Kanbanoo - The Kanban add-on for M-Files

The Kanban add-on for M-Files

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Documentation

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What is Kanbanoo?

A User Interface Extension add-on for M-Files, that transforms any M-Files view to a Kanban board.
A shared space where teams can visually manage their work in M-Files.
An intuitive way to perform task management in M-Files.

Kanbanoo

M-Files vanilla

Move the slider to see how Kanbanoo transforms a simple M-Files view with assignments to a Kanban board. See the gallery below for more Kanbanoo screenshots.

What is a Kanban Board?

Kanban boards are visual representations of your workflows. A Kanban board organizes tasks which are represented by cards into columns.
Each column corresponds to a completion state. Typically there are at least 3 columns:

"Requested" or "Backlog" is the task "inbox" of incoming work.
"Doing" or "In Progress" is for tasks that somebody is actively working on.
"Done" is for finished work.

In Kanbanoo the columns are derived from workflows: Each workflow state is one column.
Assignments often don't have a workflow so they get the default board shown on the right.

Who is it for?

Any organization using M-Files and seeking to improve their task management can benefit from Kanbanoo.

You need to have M-Files Online version 20.12.
If you are running an older version of M-Files contact us to discuss your options.

Boost Team Collaboration

Kanban boards provide a visual representation of work progress.

Kanban improves shared understanding of the status of tasks, who is working on them, and when they are due.

As an M-Files user you likely already have that information in your system, but the tabular presentation in the M-Files client is more difficult to process for humans.

Each task is shown as a card with most vital information on it. Every M-Files assignment and every M-Files object in a workflow can be understood as a task by Kanbanoo.

Improve Your Team's Morale

Kanban boards can help teams stay motivated by providing a visual representation of progress and success.

A key principle of Kanban is to avoid overburdening team members by limiting their work in progress. The first step in doing that is to make the amount of work-in-progress visible, for example in a Kanban board.

Kanban board with arrows indicating direction of card movement and progress.

Want to see more?

Schedule a Demo to see Kanbanoo in action. We will show you a few use cases and answer any questions you may have.

Schedule a Demo

Photo of macbook with M-Files and Kanbanoo visible

Elevate Productivity

Another key principle of Kanban is to finish a task before starting a new one.

Kanban helps to shift focus to getting stuff done rather than starting new work by making both steps

explicit

When you start working on a task you move the Kanban card from Requested to In Progress - being mindful that you should not start new work before finishing previous work first.

When you finished a task you move the card from In Progress to Done and emit a happy sound.

.

Kanbanoo makes a clear distinction between incomplete assignments vs. assignments that users are currently working on: the In Progress column.

Kanban board with one card in the In Progress column emphasizing that users should limit the number of tasks they are currently working on.

Kanban board for agile project delivery

Eliminate Status Meetings

Who wants to be stuck in a meeting when works needs to be done?

Since the status is visible on the Kanban board, the frequency of status meetings can be reduced and meetings can used to have richer and deeper discussions.

Find bottlenecks in your process by looking out for big piles of cards on the Kanban board.

Screenshot Gallery

Klick images to enlarge

Kanban board with 3 columns for M-Files assignments

M-Files workflows are automatically mapped to Kanban columns

Users can minimize less important columns and the metadata card to make space

Title images (optional) help users keep similar documents apart

Use separate assignments to break down work into smaller tasks

Kanbanoo also runs in M-Files 22.09 (old user interface)

Try Kanbanoo

If you want to try Kanbanoo on your M-Files system, you can download the free trial. It is fully functional but limited to a 30-day period.

Download Kanbanoo

Frequently Asked Questions

Basics

Q: What type of M-Files objects can be shown in Kanbanoo?
A: Kanbanoo will show any M-Files object as card in a Kanban board. To be shown in a Kanban board the M-Files object must be either an assignment or have a workflow. See Kanbanoo Concepts for more details.

Platform Support

Q: Does Kanbanoo work in M-Files Online on premises installations?
A: Yes.
Q: Does Kanbanoo support the new M-Files Desktop UI released in November 2022?
A: Yes, both the new and previous M-Files Desktop UI are supported with identical functionality but slightly different color scheme.
Q: Does Kanbanoo support the new M-Files Web client?
A: The classic M-Files web client is supported with limited functionality. The vNext web client currently does not support User Interface Extensibility and therefore will not show Kanbanoo (users will see a regular M-Files view).
Q: Does Kanbanoo work in M-Files Cloud installations?
A: Yes, please be sure to download the "signed" add-on from our download page for use in the M-Files Cloud.
Q: What languages are supported by Kanbanoo?
A: Currently the Kanbanoo user interface is English only. Please contact us if you require additional language support.

Using Kanbanoo

Q: How do I create a new Kanban board?
A: First identify or create an M-Files view that contains all M-Files objects that shall be displayed as Kanban cards. Next, navigate to that view, open the M-Files task pane and press the "Show Kanbanoo" button. Note that only M-Files assignments and objects with a workflow will be displayed as Kanban cards.
Q: Can I create a Kanban board for a project?
A: Yes. All you need is create an M-Files view with the relevant project-related objects then navigate to that view and press "Show Kanban" in the Task Pane.
Q: How do I create a new Kanban card?
A: Since every Kanban card corresponds to an M-Files object, you need to create an M-Files object. Use the regular M-Files create button (big plus symbol) or press the appropriate button in the M-Files Task Pane Create section to start creating your object. Make sure that your object's properties match the requirements for the current M-Files view, otherwise the newly created object will not show in the Kanban board.
Q: How do I change a Kanban card?
A: Select the card by clicking on it and then change the content on the M-Files metadata card. If the card prepresents a pure M-Files object (as opposed to a document) you can also open a pop-out metadata card by double-clicking the card.
Q: How do I define the columns of a Kanban board?
A: The columns - including their names - are derived from existing M-Files workflows: each workflow state maps to a column. M-Files assignments are a special case: if they do not have a workflow, they will be displayed in a Kanban board named "Assignments" with columns "Requested" and "Done". The M-Files Administrator can enable a third column named "In Progress" (on a per-vault basis) by following the installations instructions.
Q: How do I rearrange the columns of a Kanban board?
A: Right-click on a column header and select "Move left" or "Move right" from the context menu.
Q: My Kanban board has too many columns that I don't need to see - can I remove columns?
A: You cannot remove columns but you can minimize any column to a small vertical strip: right-click on a column header and select "Minimize". To expand a column either double-click the vertical strip or select "Expand" from its context menu.
Q: How do I automate moving Kanban cards?
A: Since Kanbanoo boards are based on M-Files workflows, you can fully leverage M-Files workflow capabilities to change or move cards. Specifically, to automate moving a card from one Kanban column to another, you need to change the M-Files workflow state transition between the corresponding workflow states in M-Files Admin.
Q: How do I set a deadline for a Kanban card?
A: Kanbanoo uses the built-in deadline property (ID 42) of M-Files and if set, displays that as deadline on the Kanban card. Therefore to set a deadline, add the deadline property to the M-Files object and give it a value.

Permissions in Kanbanoo

Q: How do I set permissions for Kanban cards?
A: Kanbanoo fully respects M-Files permissions. Therefore, to set and change persmission for a card you need to set and change permissions of the underlying M-Files object. To do this, select the card and then change the permissions on the metadata card.
Q: When I try to move a Kanban card to another column that column is greyed out and I cannot drop a card there.
A: This is intentional. What this signifies is that the corresponding M-Files workflow does not allow a transition between the current column and your desired target column. To enable a transition you need to ask your M-Files administrator to change the workflow.

Performance

Q: How do I speed up loading of Kanbanoo?
A: Kanbanoo will initially load the metadata of all objects in the current view. To speed up startup, limit the view to only the relevant objects using filters as described in the M-Files User Guide here. Since Kanbanoo will only display objects with a workflow and assignments it is wise to filter a view based on workflow. Deselecting Show Title Images and Show Assignments will also speed up Kanbanoo as it will not try to download images and related assignments.