Kanban Boards: New Use Cases. Happier Users.
Team collaboration with Quickbase continues to get a whole lot easier and more powerful. Next up is an inspired new report type that takes drag ‘n drop ease to the next level. We’ll soon be introducing kanban boards, a new way of viewing and manipulating records. This opens up a whole new category of use cases that Quickbase can support.
(Why is it called kanban? Kanban is Japanese for “visual signal” or “card” and it’s becoming a standard for visualizing and categorizing work items. Find out the history here.)
For anyone who tracks work that goes through stages or categories, kanban boards let you visualize your data in cards that are easily moved between categories. Imagine a Sales Manager app where your sales team views their opportunities organized by funnel stage. Then they can drag an opportunity card from one stage to another as the opportunity progresses. Just like moving sticky notes on a white board.
The columns in a kanban board are based on values in a single multiple choice field. In our sales Manager app example it’s a field called ‘Stage.’ Each time you drag an opportunity card to a new column, you change the value in that ‘Stage’ field. A lot easier than editing the record. And a lot clearer view of what stage all your opportunities are in.
One new report type. So many uses.
Another typical use is in a Support Ticket app. Support Team members can see their open tickets arranged by status and change the status as they work the ticket. To close the ticket, just drop it in the Closed column. You can also use our colorization options to tag the card based on other attributes. Below, we’re tagging those IT ticket cards based on High (red), Medium (orange) or Low (blue) priority.
If your table has more than one multiple choice field you can view the same records differently using different boards. In the same Tickets table if you might want to view those open tickets by priority and change priority by dragging to a different column. Just create a new kanban board based on the Priority field, and drag away!
What else can you do?
Need suggestions for other use cases? How about using this new report type for a defect tracker app? Or to manage scrum team work as it moves its stories through the development cycle? How about moving project cards to columns representing milestones in the project? Or view and manage candidates as they move through the interview and hiring process?
We think the uses are limitless. Early access starts now, so If you can’t wait to start using it just open a support case and request early access for kanban boards. As you explore, please get in touch and let us know the unique ways you are using kanban boards to support your team.
Happy kanbaning!
