Work items

Work items turn the rows of an ordinary table into tracked work. Each row gets a key such as ZAD-12, a type, a priority, a status, people and dates, and it can sit under a parent and wait for other rows that block it. Every one of these is a normal column of the table, so the Kanban board, the grid and the record window all show the same values.

The words are general on purpose: an Initiative, a Request, a Task, an Issue and a Subtask read the same to a transport company, a clinic or an accounting office.

This page covers turning work tracking on and every field it adds. Subtasks, the hierarchy, blockers and links between items are on Subtasks, blockers and links.

Before you start

• Work items are part of every plan and work on any table.
• Turning tracking on adds columns to the table, so it needs edit rights on the table (members and admins).
• The status of a work item is a single select or classification column. A board stacked by a multi select column cannot track work: "Stack the board by a single-select field first (Stacked by)."

Turn work tracking on

There are three ways in, and all three do the same to the table.

The dialog Track work on this board: "Every card becomes a work item with a key, a type, a priority and a place in the hierarchy. The fields are added to the table, so the grid and the record show them too."

1. Check the Key prefix. The dialog suggests one from the table's name and shows the numbering, for example "Cards will be numbered ZT-1, ZT-2, ZT-3... Set once - it cannot be changed later."
2. Under Fields ("Each one is a column on the table. Uncheck what you do not need."), untick what you do not need. Start date and Reporter start unticked. The board's stacking column becomes the status ("Status: “Status”").
3. Under Type and Priority, the dialog shows the options it adds, with their icons.
4. Click Turn on. "Work tracking is on".

Columns that already fit are reused rather than added a second time: "Columns that already fit (a matching name and type, the people column, the only long text) are reused, not duplicated." A field the table already has is marked exists. Existing rows get their keys at once. Turning tracking on is one step in the table's Undo history.

The key prefix

The prefix is 2 to 10 capital letters or digits and starts with a letter ("2-10 letters or digits, starting with a letter"). Quanty suggests one from the table's name: the first letters of each word of a name of several words, otherwise the start of the word. Names that say nothing, such as "Table 1", are skipped in favour of the project's or the board's name.

Each new row takes the next number. A number is given once and never reused, even when its row is deleted.

The fields

Each field is one column of the table, and a table has at most one column per field.

New columns are named in your interface language. In the grid, a column that plays one of these parts carries a badge such as "Work item: Priority".

Types and priorities

The option labels are your table's data: rename them freely. The icon stays with the option, so a type column that says "Reklamacja" instead of "Issue" still draws the issue icon. An existing select whose options read like types or priorities, in English, Polish or German, is recognised when tracking is turned on.

When you create a single select column yourself, its settings offer Start from: Priority or Work type fills in the options with their icons and colours and makes the column the table's priority or type ("Adds the options with their icons and colours, and makes this column the table's Priority."). If the table has one already, the preset says "This table already has a Priority column."

Status and done

The status labels belong to your table, so Quanty never crosses a card out. It only needs to know which options mean finished: an option that reads as done (Done, Gotowe, Zrobione, Erledigt, Fertig, Closed, Resolved, Completed and similar), otherwise the last option of the column. That decides:

• the progress of a parent ("2 of 5 done");
• whether a blocked item is ready ("Ready to start. Every blocker is done.");
• which items can be Overdue (a finished item never is).

On the card

A board that tracks work draws these on every card, outside the 8 fields you choose in Customize cards:

The priority on a card is a button: click it to Set priority without opening the record.

In the grid

• Every field is an ordinary column: sort, filter and hide it as any other (see The grid).
• A table with a parent column gets a Hierarchy button: "Show rows under their parent items". Each parent row then has Show sub-items / Hide sub-items.
• In the settings of a key column, Key prefix ("e.g. KAN") reads "Rows read as KAN-12. Leave empty for plain numbers." Once set, it is fixed: "Set when the table started tracking work. It cannot be changed, so keys already shared keep pointing to the right row."

Good to know

• Turning it on twice is safe. Turning tracking on again only adds what is missing.
• Nothing is hidden from the table. Every field is a column; deleting one removes that part of tracking, and the other parts keep working.
• Keys travel. A link to a work item pasted in Chat, a comment or a document shows as a chip with its key, title and status (see Subtasks, blockers and links).
• No Jira words. The types are Initiative, Request, Task, Issue and Subtask.

Related pages

• Subtasks, blockers and links: parents, the hierarchy view, blockers and links.
• Kanban boards: the board the work items move on.
• Filtering a board: Type, Priority, Labels, Blocked, Flagged, Overdue and Due soon.
• Column types: the columns the fields are made of.