Maintenance Management (Workbank): Work Item Groups

Introduction

The work item grouping function allows users to "group" similar work items into a pre-defined "work item group" for bulk approval, packaging, and organising work items. This is very useful when dealing with many similar work items/defects. 

1. Work Item Group Column

The user should first activate the "work item group" column in the workbank. This will help to identify which work items are already added to the group.
 

By default, the "work item group" column is hidden, so activate it using the "column picker" button.

By default work item group column is added at the end of the grid, you can drag this column to change the column order of the grid. 


2. Work Item Groups Tab

The work item section is now divided into two tabs. 1. Work items 2.Work item groups.  The "work item groups" tab allows users to manage (ie add/edit/delete) "work item groups".

"Work item group" rows can be expanded by clicking on the ">" in the first column to view work items/defects added to the selected group.

3. Create a New Work Item Group

To create a new work item group, click on a new button next to the "Group Name" column. 

4. Add Work Items/Defects to Work Item Group

On the "Work Items" tab, select one or more work items/defects and then click on the "Set Selected To" drop-down menu. Select "Assign Work Item Group" and then select the relevant work item group. 


5. Bulk Actions using Work Item Groups

All actions, that can be performed on work items/defects can be applied to work for item groups in a similar way. 

For example, to set all work items in a selected group to "Approved", select one or more work item groups (instead of work item) and then choose the "Set Selected To >> Approved" button as shown in the image below. 


6. Maintenance Backlog and Package Programming Workflow

Work item groups follow the same rules/workflow as work items/defects. If a work item group has all draft work items, then it is automatically filtered (not shown) on the maintenance backlog tab and package programming tab. In other words, only work-item groups with at least one "approved" work item/defect are shown on the maintenance backlog tab. Below is the complete list of work-flow rules for the "work item group" tab
  • Draft Work Work Bank
    • Only show groups with at least one draft or no work items specified
    • Hide groups where all work items are approved
  • Maintenance Backlog & Work Packages Tab 
    • Only show groups with at least one approved work item
    • Hide groups where all work items are draft

7. Work Packaging and Programming Tab

In the work package and programming section, there are a couple of ways to add a work item to the work package. 

1. Using the work item tab, the below image shows steps to add a work item group to the Work package in the "Work Packages & Programming" Tab.
2. Using the "Modify Work Package" page 

3. By expanding the work package row as shown in the image below. 

With each of the above options, the user is presented with a work item list and work item groups list to choose from as shown in the image below.


8. Reviewing Work items added to Work Package

Finally, when review items are added to work packages, work items are grouped into "Work item groups" and then by structure name. As shown in the image below, all work items not added to any groups are shown as Group: N/A