Capabilities are the backbone of your solution board. In this article you'll learn the three ways to get them onto the board, whether they live only in Kendis or come from Jira or Azure DevOps.
Ways to bring in a capability
Click the green + button at the bottom of the capability list. The menu offers Create Capability and Add Existing Capability Items. When a linked PI board is synced with Jira or Azure DevOps, it also offers Add Existing from Jira or Add Existing from ADO. Importing with a filter or query lives under Board Settings › Content From ALM, and the parents of your PI boards' features come in on their own.
The + menu on the capability list.
Route | Use it when | Where the capability lives |
Create Capability | The capability is planned in Kendis only | Kendis backlog item with a K-key |
Add Existing Capability Items | A Kendis-only capability already exists in this collection, on another solution board or in the backlog | Shared record, now also on this board |
Add Existing from Jira / ADO | You want single items from the tool on the board without writing a filter | Synced item with the ALM key and type icon |
Content From ALM | Capabilities (epics, ADO features/epics) are mastered in Jira or Azure DevOps | Synced item with the ALM key and type icon |
Create a Kendis-only capability
Choose Create Capability. A full-page form opens.
Fill in the Title, optional Start and Due Date, and the Description. The Non Functional Requirements and Business Benefits blocks are rich-text custom fields.
On the right pick a Status from the capability workflow (Kendis asks for one before it saves), add an External Key / link if you track it elsewhere, an Estimate, a Responsible person, Size, Priority and the Card Type (Capability by default).
Tick Create another if you are entering several, then click Save.
The Create Capability form with an example title, description and key.
Add existing capability items
Add Existing Capability Items searches the Kendis-only capabilities of this board's collection that are not on the board yet. Filter by Card Type, Solution Board or Program Board, type part of a title or key and press Search, tick the rows you want (or Select all) and press Add Selected. Chips on each row tell you where the item already lives.
Card Type starts on the board's own capability type. Items of another card type cannot be added, and Kendis tells you why.
Capabilities from another collection are not offered.
Jira and Azure DevOps capabilities are not in this list. Bring those in with Add Existing from Jira / Add Existing from ADO or with a filter.
Add Existing Capability Items with filters and multi-select.
Pull capabilities from Jira or Azure DevOps
When at least one linked PI board is synced with Jira or Azure DevOps, the Content From ALM tab of Board Settings lets you pull capabilities straight from those accounts.
Open Board Settings › Edit Board Settings › Content From ALM.
Click + Add New Filter / Query and pick the ALM Account. Only accounts of the linked PI boards are listed.
Choose a saved Jira filter or ADO query, or click + Use JQL / + Use WIQL to type one.
Save. Every issue returned by the filter becomes a capability card with its ALM key, status and type icon. Resync keeps them in step with the tool, and any capability added to the filter or query in Jira / Azure DevOps afterwards comes onto the board on the next resync.
Content From ALM: + Add New Filter / Query, + Use JQL and + Use WIQL. Each saved row shows its ALM account, with Refresh and Remove.
Several filters and queries on one board
A solution board can pull capabilities through as many filters and queries as you need, from different accounts and from Jira and Azure DevOps at the same time. Add each one with + Add New Filter / Query, + Use JQL (Jira accounts) or + Use WIQL (Azure DevOps accounts).
Each row shows the filter or query name (a typed JQL is shown next to it) and ALM: <account>. Jira rows have View Filter or View JQL. Expand a row to see its projects, and the error details if its last resync failed.
Refresh resyncs that one filter; Board Settings › Resync Board runs them all.
A capability returned by two filters appears once on the board. Kendis remembers every filter that brought it in.
Remove asks for confirmation and removes the capabilities of that filter from this board, together with their links to features. A capability that another filter still returns stays on the board.
An Azure DevOps query that is already on the board is still listed but cannot be picked again.
On the board you can't see which filter a capability came from. Each card shows the capability's own type icon instead: the Jira issue-type icon or the Azure DevOps work-item-type icon, and the Kendis key for Kendis-only capabilities. See Item-type icons follow the tool.
Parents of features on linked PI boards come in automatically
You don't always need a filter. When a linked PI board's features have a parent in Jira or Azure DevOps, the solution board brings those parents in as capabilities, with the features already under them. This happens when you create the solution board, when you link another PI board to it and when you resync it. To run it on demand, use Board Settings › Resync Board.
A capability that comes in this way brings all of its children with it, not only the feature that pointed to it. Children that are on none of the linked PI boards are listed under the capability in the capability list, marked ALM only, so you see its full scope. They are fetched in the background and can appear a moment after the capability itself.
PI board synced with | When the parents come in |
Jira | On the PI board open Board Settings › Additional Settings, tick Enable Feature Parent and pick the link type that is the parent of a feature in Select Link Type between Parent and Feature. Kendis then reads each feature's parent over that link and brings it in. While the option is off, Jira parents are not read at all. |
Azure DevOps | Automatic for every feature that has a parent work item. There is no link type to choose because Kendis always syncs the ADO parent; the PI board only needs Enable Feature Parent ticked once (Board Settings › Additional Settings). |
Kendis only | On the PI board tick Enable Feature Parent and choose the parent type in Select Kendis Item Type. It has to be the same type as the capability type of the solution board; when the two differ, nothing is imported and Kendis shows a message naming both types. |
For each PI board Kendis keeps a row named Referenced parents (<PI board>) under Content From ALM, so you can see and resync what came in this way. When the PI board is unlinked, the row is removed together with the capabilities it brought in, unless another filter still returns them.
ⓘ Good to know
Only items of type Feature are looked at, and archived features are skipped. A parent that is already on the board is reused, not duplicated. If you unlink a feature from its capability on the solution board, Kendis remembers that and does not link them again on the next resync.
ⓘ Mixed tools are fine
Capabilities from Jira can sit next to capabilities from Azure DevOps on the same board, and each can have children from either tool. See Capabilities in Jira, features in Azure DevOps.
ⓘ Icons follow the tool
Synced capabilities and children show the item-type icon that Jira or Azure DevOps uses (Epic, Feature, Story …). Kendis no longer stamps a Jira or Azure logo on top; the type icon alone tells you where the item comes from.
The capability list
The left panel lists every capability on the board with its key, status, iteration chips (I1…), the short names of the PI boards that carry its features, and counters for open / in progress / done children. Click the › at the bottom of a card to expand its children grouped by status category; the ⋮ menu offers View Details, Set position (while the list is not grouped) and Remove Item. Jira and Azure DevOps capabilities also have Resync from Jira / Resync from ADO, which re-reads that one capability and its children from the tool.
K-1 expanded in the capability list: children grouped under To Do and In Progress with their board chips.
The card menu: View Details, Set position, Remove Item.
Frequently asked questions
What does Remove Item do?
What does Remove Item do?
It takes the capability off this solution board and detaches its children on this board. A capability that is also on another solution board or in a backlog stays available for Add Existing; one that lives nowhere else is archived. Nothing is deleted in Jira or ADO.
How do I get the parents of my Jira features in automatically?
How do I get the parents of my Jira features in automatically?
On the Jira PI board tick Enable Feature Parent and select the link type that is the parent of a feature (Board Settings › Additional Settings). Then link or resync the PI board on the solution board.
Do I need to set a link type for Azure DevOps?
Do I need to set a link type for Azure DevOps?
No. ADO parents are synced automatically; tick Enable Feature Parent once on the ADO PI board and its features' parents come in.
I unlinked a feature from its capability but it keeps the parent in Jira.
I unlinked a feature from its capability but it keeps the parent in Jira.
Kendis remembers the unlink on the solution board and does not link them again on the next resync. The parent in Jira or ADO is not changed.
Why is the ALM Account list empty on Content From ALM?
Why is the ALM Account list empty on Content From ALM?
The list is built from the linked PI boards. Link at least one Jira- or ADO-synced PI board first.
Can a capability be on several solution boards?
Can a capability be on several solution boards?
Yes. For a Kendis-only capability use Add Existing Capability Items on the second board. A Jira or Azure DevOps capability comes onto the second board through Add Existing from Jira / ADO or a filter. Its children are linked per solution board.