Backlog Box in Workload Charts
TL;DR
The Backlog Box in Workload charts shows tasks that still need to be assigned or scheduled. You can view it vertically or horizontally, depending on how you want to plan work. The horizontal view also helps with demand planning by comparing unassigned work by job role against your team’s available capacity.
Table 21. Availability - Legacy plans
| Availability: Business, Pinnacle, Apex. ; Unavailability: Free, Team; |
Backlog Box is an essential part of Workload charts. It contains tasks that need to be allocated to users. Each Workload chart has its own Backlog Box that you can reconfigure at any time.
You can use Backlog Box to define the scope of future workload for your team members. For example:
- If you use request forms, build a Backlog Box based on a folder, project, or space containing your team’s incoming requests.
- When launching a new project, you can duplicate a template and use that newly created project as the source for your Backlog Box, from which to allocate tasks to your team members.
Note
At least one of the following must be true for a task to appear in the Backlog Box:
- A task is not scheduled.
- A task is unassigned to users. But tasks assigned to users might still appear in the Box if they are also assigned to at least one job role.
This page is an overview of the Backlog Box feature, which is a part of Workload charts. To learn about Workload charts, please visit the Workload Charts in Wrike page.
There are two ways you can display the Backlog box: Vertically and Horizontally.
To switch between a vertical and horizontal view of the Backlog box, click the icon at the top of the Backlog.
-
Vertically
- The box appears on the right side of the view.
- The vertical Backlog Box contains tasks that are either unassigned to users or unscheduled.
- Tasks are automatically grouped according to their dates.
-
Horizontally
- The box appears at the bottom of the view.
- The horizontal Backlog Box only displays tasks that are both scheduled and unassigned to users.
- Tasks are automatically grouped according to the job role that they’re assigned to and the project that they’re in.
- The horizontal Backlog Box is not available if you view the chart in Projects mode.
Note
Both vertical and horizontal Backlog Box views automatically calculate the number of tasks in the Box and display it next to the Box title. Task count across the two views might be different because the horizontal Box doesn’t display unscheduled tasks.
Tip
For tasks that are assigned to a job role and have allocated effort, use the horizontal view of the Backlog Box to see the effort on the grid before assigning the tasks to users.
The horizontal Backlog Box can help you compare the available resources of your users on the chart with the demand in the form of unassigned work within the Box. The Backlog Box automatically calculate the available capacity of all users with a certain job role on the chart and compares it to the demanded work for that job role.
Click a job role’s cell in the Backlog box to see a detailed breakdown of demand (Requested effort) and availability (Available effort).
You can view these calculations in daily, weekly, or monthly zoom levels. Choose how you want to display effort: in hours (h), percentage (%), or full-time equivalent (FTE). Learn how to change these settings here.
Color-Coded Visualization
- Red Cell: The job role's demand in the Backlog box exceeds the total available capacity of all users with that job role on the chart.
- Blue Cell: The demand is equal to or under the available capacity, with the cell colored proportionately.
- White Cell: The demand is 0.
Let’s say you have two designers on your chart. Each works 8 hours per day, giving you a total of 16 hours. If one designer already has 4 hours booked and the other has 2 hours booked, you have 10 hours left for the day.
If the tasks in your Backlog box assigned to the Designer job role require more hours than are available (for example, more than 10 hours), the job role’s cell for that day turns red.