Explicit Priority for Work Items

Solution Overview

The solution is designed to visualize the priority of items in a backlog via integer numbers explicitly so that Product Owners, Solution Owners, and Key Stakeholders can easily define the priorities of items in a backlog and other people in the organization could understand the priority of each item by just looking at the number.

It enables Priority Number field for each item (by default for Portfolio Epic) where you'll see the explicit priority of an item in a backlog based on Rank. The higher the priority, the lower the number.

It allows to either set Priority Number manually (which will update an entity Rank and put a Work Item to the appropriate position in a backlog):

... or prioritise the items in a backlog by drag and drop (which will update the Priority Number of a Work Item).

Prioritisation can be made either within a Portfolio, within all Portfolios or in a specific category (values in a drop-down list custom field). For example, suppose you have a Reporter custom field with values Internal and External, and would like to set priority numbers for each value separately. In that case, you can configure the rules to use that field values.

Solution Configuration

There are the following parameters available in the solution rules:

• cfGroup – by default, it's set to null, which means you won't prioritize within custom field values. Set the needed custom field name here to prioritize within a specific category (custom field values)
• excludeStates – if you want to exclude some states from prioritization (for example, state UAT), then add the name of the states. Format: "Custom Field Name"
• groupByProject – by default, the parameter is set to false, which means prioritization will happen across all the Portfolios (Projects) in the system. Set it to true if you'd like to set Priority Number within each Portfolio separately.
• excludeFinalState – set it to true, if you want to exclude entities in the Final state from prioritization
• excludeInitialState – set it to true, if you want to exclude entities in the Initial state from prioritization
• cfPriorityNumber – it defines the name of a custom field (by default Priority Number), where you store the Priority Number. If you'd like to name it differently, provide the custom field's name here.

To update the rule parameters, please do the following:

• Go to Settings -> Automation Rules
• Open the following rules on by one:
  • PNC_1_of_9_Priority Solution Pre-Setup
  • PNC_2_of_9_Update Priority Number when entity State or Rank is updated
  • PNC_3_of_9_Update all entities if Priority Number was manually updated
  • PNC_4_of_9_Update Priority Number when entity CF value is updated
  • PNC_5_of_9_Update first page of entities if Priority Number was updated by Rule
  • PNC_6_of_9_Update second page of entities if Priority Number was updated by Rule
  • PNC_7_of_9_Update third page of entities if Priority Number was updated by Rule
  • PNC_8_of_9_Update Priority Number when entity CF value is changed
  • PNC_9_of_9_Update Priority Number when entity Project is updated
• Click JSON tab
• Update the parameters mentioned above
• Click Save button

Change the Entity type

By default, the solution sets Priority Number values for Portfolio Epics. If you'd like to use it for another entity type (for example, Epic), do the following:

• Go to Settings -> Custom Fields
• Add a new Priority Number non-system custom field of type Number
• Go to Settings -> Automation Rules
• Open the following rule:
  • PNC_1_of_9_Priority Solution Pre-Setup 
• Click JSON tab
• Update the following parameter:
  • resourceType: for example Epic
  • pluralResourceType: for example Epics
• Click Save button

• Open the following rules:
  • PNC_2_of_9_Update Priority Number when entity State or Rank is updated
  • PNC_3_of_9_Update all entities if Priority Number was manually updated
  • PNC_4_of_9_Update Priority Number when entity CF value is updated
  • PNC_5_of_9_Update first page of entities if Priority Number was updated by Rule
  • PNC_6_of_9_Update second page of entities if Priority Number was updated by Rule
  • PNC_7_of_9_Update third page of entities if Priority Number was updated by Rule
  • PNC_8_of_9_Update Priority Number when entity CF value is changed
  • PNC_9_of_9_Update Priority Number when entity Project is updated
• Replace the entity (by default Portfolio Epic) to the needed entity type:

Note: The current version of the solution only allows Priority Number work for one type of entity (Portfolio Epic, Epic or any other). We'll support several entity types in the next version of the solution.

Configure Prioritization within a category (Custom Field values)

To perform prioritization within a category (custom field values), you'll need to do an additional configuration. Please note that the only custom fields of type Drop-Down List can be used in the solution.

1. Please make sure you provided the name of the custom field in all the solution rules, as described in the beginning of the Solution Configuration section.
2. Adjust two more automation rules:
   • Go to Settings -> Automation Rules
   • Open the following rule:
     1. PNC_4_of_9_Update Priority Number when entity CF value is updated
     2. PNC_8_of_9_Update Priority Number when entity CF value is changed
   • Replace the predefined Value Type value by the needed Custom Field Name in the And at least one of the following fields is modified field.
   • Click Save button