"We're committed to providing you with the tools and support you need to properly get started.

You're on the right page to learn more about Planbox features, but if you're looking for agile project management information, you might also want to visit our Agile Resources section. Also note that we offer free webinars and other training solutions that will teach you everything you need to know about agile and/or Planbox.

Don't forget that we're always a chat, an email or a phone call away!"

Project Architecture

Planbox has four levels of Project allowing you to do Program Management.

1. Initiative
2. Project
3. Item
4. Task

Depending on your type of company, the meaning behind Initiative is different:

Agencies (Consultants, Marketing, Design, Website, Software)

Initiative is usually a Client's name. You can then create multiple projects below which either run in parallel, or one after another.

Enterprise & IT Departments

Initiative is a Business Unit or a Department. Each department runs their own projects. Resources can be shared accross initiatives.

Companies Developing Products

Initiative is a Product. You can run multiple projects inside each intiative.

Creating Initiatives

When creating a New Initiative, there are 5 steps you want to follow:

1. Give your initiative a name (see Project Architecture)
2. Go to the Manage Page:
   
• Customize your Initiative with your own icon
• Choose the Time zone
• Choose the Date of your Next Iteration and it's length
3. You can modify the features that you want to use in Planbox, such as Importance, Logged and Estimated Time, Points, Business Value, etc.
4. Then you'll want to create a Project or Projects
5. Finally, you build your team, by inviting the right persons to the right Project (see Building your Team).

Building Your Team

When Building your Teams you want to be sure to invite the right persons on the right projects.

There are 2 ways to invite people:

1. Go to the Manage Page:
   

• You can invite someone to the entire Initiative by clicking on the Initiative - People & Permissions section. They will have access to ALL Projects.
• You can invite someone to a specific Project, under the Section Projects, Teams & Roles. That way they will only see what is happening on THAT specific project.

In either case, when you invite someone, you can choose to give them a role. You can choose from the long list of existing roles already there or create your own by clicking on New.

Once that's done, assign work to your team by Creating Items and Tasks.

Creating Items and Tasks

Creating Items and Tasks is incredibly easy:

1. Go to the Work Page:
   
2. Use the "Search or Create" Item to enter the name of your new item, then press enter
• The item is added to the "Item Board"(left side) and opens an "Item Pane"(right side)
3. In the "Item Pane" (on the right):
• Create your tasks and assign them to your teammates
• Estimate the time needed for each task (optional)
• You can edit the item details such as Importance, Logged and Estimated Time, Points, Business Value, etc.
• You can upload documents to the "Files" Tab
• You can comment or reply to a comment in the "Comment" tab
4. Next, you can find out about Getting your team involved).

Getting Your Team Involved

Planbox developed the Power Level feature as a way for PMs to monitor their team's adoption of Planbox.

The more active the user, the higher his score. We even came up with a Top 10 highest ranking for Teammates to compare each other.

Another way to get teammates involved is by sharing files directly from Planbox and by commenting on items. Comments on items can be sent to your teammate's email address, with a link for him to reply. That keeps all conversations in one place and brings everyone back to Planbox to collaborate.

Move to History

The Move to History is a mysterious event that occurs at the end of every Iteration. In reality, the process is simple:

1. Everything that is in your Current iteration is sent to History in the Last iteration.
2. Everything what was not completed is kept in the new Current iteration.
3. Everything that was in Next, is brought to Current.
4. Everything that was in Next+n, is brough to Next+(n-1).

Checkout our next section to learn more about Next Iteration Planning.

Next Iteration Planning

Iteration Planning is either a science or an art... whichever was hardest for you in school.

Thankfully, Planbox tries to simplify that process by allowing you to use indicators such as:

• Importance
• Business Value
• Points
• Deadlines
• Labels

When you are planning your next iteration, keep a close eye to your Dashboard and open the Progress and Allocation Tile.
If you have set your Capacity properly in Manage, you will be flagged automatically as over-capacity if you have too many estimated hours assigned to you, or any of your teammates.

Backlog Management

Backlog Management is similar to Iteration Planning. Someone, typically the Product Owner or the Project Manager, is responsible for maintaining the Backlog organized and Prioritized. Your Top Items should be on Top to make it easy for your Teams to know exactly what to work on for the next sprint - or God forbid - if they manage to complete all their items sooner than estimated!

Using the Right Features

Is your team using scrum? Turn on points!
Are your managers always asking abour ROI? Turn on business value!
Do you estimate and log time? No? Turn it off!
You choose what you want to use!

• Importance
• Business Value
• Points
• Roles
• Time Estimate and Logging
• Labels

All you need to do is go to the Manage page, under Features:

You can also install our User Feedback widget and get invaluable feedback from your users by installing it on your website or in your Webapp.

If you use ZenDesk, we fully integrate with them to allow your technical support to manage tickets and assign tasks quickly and efficiently.

Using the Dashboard

In Planbox the Dashboard is on the Work page. It is a powerful tool and always close at hand. It gets updated every few seconds so that you always have an up-to-date view. The Dashboard consists of tiles giving you key information on the selected iteration.

Click on a tile to get a full view.

• Progress & People
  Shows you the progress, and work allocation of the iteration and breaks that down for each team member.
• Burndown
  Gives you a breakdown of accomplished work, day by day since the start of the iteration.
• Latest Activities
  Everything that has happened lately. Easy way to track what's happened lately. You can even turn that into an RSS feed.
• User Feedback
  If you have installed and are using our Feedback Widget, you get access to the User Feedback tile. User Feedback contains every message sent through the Feedback widget and allows you to create an Item from a User's comment. This is ideal for Websites and Webapps.
  
  For instructions on how to activate and use the Feedback Widget, click here.

Reporting

Planbox comes packaged with 4 Pre-made Reports.

1. Visit the Report page

• Iteration Burndown Comparison
  See the burndown of iterations side-to-side. This is fantastic to detect trends in your iterations. Do you NEVER complete an iteration? Do you ALWAYS change your scope during an iteration? These are the kind of questions you must ask yourselves to improve your team's performance.
• Time Estimated vs Logged
  See how precise your team was in their estimation of the work to be accomplished. This report gives you the Time Estimated vs Logged for everything that has been completed in an iteration. You can drill down to the Item level and to the Task level. Perhaps you ALWAYS underestimate the time needed for design... which is something you want to put your finger on.
• Item type distribution
  Gives you a visual representation of the type of items you are working on. We like to keep an eye on the number of bugs in that graph and make sure it's never too high.
• Item Status Distribution
  The distribution of the statuses is an indicator of your progress. It's also a great way to track impediments and rejected items.

Getting the most out of Planbox

Planbox, like any project management tool, is only as good as the information that you put in it... following the old adage: Garbage In, Garbage Out. The single most effective way to get great value out of Planbox is to have a great project architecture and a backlog that's full and well Prioritized.

Workers love to have their priorities straight and to know exactly what's been done so far... and what remains to be done.

The average company gets time savings of 5% to 10% per employee. For the average team (+- 10), this represents $40,000 to $75,000 in savings per year! So what are you waiting for? Start Planning!