How work configuration fits together

Collabase keeps work configuration in three places. Administrators build the shared parts once: fields, work item types, workflows and project templates. A decides which apps it uses. Each project then picks from the shared parts, either by itself or through a linked template. There is no split into two kinds of projects. Every project uses the same building blocks; what differs is whether a template keeps them in step.

The three levels

The diagram shows where each building block is defined and who uses it. Arrows point from the place where something is defined to the place where it is used.

Level	Where	Who	What it holds
Instance	System Settings → Content & Organization	System administrators	Custom fields and field collections, work item types, workflows, project templates
Space	Space Settings	Members with the permission to manage space settings	Which apps the Space uses (Features), which field collections apply to pages, the Permission Scheme
Project	The project’s Settings tab	Members with the permission to edit project settings	Which workflows and field collections the project uses, its own work item types, its views and features, its members (Project settings)

Open System Settings from your avatar menu or from Settings at the bottom of the app sidebar. The entry appears only for system administrators.

Linked and detached projects

A project created from a stays linked to it. While it is linked, the template decides the project’s workflows, work item types, field collections and views, and the project settings show those sections read-only. When an administrator saves the template, linked projects receive the change in the background. Detach a project when its team needs to change these settings itself. Detaching cannot be undone. The project keeps its current configuration and stops receiving template changes.

	Linked project	Detached project
Workflows, work item types, field collections, views	Read-only in project settings, set by the template	Edited in project settings
Template changes	Applied after each template save	Not applied
Name, description, members, planning settings	Edited in project settings	Edited in project settings

How propagation works in detail: Project templates.

What is fixed

Some things that other tools let you configure are fixed in Collabase. Plan around them instead of looking for a setting.

Topic	How Collabase handles it
Priorities	A fixed list: Low, Medium, High, Highest, Blocker. There is no screen to add, rename or reorder priorities.
Resolutions	There is no separate resolution field. A work item counts as finished when its status belongs to the category Done or Closed. Add a custom field if you need to record a reason.
Components	Not available. Use a Single choice custom field or tags to group work items within a project.
Tags	Created inline on a work item or page and shared by the whole Space. There is no screen to rename or delete them.
Versions and releases	Versions exist in Test Management for test coverage. Work items have no fix version field. Use milestones or a custom field to plan releases.
Security levels on single work items	Not available. Restrict a whole project instead: private projects.

Limits

These limits are fixed. An administrator cannot change them in the interface.

Item	Limit
Workflow name	100 characters
Status name	60 characters
Transition name	100 characters
Work item type name in a project	60 characters
Project template name	100 characters, description 500 characters
Project fields per template	30
Phases per template	50, with up to 20 milestones per phase
Attachment upload	25 MB
Work items moved at once, including sub-items	200
Board: hide completed work items after	1 to 365 days, default 14

There is no fixed limit on the number of custom fields, field collections, choices, statuses, transitions or work item types.

Custom fields

Build the field library and group fields into collections.

Workflows

Design statuses, transitions and the rules on them.

Project templates

Bundle the configuration for new projects.

Set up projects for a team

The order in which to build it all.

Core concepts

Apps

How work configuration fits together

The three levels

Linked and detached projects

What is fixed

Limits

Custom fields

Workflows

Project templates

Set up projects for a team

​The three levels

​Linked and detached projects

​What is fixed

​Limits

​Related pages

Custom fields

Workflows

Project templates

Set up projects for a team

The three levels

Linked and detached projects

What is fixed

Limits

Related pages