Tracking and Updating Backlog Items on the Testboard

This article explains how to track and update backlog items on Testboard.

Overview

Story Cards display in the left column on the Testboard. Each card shows the backlog item ID and title, status, owner, and total work estimate. Backlog items may be shown to be blocked by issues. The Block action provides a convenient way to create or assign a blocking issue to a backlog item. The Blocked Icon link appears on the backlog item when it is blocked, and offers fast access to viewing, assigning, adding, and removing blocked issues.

A summary section in the right column shows the status of tasks for each backlog item. Task status displays as a color-coded bar, indicating the number of in-progress and completed tasks for each. Hover over the indicator to see an itemized count of tasks by status value.

Steps

1. Click the hamburger menu > Sprint > Testboard.

2. • Select the project for which you want to review team summaries from the project tree at the top.
   • Select the sprint you want to track from the Sprint drop-down list.
   • Select the team you want to track from the Team drop-down list.

3. Open the Filter drop-down menu and select a filtering option to focus on a subset of backlog items (i.e., view by Backlog Group, Portfolio Item, Owner, Status, Priority, Backlog Item, Defect, or closed items). To focus only on tasks assigned to an individual owner, select the owner name in the Highlight Owner field at the top of the board. This action fades out all tasks not assigned to the highlighted owner so you can see how the task owner fits into the overall project or sprint picture (as opposed to selecting Owner from the Filter drop-down, which isolates the view to show only that owner's tasks, removing all others from the board).

4. Hover over any Backlog Card title to see a detailed description of the item. To update an item, click the vertical ellipsis icon at the top right corner of the card and select the appropriate action.

Customizing the Testboard

Members who have the role of Project Lead or above can customize the Testboard for the project.

Customizing Columns

The Status attribute defines the columns in the board display. Add new columns by adding a new List Value to the Status list type and enabling that value for use in a project using the Project Workspace settings on the Display Fields page in Administration.

Customizing Task Card Colors

Click the Legend button to review current color representation settings or to configure the color coding by task type. Backlog cards retain any customizations made via the Storyboard of the same project so that any changes there are available on the Testboard as well.

The board view includes items on subprojects even if those items fall outside of the list values designated for the columns, rows, or coloring scheme defined for the board. For example, if the board is colored by Type and a subproject of the current project selection uses a particular Type value that is not used on the selected project, that lower level Type value still receives a color on the board.

Viewing and Filtering Tips

• Use the Highlight Owner option to highlight the work assigned to a single team member so that each individual can more easily recall what work they have done and what is next up on their list. Highlighting (Nobody) allows team members who are ready to sign up for new tasks to easily see unassigned tasks that are available.
• Pop up the Standup Dashboard page in a new window and expand the page to view the Testboard and graphs without the surrounding page wrapping so that you can view more on the page.