Using the Rapid Board

On this page:

The GreenHopper Rapid Board is a GreenHopper Labs feature that:

• Provides organisations employing Kanban with a new approach to working with JIRA issues.
• Provides visual progress on issues from a JIRA filter and shows the status of these issues at a glance. You can also access multiple JIRA filters (each available from a separate 'Rapid View').
• Allows you to transition issues through a JIRA workflow by simply dragging and dropping them across columns.
• Provides a quick mechanism for viewing and editing a JIRA issue's summary or description directly (without leaving the board).

Accessing the Rapid Board

To access the Rapid Board:

1. Log in to JIRA.
2. Click the 'Agile' link's down-arrow in the top navigation bar and select 'Rapid Board' from the resulting dropdown menu. The 'Rapid Board' will be displayed.
   If you do not see the 'Rapid Board' option from this dropdown menu, ask your JIRA administrator to ensure that the 'Rapid Board' feature in GreenHopper Labs has been activated.
   
   Screenshot 1: The GreenHopper Rapid Board (click to view larger image)
   
   
   
   The screenshot above shows an example Rapid Board.

Using the Navigation Area

The navigation area of the Rapid Board is annotated below:

1. Rapid View dropdown — Select a Rapid View to show issues associated with its JIRA filter on the Rapid Board.
   If you do not see any Rapid Views in this dropdown, create one using the adjacent link on the right.
2. 'New Rapid View' — Click the 'New Rapid View' link to create a new Rapid View.

Creating a New Rapid View

A Rapid View shows issues belonging to a saved JIRA filter. You must have at least one saved JIRA filter you can access to create a new Rapid View. If not, create and save a new filter in JIRA.

To create a new Rapid View:

1. Click the 'New Rapid View' link in the navigation area.
2. Specify the following fields:
   • 'Rapid View Name' — Enter the name of the Rapid View as it will appear in the 'Rapid View dropdown'.
   • 'Saved Filter' — Select the JIRA filter used by this Rapid View.
     'Shares' lists which groups or projects roles have access to the currently selected saved filter and that will have access to the Rapid View.
3. Click 'View in JIRA' to view (or edit) the selected filter in JIRA.
4. Click the 'Create' button to create the Rapid View.
   Please note:
   • It is currently not possible to remove a Rapid View once it has been created.
   • The order of issues in a Rapid View's columns reflects the issue order presented by JIRA when viewing the associated JIRA filter on the Issue Navigator. By default, issues are listed in descending order by issue key.
   • Each Rapid Board column currently shows a maximum of 100 issues.
     If you cannot access some issues because your Rapid View has more than 100 issues in a given status, you can re-order issues by editing the Rapid View's associated JIRA filter. This can be done easily by re-ordering the search results of the JIRA filter in the Issue Navigator.

Transitioning Issues in a Rapid View

JIRA workflow statuses are mapped to columns in a Rapid View. See Configuring a Rapid View below for details on configuring these mappings.

To transition an issue to a JIRA workflow status in a Rapid View:

1. Access the Rapid Board using the top navigation bar and select your Rapid View from the 'Rapid View dropdown'.
2. Transition an issue by dragging and dropping the issue from one column to another. If a dialog box opens for your workflow transition status, you must complete all mandatory fields (indicated with by a red asterisk) before submitting the form. A notification appears at the bottom of your browser window indicating that the issue's status has been updated.
   Please note:
   • You can only transition an issue if you have permission to move that issue to the status in the JIRA workflow to which the column is mapped. See Configuring a Rapid View (below) for details. Unlike the Task Board, the Rapid Board currently does not auto-assign issues to you.
   • When you start dragging an issue, you can only transition the issue to columns whose background turns blue. When the issue is hovered over the target column, the blue background turns green. Complete the transition by dropping the issue onto the green column. See screenshot 2 below.
   • If the target column is associated with more than one status, when the issue is hovered over that column, each status will appear as a separate green section within that column. Complete the transition to the appropriate status by dropping the issue onto the relevant green section. See screenshot 3 below.
   • GreenHopper will respect your workflows and will trigger all your workflow validations, conditions, functions and notifications on the transitions.
     
     Screenshot 2: Dragging and Dropping an Issue to Another Column
     
     
     
     Screenshot 3: Dragging and Dropping an Issue to Column with Multiple Statuses
     
     

Configuring a Rapid View

The Rapid View Configuration feature allows you to edit the mapping of JIRA workflow statuses to columns of a Rapid View, as well as edit the columns of a Rapid View.

Accessing a Rapid View's Configuration

To access the Rapid View Configuration for a Rapid View:

1. Access the Rapid Board using the top navigation bar and select your Rapid View from the 'Rapid View dropdown'.
2. Click the 'Agile' link's down-arrow in the top navigation bar and select 'Manage Rapid View' from the resulting dropdown menu. The 'Rapid View Configuration' will be displayed for your current Rapid View.

Editing Column Mappings

To edit the mapping of JIRA workflow statuses to columns of a Rapid View:

1. Access the Rapid View Configuration for your Rapid View (above).
2. Change the mapping statuses as described in the following table and screenshot 4 below.

   To do the following:	Do this:
   Map a status to a column:	Drag a status from the 'Unmapped' column to the appropriate column on the right.
   Unmap a status from a column:	Drag a status from the relevant column on the right to the 'Unmapped' column on the left.
   Change the column mappings of a status:	Drag a status from its original column to its relevant new column.

   All statuses configured in the JIRA server are available from the Rapid View Configuration page. However, some statuses (in particular, custom statuses) may not be available for issues on your Rapid View if the JIRA workflows used by these issues, do not utilise those statuses.

Editing Columns

To edit columns of a Rapid View:

1. Access the Rapid View Configuration for your Rapid View (above).
2. Edit the columns as described in the following table and screenshot 4 below.

   To do the following:	Do this:
   Add a new column:	Click the 'Add Column' button at the top-left of the page. A new column named 'New Column' is added in the 2nd-last column position.
   Change the name of a column:	Click in the name area of the column, modify the existing name and press the 'Enter' key.
   To delete a column:	Click the 'cog' icon at the top-right of the column to be deleted and select 'Delete column' from the resulting popup menu. Any JIRA workflow statuses that had been mapped to the deleted column are moved back to the 'Unmapped' column.
   To move a column:	Drag and drop the column left or right to its new position. Wait until other columns have shifted position before dropping the column you wish to move to its new position.

   
   Screenshot 4: Rapid View Configuration
   
   

Detailed Card View

The detailed card view provides a more detailed view of any issue on a Rapid View.

When you click the issue key link of any issue on a Rapid View, the right hand side of the board changes to show a detailed view of that issue, providing you with immediate access to view and edit the issue's Summary and Description fields, as well as view the issue's latest comment. If an issue has no comments, the 'Comment' field indicates 'No content'.

The left hand side of the board contracts to show only the column containing the issue whose details are being viewed.

To switch back to the standard Rapid View again, click the 'back arrow' button below the 'Detail View' heading.

Screenshot 5: Detailed Card View

Editing an Issue's Summary or Description

To edit the Summary or Description of an issue, open the issue in its detailed card view (above) and click inside its 'Summary' or 'Description' fields, respectively, to begin editing the field content.

Please note:

• To submit the modified field content, press the 'Enter' key.
• If you are editing a field that accepts new lines such as the 'Description' field, press the 'Shift' + 'Enter' keys to add a new line.

Screenshot 5: Editing an Issue

Rapid Board Keyboard Shortcuts

These shortcuts are available on any Rapid View of the Rapid Board.

In addition to the keyboard shortcuts listed above, many of GreenHopper's other keyboard shortcuts are also available on the Rapid Board.

You can also perform any JIRA issue operation on the currently selected issue of a Rapid View, using the Operations Dialog Box.

If you add a comment to an issue or delete an issue, a notification appears at the bottom of your browser window indicating that the issue's status has been updated.