change your personal account details such as First Name, Last Name, Email Id, Job Title, etc. However, once created, you cannot change your Login ID.

Is there a way to change a login id for the account owner?

There is no way to change the Login ID of an account owner.

Where do I find the license information of my account?

You can navigate to Admin > Account Details to view your license details. It displays:

      • Account Type (Personal/Team Enterprise/On-Premise)
      • License Type (Concurrent/Named/Projects/Storage)
      • License Limit (Users/Workspaces/Storage)
      • Activation/Expiry Date

You will receive notifications when the license is near to expire, expired, nearing or has expired user/workspaces/storage limit.

How do I add a picture to my profile?

You can add a profile picture by performing the following steps:
1. Click the Profile name on the top-right corner of the application.
2. Select the first option from the menu.
2. Under VIEW PROFILE, click the edit icon and select an image.

The selected image will be applied to your profile picture.

Can I receive notifications for activities in projects I am a part of?
You can receive notifications by email as soon as an event occurs in your project. If you are logged in, you can click the Notification icon to set your preference for receiving them. To know more about it, see this Help page

With daylight savings having gone into effect, all the updates are off one hour on their timestamps. Where do I set the timezone?
You can set the Timezone for your geographical location in your Profile, which will be applicable for your login account only. Select the ‘Daylight Time’ listed along with the Time Offsets from UTC for your region, for example, Pacific Daylight Time.

How can I increase our license to add more users? 
For adding more Users, you need to buy more licenses. Below links will help you do so. Find The Plan That’s Right For You: https://www.digite.com/swiftkanban/pricing/ 

What browsers do you support?

SwiftKanban works best with Microsoft Edge, Firefox 3.6+, and Chrome 11.x+ browser versions.

Note: Microsoft Edge is our certified web browser and we have stopped supporting IE 8 and 9 as they are not up to modern web standards. If you are still working on IE 11 or the previous version, then you are requested to switch to Microsoft Edge or any other supported browser to continue your hassle-free working with the application.

Can I see SwiftKanban application in other languages?

Currently, we support English only.

If I use OAuth for login, do I need to do anything different to generate an authentication token?

If your Swiftkanban SaaS server is configured with Gmail and Facebook OAuth, you don’t need to perform any further configuration, You just need to enter your Gmail or Facebook credentials to log in to Swiftkanban. If you are using some private OAuth system, like G-suit, Please get in touch with us at [email protected] to further explore what kind of Oauth you are looking for.

Dashboard

What can I use a Dashboard For?

You can use a dashboard to monitor the card metrics based on priority, release, owner, and estimates across projects to which you are allocated so that you can manage your work accordingly. These metrics are available as widgets which you can pick up and organize on your dashboard. For more information, see the Dashboards page.

How do I add a Widget on the Dashboard?

From the Dashboard toolbar, click the Add Widget button on the toolbar. Widgets are categorized into Card Widgets and Help Widgets. Expand Card Type widgets to view list of available widgets, i.e. Cards by Priority, Blocked Cards, etc. Select the widget, and then click the Add to Dashboard button. You can add more widgets if required. Similarly, if you have closed the Help widgets, you can select and bring them back to the Dashboard.

Can I create my own widget for adding on the Dashboard?

No. currently, you cannot create your own widget. We have provided widgets that capture the necessary metrics that you would generally monitor. You may like to view Cumulative Flow Diagram, Lead Time, and Cycle Time for detailed metrics.

Board

How can I assign a team member to my Board?

Read this Help page to know more about how to invite a team member and assign a role. .

How to change a team member’s role?

From the Team Member List view, double-click the role for the team member, and then select from the list.

How to unassign a team member from the project?

From the Team Member List View, select the team member row, and click Delete from the toolbar.

How do I create a backlog?

You can add a user story, defect, or an issue from the Kanban Board and maintain it as a backlog. To add a card, see Work using Kanban Board page.

How do I tag a work-item (user story/defect/issue) to a release?

To tag a user story, navigate to the user story and from the Release list, select the release to which you want to tag the user story. Similarly, you can tag a defect or an issue.

You can even tag a user story if it is placed on the Kanban Board. Click the Id on the card, and from the Details view, click the Edit icon and select the Release.

If you haven’t created a release already, see the Define Releases page.

How do I change the priority or rank of a work-item (user story/defect/issue)?

To change the priority of a user story, navigate to the user story and select from the Priority list, select the priority.  To change the rank, enter a new rank. Similarly you can change the priority/rank of a defect, or an issue.

The priority is indicated by the color code applied to the stars that appear on the card when the user story is placed on the card. Click the Id on the card, and from the Details view, click the Edit icon and change the priority.

Can I import or export items from SwiftKanban?

Yes, you can export and import items from/into SwiftKanban in MS Excel and CSV formats. You can download item details for editing or appending items. You can even download the template to add items in your preferred application and then import the new items into SwiftKanban.

When I export my project, why is it that the Excel file does not contain cards created in my project?

When you export your project, ensure that you have selected ‘Export only selected item(s)’ as the Export option. You can export only one project at a time.

How do I view the Kanban Board for my project?

After you have created your project, navigate to your project. The Breadcrumb changes to Projects » Selected Project.  The Kanban Board appears by default which is also available in the Project sub menu.

For quick view of the Kanban Board, expand the My Projects widget in the Quick Links Widget. Click the required project or the Kanban Board icon adjacent to it.

How do I modify the current process on the Kanban Board?

The default Kanban Board process can be modified by clicking the Modify Process icon on the toolbar, and configuring the existing lanes, defining Smart Lanes, activating other card types and policies on the board. Read more.

What are “Smart Lanes”?

Horizontal swim-lanes are called as “Smart Lanes” in SwiftKanban, designed to manage multiple swim-lanes, and card movement through and across swim-lanes. Smart Lanes add tremendous flexibility and visualization to the Kanban board. You can define WIP limits for each Smart Lane and any WIP violation is highlighted visually. Read more to define Smart Lanes.

How do I create workflows to manage work of different card types?

You can add Smart Lanes based on Card Type in the Board Designer. The board will display horizontal swim-lanes for each of the card type such as User Stories, Defects, etc., including any custom card types you have configured in your project.

How do I create workflows to manage work of different Priority, CoS, or Size?

You can define Smart Lanes based on card attributes such as Priority, Size, or CoS in the Board Designer. The board will display horizontal swim-lanes for each of the attribute value of the attribute. 

How do I create workflows to manage work of different team members?

You can define Smart Lanes based on team members in your project. The board will display horizontal swim-lanes for each of the team member.

Can I create smart lanes for team members without the smart lane logic?

Yes, you can. It is possible to disable the Smart Lane and just create lanes which have Team Member names as labels and not smart logic, in which you’ll be able to add any card in any lane and will be on individual interpretation of which card is in which lane. You can freely move the card across lanes, which does not reassign the card owner.

How do I create workflows to manage work based on ad-hoc categorization?

You can define Smart Lanes based on Custom Labels to manage work for different groups not attached to any card attribute. For example, you may want to create Smart Lanes for different customers, or departments in your project such as Marketing or Support. Read more on how to define Smart Lanes for ad-hoc groups.

Can I move cards across lanes?

You can move cards across lanes for Smart Lanes defined based on card attributes (CoS, Priority, Size), team members, and custom labels. Read more on card movement for configured Smart Lanes.

How can I move a lane to the left or right of a lane?

You can move a lane to the left or right of a lane by navigating to the Board Designer and clicking the Move Left or Move Right icon in the Configure Lane toolbar. If there are ‘live’ cards in that lane on the board, those will also move along with.

How can I add a lane to the left or right of a lane?

You can add a lane to the left or right of a lane by navigating to the Board Designer and clicking the Add to left or Add to right icon in the Configure Lane toolbar.

Can I delete or unsplit a lane having cards?

You cannot delete a lane having cards on the board. However, if the lane is divided into child lanes and the child lane has live cards on the board, you can delete the child lane. The cards will be moved to the previous child lane. 

How do I split lanes horizontally or vertically?

You can split a lane horizontally/vertically by navigating to the Board Designer and clicking the Horizontal Split/Vertical Split icon in the Configure Lane toolbar. Read more..

How do I set the WIP limit for a lane?

To define a WIP limit for a lane, navigate to the Board Designer, and click the Configure lane icon for the required lane. In the WIP limit, enter the required value.

Same like the Column level WIP limit violation, can I apply mandatory comment for User-level WIP limit violation?

No, you can’t apply any mandatory comment entry for WIP limit violation at the User level, but once the WIP limit is violated, the user’s profile picture is encircled with red ink on the card.

How can I delete a Kanban Board?

To delete a Board, you should have the Manager or Admin role at the organization level. From the My Board list, select a Board and click the Delete icon from the left-side menu. Note that You can only delete a single board at a time.

I am not able to get Smart Lane feature to work. The add/disable Smart Lane option and select attributes option for the smart Lane is grayed out.

When you create Smart Lane, you get two options to either define Smart Lane based on card attributes or on custom labels. If you select custom labels (using radio button) you are essentially creating smart lane based on your own custom label, in which case you cannot reset it to use the other card attribute-based option.

How can I duplicate a board configuration?

You can duplicate a board without its contents by saving the board as a template and then using this template to create a new board. To know more about it, see this Help page.

Can I download the PDF version of the Kanban Board?

Currently, we support the Board export to Microsoft Excel sheet only. There is no other format to which you can download the Kanban Board.

Cards

How do I add a new card to the Board?

You can add a new card by clicking the Add Card button on the toolbar. Select New card and enter the details. The card will be placed in the ‘Ready’ or whatever is the first lane in your queue.

How do I pull a card from the Backlog/Archive onto the Kanban Board?

If you have created a work item in the backlog and want to pull it on the board, click the Add Card icon, and then click the Search and add from Backlog option. To pull an archived card, click the Search and add from Archive option. Next, click the Add to Board icon for the item in the list. The item is placed as a ‘live’ card on the board.

How can I move cards on the Kanban Board?

To move a card, you simply click, drag the card, and release it in the appropriate lane. The lane where the card remains will represent the status of the card until you move it.

I want to discontinue work on a card. What can I do?

If a card is placed on the board and you want to discontinue work on it, you can move the card to the backlog. Click the Move to Backlog icon on the card and the card will disappear from the board but will remain in the backlog. You can pull it on the board whenever required.

How can I add tasks to a user story card?

You can add tasks i.e. To-Dos if you want to apportion work on a user story. Click the Tasks icon on the card, and then click the Add button. Enter details and update as the task progresses. The Applicable Queue indicates the lane at which the task is added and remains valid for that lane.

I have finished work and the card has reached the last lane in the workflow. What can I do with the card?

You can archive the card. Click the Archive icon on the card. The card disappears from the board. Later if you want to view the card details, you can search it from its List view.

You can archive a card from any lane on the board.

How do I view only specific cards on the Kanban Board?

You can use the Board Filter to view cards based on priority such as Critical or Medium. Similarly, you can filter the board to view cards owned by specific resources, size, CoS, or card types such as Defect, or a user story.

How do I check a card history on the Kanban Board?

You can view the log available for a card displaying the movements and other details such as Moved From-To, date, etc.  The latest three movements are displayed on the card. You can also view all the movements happened to the card.  See Card Anatomy for more details.

How do I check the history of all the card movements on the Board?

The Activity log button is available on the toolbar of the Kanban Board. Forever action on a card, the log displays, Card ID, Card Type (User Story, Defect, or Issue), Name of the Card, Card Action (Movement, Blocked, Unblocked, etc.), and other details of the action. See Work Using the Kanban Board page for more details.

How do I expedite a card?

You can expedite on a card by tagging it as ‘Expedite’ or setting up the priority as ‘Critical’.  Click the ID on the card to change the ‘Class of Service’ to ‘Expedite’ or change the priority. It will be easier to identify the card to be taken up and you can get working on it.

How do I claim a card?

You can just double-click the card and select your name in the Owner list. You now become the current owner of the card and start working on it.

Why is that when I pull a card. Am I assigned as the owner?
This is because the board policy is set to automatically assign the card to one who pulls/moves it. If you unselect the AutoAssign policy for your board (Kanban Board > Modify Process > Other Policies), it retains the original owner when the card is moved. The policy is based on the Kanban principle, i.e. work is pull based – a team member pulls work when he/she has the bandwidth to start doing it.

How do I add comments to a card?

On the card, click the Comments icon and add comments up to 4000 characters at a time. To reply to a comment, click the same icon. You can also add/reply a comment or view/track a comment from the comments section in the Detail view of the card by clicking on the card Id.

How do I attach files to a card?

There are different ways you can attach files to a card. You can browse a file from your system and attach it in the Attachments tab of a card, or you can drag-drop them also. Learn more about attaching files from this Help page.

Why does the color of cards not change on the Kanban board and the legend when I change the color of the card type?

Ensure that you change the card type color in your project. Go to the Board Editor by clicking the Modify Process button on your project Kanban board. Click the Card Types icon on the toolbar. Double-click the color and select the new color for the card type.

Why is the revised card Description (as updated in the exported Excel sheet) not visible after the import?

The Description field in the Excel file which is exported from the SwiftKanban application has HTML tags in it. Updating the Description field might lead to deletion of few tags further leading to the loss of data.
As there are few limitations in handling the RTF(Rich Text Format), so we ignore the Description field during the import process.

Can I open the Linked Cards section directly from a copied card URL?

Currently, when you copy a card URL and later open the same card by pasting the URL in a browser, it initially blinks the card on the Kanban Board for few seconds and then displays the Card Edit view. You need to close that edit view, and then click the Link Card   icon on the card to open the Linked Cards section.

When I am cloning a card which has ToDo’s along with Estimate, Actual and Remaining time, the same fields in the cloned card do not get enabled.

Once the card is cloned,  the status of the fields of the ToDos gets changed into pending mode. You need to change them to In-progress mode to edit those fields.

Can I create a link between the same card type?

Yes, you can create a link between the same card type. You need to go to Admin > Settings > Card Type Links, and then select the Card Type.

How can I delete a card type?

If you want to disable or remove a card type from a particular Board, then go to the Board Editor, Card Types, and then uncheck the selection for the card type to be removed. Note that you can only remove or disable a card type if no card belonging to that card type exists on the Board.
To disable a card type from the Admin, go to Admin menu, then Settings, and uncheck the selection of the card type to be removed. To remove it permanently,  select it again and click the Delete icon from the side menu bar. One thing to note that the card type cannot be disabled if any card of that card type exists in any of the Kanban Boards.

Is it possible to see the information of a card without opening it?

Depending on the Zoom level of you Kanban Board you can view certain information of card without opening it. To know more about what card information is displayed at various Zoom levels, see this Help page on Zoom.

What are the different ways of setting the relationship between parent and child cards?

There are various ways you can set the relationship between a parent and child card. You can define the card hierarchy using the Excel-based template, or simply by quick link feature. See this page to know various ways of building the relationship between parent and child cards.

I don’t want to show Class of Service on the card details. I have disabled it from the Board Editor, but still, the field is appearing on the card?

Disabling any custom field like Class of Service, Priority, Size or others via the Card Designer will only hide them from the card pop-up view on the Kanban board. They will still be visible in the card edit view. To disable any field from the card edit view, you must first have the Admin access in your account. Next, you need to navigate to Admin > Settings page, double-click the card type for which you want to disable the field, go to the Fields tab, select the field which you want to disable, double-click the cell on the Disable column and select the “Yes” value from the drop-down.
Note:  Some of the factory-shipped card fields like Id, Title, Description, and others can never be disabled. Moreover, if any field for a card type is disabled at the Admin level, it will also be disabled at the Board level.

Can I apply business rules to SwiftKanban cards?

We provide different capabilities for specific use cases. These are mostly managed as Admin Policies at Organization level or Board Policies at the individual Board level. If there is a use case that you would like to add, please let us know. We can get back on how that be configured or if it does not exist, are we in a position to add that as an enhancement to the product.

Card Hierarchy

How do I create a Parent-Child hierarchy of cards?

You can create the parent-child hierarchy of cards using any of these options:

Note 1: Before defining parent-child relation between two cards, you need to first define the hierarchy between the card types. To know more about it, read this Help page.

Note 2: Most of the above features like Portfolio, Web Service and so on require Enterprise License. Please make sure you have the Enterprise license if you wish to use these features. For more information on the pricing, please refer to this page. To avail  the Enterprise License, please contact us at [email protected].

Can I link existing cards into a parent-child relationship?

Yes, you can link existing cards into a parent-child relationship. Read here to more about how to create such a relationship.

Note: Before defining parent-child relation between existing cards, you need to first define the hierarchy between the card types. To know more about it, read this Help page.

Can there be multiple parents for a child card?

Yes, we have a licensed feature that lets you link a child card to many parent cards and build such multi parent-child card hierarchy. To know more about the multi-parent feature, read this Help page.

Note: The Multi-parent feature is only available with SwiftKanban Enterprise License. If you are a SwiftKanban Team or Group License subscriber and would like to use the Multi-parent feature, you will need to upgrade to the SwiftKanban Enterprise License. To enquire about licenses, get in touch with [email protected].

What are the “Other Links” in the “Linked Cards” page?

Using the “Other Links”, you can set a relationship between two cards which may not necessarily be a parent-child relationship, but a simple relation to trace how one card is functionally related to another card.  For example, after you set a relationship between a user story to a defect, you can later trace the origin of a story and understand the defect which led to the development of that user story. Read more about it here.

Note: Before defining the Other Links relation between existing cards, you need to first define the relationship between the card types. To know more about it, read this Help page.

Can I set up a card hierarchy across multiple swimlanes? Multiple Boards?

Yes, you can set up a card hierarchy across multiple swimlanes and even across Boards, provided you have the Admin, Manager or Team Member access to those Boards. Read this Help page to know how to set up hierarchy across Boards.

How do I see (visualize) a multi-lane/ multi-board card hierarchy?

The Linked Cards tab displays how a card is placed in the overall card hierarchy that may have its parent card and child cards connected to it in the hierarchy chain. To know more about it, see this Help page.

What are the various types of links between cards supported by SwiftKanban?

There are two types of links between cards that are supported by Swiftkanban: Parent-child link and Other Links.

How do I create dependencies between cards in SwiftKanban?

We have a great feature, called the Dependency Board that lets you create, visualize and manage the dependency between cards. So, when you have cards in the same Board or spread across multiple of them, that are dependent on each other and need to be executed in a synchronized manner to achieve the business objectives, the Dependency Board helps you achieve that. To know more about it, see this Help page.

How do I create traceability links between cards?

You can use the Other Links feature to create a traceability link between cards that may be functionally or business-wise related to each other.

Is there a way to provide a status report for all cards in a hierarchy?

We have a report, called the Hierarchy Status Report that shows all the cards on a  Board that are linked as a parent or child with any other cards of the same board or across any other boards. Read more about it here.

Metrics

What metrics are available for understanding the process efficiency in a project?

For viewing the performance of your process  or value stream, you can view the Cumulative Flow Diagram, Lead Time, and Cycle Time for a project. To view metrics to analyze the work efficiency i.e. what is the long-term trend for cards moving, waiting, or blocked, view the Work Time, Wait Time, and Blocked Time metrics. You can view Control Charts, Average Metrics, and Histograms. Read more on how to plot the charts for various metrics.

Where can I view the Control Charts for understanding the variation in the process?

You can view variability of Cycle Time, Lead Time, Work Time, Wait time, and Blocked Time by navigating to the required metrics from the Metrics menu in your project and selecting Control Chart in the Filter options.

Where can I view the work efficiency of a single card?

The Work Time, Wait Time, and Blocked Time can be tracked for a card at every stage, from Backlog to the last lane. Click Flip Card on the card and after the card flips, click View All.

Where can I get a quick snapshot of cards currently worked upon by team members, the status of active cards, metrics, etc.?

You can navigate to Reports in your project, and view the Status by Team Member report. Define your criteria in the filter options to view for specific team members, card types, priority, period, etc.

Where can I get a quick snapshot of the progress of various cards, through various value-stream stages and their metrics?

You can navigate to Reports in your project, and view the Status by Card report. Define your criteria in the filter options to view for specific card types, priority, period, etc.
Only users with the Admin’ role can access the ‘People’ menu and can perform administrator-related tasks.

Why do I see NA as End Date for many cards in the Staus By Card report?

When you select Date option, those cards which fall between the Start and End date and Start and End column set by you are shown in this report. So, the End Date for some cards will be shown NA which are archived anywhere between the Start and End column.

I had moved a card in the Done column then moved the same card to the In-progress column for some changes and then finally moved it back to the Done column. Will the completed card count be calculated as 2 in this case?

A card will be considered only once(as per its current position) irrespective of the number of times it has moved to the Done column in a selected date range.
So if the card has twice moved to the Done column, then the latest movement will be considered for the calculation.

People

How do I create users in an enterprise?

The People menu on the top opens the List view. Click the Create button on the toolbar. Enter the details, select a role, enterprise, save the profile, and you are done. The user receives an invitation mail to access SwiftKanban.

Who is the Integration User?

Integration User is one of the primary roles in Swiftkanban who can perform integration related activities for a particular account and board. Any integration related activity needs to be performed through integration user for better tracking.
You are assigned one integration user license by default and can have any number of integration users for your SwiftKanban account depending on the assigned license. The password for the integration user is sent to the Account Admin. Moreover, any existing user can be modified to the integration user, but once done, can never be changed back to any other user role.

How is the primary role different from a team member role?

Primary role is assigned to a user when a user is being created for accessing specific modules in the application and thereby performs related tasks.
The team member role is the member’s role within the project so that role-related tasks can be carried out such as, changing the team member’s role or inviting a team member, in case of a ‘Manager’ role.

Webservices

Is there a REST API for SwiftKanban or just the SOAP interface?
We support both the SOAP interface and REST API. To know more about them, see this page.

ESP & Risk Module

Can I delete a Risk Dimension once it is added?
You cannot delete a Dimension once it is added in the Masterlist or in the Risk Dimension Available pane. But if you don’t want to use any Dimension listed in the Selected Risk Dimension/Values pane, drag it back to the Risk Dimension Available pane.

Integration

Do you have any integration with Gitlab?
Currently, we do not support the integration with GitLab.

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