Team swimlane allocation

What is team swimlane allocation?

Easy Agile Programs automatically places date-synced work items into your roadmap.

For Programs configured to use ‘Jira epics from my team boards’, our app automatically adds date-synced roadmap items in each team swimlane without any additional configuration.

For Programs where the Roadmap issue source is a dedicated roadmap board, some additional setup is required.

You can learn more about configuring your roadmap here.

Team swimlane allocation when using a dedicated roadmap board

Team swimlane allocation places date-synced work items in the right team swimlane automatically, based on the Jira field you use to keep track of which team owns the work.

Team swimlane allocation works when:

Date syncing is on.

The Program is using a dedicated roadmap board.

Teams in your Program use the same Jira field to identify which team owns which items on the roadmap.

Work items that can't be matched to a single team stay in the Shared Team Features swimlane, so nothing is hidden.

What is a dedicated roadmap board?

When creating your Program, the roadmap issue source selected was either:

• Jira epics from a dedicated board or

• Any issue types from a dedicated board

Programs that use ‘Jira epics from my team boards’ place date-synced roadmap items in each team swimlane without any additional configuration.

Configuring team swimlane allocation

Users with Manage Programs permission can set up team swimlane allocation.

If your Program uses a dedicated roadmap board with date syncing and hasn't set up Team Swimlane Allocation yet, you'll see a prompt on the Shared Team Features swimlane to open Edit Program.

1. From the Program roadmap page or the prompt on the Shared Team Features swimlane, open Edit Program.

2. Find the Team swimlane allocation section in the modal then select the Jira field identifying the team that owns the roadmap items pulled from your dedicated roadmap board

   • Only fields that can be used are listed.

   • If your field is missing please contact our Support team to see if it can be enabled.

3. For each team in the Program, select the corresponding field value

   • Type to search if the list is long.

   • Each option can be used for one team only. An option already used for another team will be greyed out.

   • You can leave a team unmapped.

   • Roadmap items with dates but no value or an unmapped value will show in the Shared Team Features swimlane

4. Select Update program.

Which Jira fields can be used?

• Single select custom field

• Radio Buttons custom field

• Multi-select custom field

  • A work item is placed in a team swimlane when its value matches only one team in the Program.

  • If the field contains multiple values and these values have been mapped to different teams, the work item will be shown in the Shared Team Features swimlane.

  • Unmapped fields are ignored

• Project (Jira system field)

• Components (Jira system field)

  • Components belong to a single project, so options are listed as "Component name (PROJECT KEY)".

  • A work item is placed in a team swimlane when its component matches only one team in the Program.

  • If the field contains multiple components and these components have been mapped to different teams, the work item will be shown in the Shared Team Features swimlane.

  • Unmapped fields are ignored

Fields we don't support today:

• The Atlassian Team field - reach out to our Support team if you want to use this field

• Labels, text fields, number fields, date fields, or user pickers

• User property custom fields (Jira Cloud)

• Custom fields created inside a team-managed project (Jira Cloud)

Setting up the field in Jira

In most cases the field your teams use will be ready to go. If you're starting from scratch, or the field isn't appearing in the dropdown, check the following with your Jira Administrator.

1. Create or choose a field that identifies each team in your Program - A single choice custom select field, such as "Delivery team", is the easiest to work with. Learn how to create a custom field in Jira Cloud or in Jira Data Center.

2. Associate the field to the ‘Work Item Screen’ for the projects on your Roadmap board. A field that exists in Jira but isn't on those screens won't be listed. See how to configure screens in Jira Cloud or Jira Data Center.

3. Set the field on your roadmap work items. A work item with no value stays in Shared Team Features swimlane.

How work items are added to team swimlanes

Team swimlane allocation only applies to work items that are scheduled on the roadmap automatically using Jira dates. When the roadmap loads, Easy Agile Programs reads the mapped field and dates on each work item and places them into the roadmap.

If a date-synced work item has more than one value in the selected Jira field (e.g. component = Team A, Team B) then the work item will be displayed in the Shared Team Features swimlane, not in Team A and Team B’s swimlane.

If the field is empty or the value is not mapped to any team in the Program then the work items will be shown in the Shared Team Features swimlane. This is also the case when a field has been deleted or hidden in Jira.

Warning icon on manually placed work items

Because manual placement wins and the Jira field isn't updated by Easy Agile Programs, a work item can be placed in a swimlane that’s different to the team the field value is mapped to. When that happens, a grey warning icon appears at the right-hand end of the work item card.

The warning icon is a prompt to let you know that the swimlane doesn’t match the field value on the Jira work item. To clear the icon, either drag the work item to the team swimlane that matches the field value or update the field in Jira to match the swimlane.

You won't see the icon on work items in the Shared Team Features swimlane, or when the field is empty, unmapped or matches more than one team.

Migrating from Data Center to Cloud

Team swimlane allocation settings aren't currently migrated by the Jira Cloud Migration Assistant. After migrating, open Edit Program and set up the mapping again.

Troubleshooting

Can’t find your field?

If your field is missing:

• Check that the field has been added to the screen for all projects on your Roadmap board (see details above)

• Make sure you have permission to create work items in all projects on your roadmap board

• Check that your field type is supported (see ‘Which Jira fields can be used?’ above for more details)

If the field you want to use still isn’t available, please contact our Support team to see if it can be enabled.

Team swimlane allocation is not showing in ‘Edit Program’

This section will only show in Edit program for Programs using a dedicated roadmap board. If your program is set up to use ‘Jira epics from my team boards’ it will not show as Programs automatically places date syncing items in the team swimlane where the epics are located.

Team swimlane allocation is greyed out and can’t be edited in ‘Edit Program’

This section is only editable once both a start and end date field have been selected. Date syncing must be on for Easy Agile Programs to place items automatically. Learn about how date syncing works.

The field has been selected but no values are showing up

For components, there may be no values set for the projects in the roadmap board.

For custom fields, there are no options available.

Ask your Jira Administrator to check the field values.

The value has been updated on the work item in Jira but it's not updating in Easy Agile Programs

Easy Agile will automatically place work items into the mapped team swimlane when:

• the start and/or end date falls within the increment

• the item has not been manually scheduled from the Edit Roadmap screen in Program - this is because manual edits with Easy Agile Programs take precedence - see more details in ‘Manual placement always wins’.

Moving the work item to a different team swimlane doesn’t update the field value in Jira

The Jira field is never updated by Easy Agile Programs. This configuration is read-only. Moving a work item on the roadmap doesn't change its field value.

Work items are still in the Shared Team Features swimlane

Check the following for the work items in question:

• The field is empty on the work item in Jira. Set it and refresh the roadmap.

• Field values aren't mapped to one or more teams - Open Edit Program and look for teams which do not have a value mapped in the Team swimlane allocation section.

• The field value matches more than one team in the Program - A work item with several values matching more than one team, will be placed in Shared Team Features. If you’d like the work item to show for one team only, remove the extra values in Jira, or drag the work item to the right swimlane.

• The field has been deleted or hidden in Jira. Open Edit Program and choose a different field.

• Someone moved the work item manually - Manual placement takes priority when displaying items on the roadmap. Drag it to a team swimlane if required.

• Date syncing isn't configured correctly - Team swimlane allocation only applies to work items scheduled using their Jira dates. See Troubleshooting date syncing for more information on how to fix configuration issues.

What happens if our Program set up changes?

Team swimlane allocation may be impacted when you make changes to your program:

• Adding a team - A new row appears in the mapping values section. You'll be able to save the Program without selecting a value for this new team. Work items for this team will show in the Shared Team Features swimlane until a value is selected.

• Removing a team - The mapping is removed and any work items previously shown in that team’s swimlane will move to Shared Team Features.

• Changing the Roadmap board - The list of available fields is taken from the projects in the new board you have selected. You’ll need to select the relevant field and map the team values before saving.

• Removing the date fields - The Team swimlane allocation section will be greyed out until new date fields are selected. Date syncing configuration is required for team swimlane allocation.

• Deleting the field - If the selected field is deleted or hidden in Jira, work items move to the Shared Team Features swimlane, and the Team swimlane allocation section in Edit Program shows an error asking you to choose a different field.