Maintaining alignment between tools and execution data is critical for accurate roadmaps. Kendis has introduced enhanced synchronisation options to ensure that Start and End dates for Features and Stories remain consistent with your Jira instance.
This guide explores how to enable this new update, the underlying logic of the synchronisation, and how to troubleshoot mapping issues.
How Stories Appear on the Timeline
When a story is planned in Jira, its placement on the Kendis timeline is managed by its iteration and mapped date fields.
If a story is assigned to a specific sprint, it will automatically be categorised within that iteration on the timeline.
Once assigned, the story appears as a horizontal bar where the length is determined by the Start Date and End Date.
Previously, dates were only updated during general data syncs. However, Kendis now allows for continuous synchronisation to avoid stale dates and confusion.
Enabling Date Synchronisation
To sync start/end dates of features and stories, navigate to your Board Settings with Kendis. Under the Additional Settings tab, you will find the toggle options to automate date updates.
Sync Feature Start/End Dates with Jira: When enabled, any changes made to feature-level dates in Jira will reflect on the Kendis board during the next sync cycle.
Sync Story Start/End Dates with Jira: This ensures that individual story deadlines stay aligned with their Jira counterparts, preventing the common “stale date” issue where stories fall behind the timeline view.
How Date Synchronisation Works?
This date synchronisation is designed to provide flexibility based on how your team manages iterations. You can define how Kendis reacts when a Story’s iteration changes.
Auto-update Story Date on Timeline View
You can choose from three distinct paths for story dates:
If a story is moved to a new sprint, Kendis will automatically update the Start and End dates to match the new sprint's boundaries.
Useful if work has already begun but the completion target has shifted to a later iteration.
Keeps the existing dates regardless of which iteration the story is moved to.
By enabling these synchronisation settings, your dates are instantly updated whenever a change occurs in Jira, provided the fields are mapped correctly.
Once the toggle is active, Kendis listens for updates from Jira. Any change to a feature or story's dates in Jira will immediately reflect on your Kendis board.
The flow of information is continuous, ensuring that your timeline always displays the most current execution data.
If the dates do not appear to update, verify that the Jira field being modified is the exact one mapped in your Kendis settings.
Manage Dates Directly from the Timeline View
You can adjust the schedule of a story or feature using three different ways from the dashboard.
List View Selection: Click on the Feature or Story name from the left-hand list to open an Edit pop-up and manually select dates.
Progress Bar Interaction: Click directly on the Progress Bar (the coloured bar representing completion %) in the timeline grid to trigger the date edit window.
Drag-and-Drop Scheduling: Click and drag a feature or story bar to a different iteration. A pop-up will appear to confirm and save the new dates calculated by the movement.
Troubleshooting Field Mapping Requirements
If dates are still not updating as expected, it is likely due to Field Mapping. Kendis must know which specific Jira fields to pull data from.
You can verify your mappings in the Jira Meta or Connection Settings section. For the sync to work, ensure the following are correctly mapped:
Kendis Field | Jira Target Field (Example) |
Start Date Field | Start date |
End Date Field | Target end or Due date |
Due Date Field | Due date |
Note: If "Target end" is mapped to "End Date Field" in Kendis, but you are updating "Due date" in Jira, the Kendis timeline will not reflect the change. Always ensure that your team updates the specific field that Kendis is watching.