ELO ToDo · The ELO ToDo system is strongly influenced by how a Kanban board is used. However, instead of using paper and sticky notes, ELO is used. The electronic mode of use has

Technical Documentation ELO ToDo

ELO Digital Office GmbH 1

ELO ToDo Date: 2014-02-19

This script generates a new work area named "ToDo" in the ELO Java Client. Projects can be created there that contain various other areas for work tasks. The tasks can be given priorities, with the status changing in the course of processing, going through stages of being an idea, given priorities, being worked on, and finally being completed.

Content

1 Preparation ........................................................................................................................................ 2

2 Installation ......................................................................................................................................... 2

3 Usage .................................................................................................................................................. 4

4 Create new project........................................................................................................................... 5

5 Select project and area ................................................................................................................... 6

6 Adding tasks ...................................................................................................................................... 7

7 Prioritizing tasks ................................................................................................................................ 9

8 Edit task ........................................................................................................................................... 13

9 Finished task ................................................................................................................................... 14

10 The Kanban chart .......................................................................................................................... 15

11 The list overview ............................................................................................................................ 16

12 Administrative additions to the keywording .......................................................................... 16

13 Administrative extensions to charts .......................................................................................... 17



1 Preparation The base folder must be defined in which the projects are saved. The default setting is a top-level folder named "ToDo". This must be created. Employees who are allowed to create new projects must have read/write permissions, as well as the "Edit lists" permission to this folder.

2 Installation The configuration data for the application is stored in the ¶Administration¶ToDoConfig folder within the ELO repository. The default configuration can be loaded in ELO by importing the "ToDoConfig.zip" import data set.

Next, after the import, you must define the users who are allowed to accept tasks. To do this, a list of ELO users must be entered to the extra text of the ¶Project¶All folder.

These users are then available for selection in all projects. It is possible to create different employee lists for individual projects. To do this, create an additional folder within the ¶Project folder named the same as the project, and enter the employees for this project there. Each project without custom settings automatically uses the settings from the ¶All folder.

The scripts can be loaded after creating the configuration. These are located in the ToDoScript.zip repository. This is not loaded by using the ELO import function; instead, extract the contents of the ZIP file and drag the files to the Java Client Scripting Base folder.



If there are deviations from the standard configuration, these must then be entered to the script. Check out and edit the ELOtodo.js file to do this.

An object named "ToDoConfig" is defined at the start of the script.

Essentially, only two settings need to be noted here:

root: If your ¶Administration folder has been renamed or moved to a different location, you must adjust the ELO path here.



data: If you do not want to see the ToDo projects at the highest repository level and have created the ToDo base folder somewhere else, you can enter its path in ELO here.

There are also a few settings that only need to be changed in certain cases.

prioPrefix: All work areas that contain a priority list need to start with this name prefix. The following priorities exist: A, B, and C, as well as X for escalations. Therefore, in the default configuration, the priority areas are named "Prio A", "Prio B", and "Prio C". If you prefer "Priority A", enter "Priority " to the prioPrefix setting. The letter with the priority must then follow this prefix directly afterwards. You should then also change the template accordingly in the configuration area. If an entry is moved into a priority area, the priority field is also automatically updated in the keywording data. Thus, the priority does not need to be entered manually. Instead, it results automatically from the work process.

donePrefix: All "Finished" work areas need to start with this prefix. When an entry is moved into a "Finished" area, the system automatically fills out the keywording fields for "Erledigt durch" (completed by) and "Erledigt am" (completed on [date]). Multiple "Finished" areas can be created, such as by version number or calendar year. Here as well, the template should be adjusted accordingly when changes are made.

activePrefix1 and 2: Areas that signal that an entry is being worked on must be designated with one of these prefixes. When an entry is moved into an area for processing, the keywording is automatically updated with the name of the person working on the task and the processing deadline.

3 Usage The ELO ToDo system is strongly influenced by how a Kanban board is used. However, instead of using paper and sticky notes, ELO is used. The electronic mode of use has the advantage that all persons involved can get an overview of the state of work at any time. Additionally, it is possible to retrieve information long after a project has completed.

When using a Kanban system, it is assumed that there are a pool of tasks. These are taken up by the person responsible for them as soon as they have time to do so, then passed on to the next level as soon as processing is complete. In a real Kanban system, only a limited number of active tasks are allowed for each processing level. This limit has not been applied to the



ELO ToDo system. Additionally, the ELO ToDo system allows tasks to be returned to the pool or to jump over intermediate levels.

Before the system can be used, first the required projects must be created.

4 Create new project Click "Create project" to create a new project. In this case, a new folder with the project's name is created in the ToDo area, and the template from the ¶ToDoConfig¶Template area is copied into it. The new project then has all standard areas from the very beginning.

If you want to deviate from the standard settings, it is possible to directly edit, delete, or create new areas directly in the repository structure. All areas are normal folders in ELO. Please note that the priority areas, processing areas, and finished areas receive their naming conventions from the configuration, in order for the keywording to update automatically.



If an area needs to offer a vote function, the area folder needs to have "allowvote" entered to the "ELOINDEX" index field.

If an area needs to be hidden from display in the Kanban chart, enter the text "hidden" here.

5 Select project and area You can switch between created projects and areas at any time. If you want to switch to another project, click "Project" in the "Select" group.

A list of all projects is then shown. Select the desired project here.



After selecting a project, the area is automatically requested next. Select the desired target area here.

If you only want to switch to another area within a project, click "Area". Then only the area request appears.

6 Adding tasks New tasks are created in the "Unevaluated ideas" area. If you have not yet moved to this area, you will now switch to the correct place.

Next, click "Task" in the "New" group.

An input dialog box then opens to enter a short name (should not be longer than 80 characters) and a simple description of the task.



After clicking OK, the new task is created and shown. Click a task in the list to select it. The selection is used, for example, for various processing and voting functions.

Sometimes, additional documents exist for a task. For example, descriptions, requirement documents, or e-mail correspondence with explanations. These documents can easily be attached to the task. Select the task, then click "Go to".

The ELO ToDo system now automatically switches to the repository work area and opens this task's folder. Now you can use the normal ELO functions to file required documents (such as by dragging them from the file system or your e-mail program).



Click "ToDo" in the list of work areas to return to the tasks at any time. In the updated task list, you can now also see that some additional documents exist for the task. To view them, select the task and click "Go to" again.

Of course, you can edit an existing task by clicking "Edit task".

7 Prioritizing tasks Unevaluated ideas must next be turned into prioritized work tasks. This can occur, for example, in the course of a product conference.

To do this, go through the list of tasks. Select each task and, in the course of a vote, each participant can assign an evaluation.



Once the list has been worked through, click the voting button "Sort" to apply an evaluation. The list is then expanded to show the results of the vote. If the area folder has a descending alphabetical sorting order, this also applies a sorting order corresponding to the importance.

This voting step is optional because the priority for some tasks is set by external factors, making it not possible to simply vote on it.

Next, the tasks are distributed into the existing priority areas. To do this, select them individually or in groups, then click "Move".



A selection of all areas is then shown. The user selects the desired target area and the tasks are moved accordingly.

If a user then switches to one of the priority areas, they will see the corresponding tasks there.



From there, the original voting information may be distracting, so it can be removed by clicking "Delete votes" (delete votes).

Employees can be entered as "Responsible" (for a task) here. However, this assignment is optional. Employees can, for example, state that they intend to work on this task here. This is intended to avoid tasks from being moved to "In processing" too early, even though there is not really time to work on them - i.e. an incorrectly routed "reservation".



8 Edit task The basic idea behind Kanban is that the tasks are distributed to employees upon their own initiative. After the tasks are prioritized, the developers are able to select available tasks from the pool, which are then completed in the way that makes most sense. In this case, a developer selects a task and clicks "Move".

"In processing" is then selected as target area. The ELO ToDo system then automatically enters the person processing the task and the start of processing.



In the ELO keywording form, the person is now displayed who placed the task in processing, as well as the time the processing started.

9 Finished task As soon as a person processing a task has finished work on it, the user moves it to "Complete".



Here as well, it is possible to see in the keywording data when the task was completed and by whom.

10 The Kanban chart If a user wishes to see an overview of individual process steps, such as "what is currently being worked on" or "how many open Prio A items still exist", the area view is advantageous. However, if you want to see a total overview of a complete project, it is possible to output a Kanban chart.

All areas are shown here in columns that are not given the identifier "hidden". Tasks with Priority A are shown in blue, B in green, C in gray, and escalations in red.



Additionally, you can see at a glance which areas still have open tasks.

11 The list overview Click "List" to see the current area in an external list view in the browser. This can then be printed or archived.

12 Administrative additions to the keywording The ToDo project uses a custom keywording form named "ToDoItem" for keywording. You can adjust and extend this form however you want. The script does not anticipate index fields at a specific location; instead, it always access the data via the group name. Thus, you



can create a custom keywording form and arrange the index fields however you want. You only need to make sure that the standard index fields exist with the same group names as in the original version.

13 Administrative extensions to charts Both the list output and the chart output occur through HTML pages. These are available as templates with HTML files in the ToDoConfig folder, named ListTemplate and KanbanTemplate. You can adjust both of these files within your projects. In the simplest case, you can edit the CSS styles used for formatting. However, you can also edit the HTML frame code (such as to include a company logo).

You cannot change the actual contents of the template, since this is generated from the current data via the script and is only added to the template at the end. Changes to the contents, therefore, require adjustments to the script itself.

Documents

ELO ToDo · The ELO ToDo system is strongly influenced by how a Kanban board is used. However, instead of using paper and sticky notes, ELO is used. The electronic mode of use has