Swimlane Controls

Board Layout Overview

Planningboard grid with a toolbar row, an Iteration 1/2/3 column header row with capacity bars, and Alex Seller, Carl User, and Not Assigned/Other swimlane rows holding cards across the plan columns

Each horizontal band is a swimlane. Swimlanes group work items (cards) by a chosen criterion — the assignment type — across all Plan columns.

Collapse / Expand Controls

Individual swimlanes can be collapsed to hide their cards and save vertical space, then expanded again to reveal them.

Per-swimlane toggle

Clicking the swimlane row header toggles that swimlane between collapsed and expanded state. The toolbar also provides global collapse/expand actions that affect all swimlanes simultaneously (see Toolbar Controls).

Animated board showing individual swimlane collapse and expand by clicking the swimlane row header, with dependency links visible across the board

Control	Location	Effect
Click swimlane header	Swimlane row label	Toggles that swimlane collapsed / expanded
Collapse all (toolbar)	Upper-left toolbar	Collapses every swimlane on the board
Expand all (toolbar)	Upper-left toolbar	Expands every swimlane on the board

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`collapsibleSwimlanes`	boolean	`true`	Enables per-swimlane collapse/expand. When `false`, swimlane headers are not interactive and all lanes remain permanently expanded.

Configuration example:

collapsibleSwimlanes=true

An intermittent browser-specific bug causes clicking to expand a swimlane to expand a different swimlane (typically the last one in the list) instead. This has been observed in Chrome but not in Edge. Workaround: use Microsoft Edge, or click the global Expand all toolbar button and then collapse the lanes you do not need.

Show Empty Swimlanes

By default, swimlanes with no matching work items are hidden. Enabling this option keeps all possible lanes visible even when empty.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`showEmptySwimlanes`	boolean	`false`	When `true`, all swimlane rows are rendered even if they contain zero cards.

Configuration example:

showEmptySwimlanes=true

Showing empty swimlanes is useful when you want a consistent row structure across all iterations — for example, to confirm a team member truly has no work planned in a sprint rather than wondering whether the row is simply hidden.

Assignment Type

The assignment type (widget parameter assignmentMode) determines how work items are grouped into swimlane rows. It is configured in the Widget Parameters panel under Swimlanes (Rows) > Assignment Type.

Assignment type options

Assignment Type	`assignmentMode` value	Swimlane rows represent
Users (Assignee)	`ASSIGNEE`	Individual users who hold a specified role in the project
Parent Item	`PARENT`	Parent work items matched by a Lucene query and link role
Enumeration Field	`ENUM`	Values of a specified enumeration custom field
Project	`PROJECT`	Sub-projects within the current project group
SAFe Team	`SAFE_TEAM`	SAFe teams within the current program
SAFe Train Team	`SAFE_TRAIN_TEAM`	Teams within a specific Agile Release Train
SAFe Programs	`SAFE_PROGRAMS`	SAFe programs within a solution train
No Swimlanes	`none`	(all items in a single flat view — no rows)

Each type exposes different configuration fields, described in the sections below.

Users (Assignee)

Each swimlane row represents one user who holds a specified role in the current Polarion project.

Field	Required	Description
User Role (`userRole`)	Yes	The Polarion role ID whose members become swimlane rows. Example: `project_user`.
Report Link	No	URL template for a report link on the swimlane label. Supports `${r.objectId.itemId}` to pass the user ID. Example: `/polarion/#/project/PlanningBoard/wiki/SOME_REPORT?user=${r.objectId.itemId}`

Configuration example:

assignmentMode=ASSIGNEE
userRole=project_user

When to use: plan the workload of individual team members who are active in the project. Provides a per-person view for balancing assignments. See also: Assignee Mode

Parent Item

Each swimlane row represents a parent work item. Items can only be placed under their actual parent — dragging to an incorrect row causes Planningboard to snap the card back to its correct parent’s lane automatically.

Field	Required	Description
Parent Role (`parentRole`)	Yes	The link role that defines the parent relationship (e.g., `implements`).
Parent Work Item Type (`parentWorkItemType`)	No	Filters parent items to only those of this type.
Parent Query	No	Lucene query to restrict which parent items appear as rows.
Filter Parents	No	`Yes` / `No` — whether to limit visible parents to those matched by the query.
Sort By	No	Property by which parent swimlanes are ordered. Since Planningboard 25.9.0, any custom property including `priority` is supported.
Report Link	No	URL template for a report link on the swimlane label.

Configuration example:

assignmentMode=PARENT
parentRole=implements
parentWorkItemType=feature

Parent Item assignment mode does not support plan normalization (planCellsMode). Do not combine assignmentMode=PARENT with planCellsMode=true.

When to use: visualize and plan hierarchical relationships — for example, see how tasks distribute across features or initiatives. See also: Parent Item Mode, Swimlanes Parameters

Enumeration Field

Each swimlane row represents a value from a specified enumeration custom field (e.g., team, component type, or priority tier).

Field	Required	Description
Field ID (`enumFieldId`)	Yes	The Polarion custom field ID (e.g., `team`). Must reference a valid enumeration field (`IEnumType` or `IListType` containing enum items).
Rows Filter	No	Limits which enum values appear as rows.
Report Link	No	URL template for a report link on the swimlane label.

Configuration example:

assignmentMode=ENUM
enumFieldId=team

The status, resolution, and type built-in fields are not supported as enum swimlane sources. Only custom enumeration fields are valid.

Multi-valued fields: when a work item has multiple values for the enum field, it appears in each corresponding swimlane row simultaneously. Dragging the card to the Not Assigned/Other row removes that specific enum value from the field — not all values. When to use: plan work by team, component, or any categorical attribute stored as a custom enumeration field. See also: Enumeration Field Mode

Project

Each swimlane row represents a sub-project within the current project group. Only projects readable by the current user are included; the current project itself is excluded.

Field	Required	Description
Report Link	No	URL template for a project-specific report on the swimlane label.

Configuration example:

assignmentMode=PROJECT

When to use: cross-project planning view for teams working across multiple projects simultaneously. See also: Project Mode

SAFe Assignment Types

Three assignment types are available for SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) environments. These require a Polarion SAFe Solution to be configured.

Assignment Type	`assignmentMode` value	Additional field
SAFe Team	`SAFE_TEAM`	`safeTeamField` — custom field storing the SAFe team assignment (default: `safeTeam`)
SAFe Train Team	`SAFE_TRAIN_TEAM`	`safeTeamField` + ART ID parameter to filter by Agile Release Train
SAFe Programs	`SAFE_PROGRAMS`	`safeProgramField` — custom field storing the SAFe program assignment (default: `safeProgram`)

SAFe assignment type configuration requires Polarion SAFe Solution. Contact Nextedy support for setup guidance specific to your SAFe topology.

No Swimlanes

All work items appear in a single flat view. No horizontal grouping is applied. Configuration example:

assignmentMode=none

When to use: high-level planning or quick overviews where swimlane separation is unnecessary; focus is on columns (Plans) only. See also: No Swimlanes Mode

Swimlane Sort Order

The swimlaneSort parameter controls the vertical ordering of swimlane rows (when using any assignment type other than none).

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`swimlaneSort`	string	`alphabetical`	Sort order for swimlane rows. Controls vertical ordering of all lanes on the board.

Available values:

Value	Description
`alphabetical`	Rows sorted A–Z by the swimlane label (user name, enum value, project name, etc.).

Additional sort values beyond alphabetical (including custom property sort introduced in Planningboard 25.9.0 for Parent mode via the Sort By field) may be available depending on the assignment type and version. Check the Sort By field in Widget Parameters > Swimlanes (Rows) for available options for your chosen assignment type.

Note: swimlane sort order is coupled to item sort order within each lane. The sort order of cards within a swimlane follows the same hierarchy: 1) resource name, 2) start date, 3) priority (if prioritization is enabled) or the custom sort field, 4) work item ID as tiebreaker.

Capacity Bar

Each swimlane row displays a capacity bar that visualizes the load relative to available capacity for that resource. The capacity bar is a per-swimlane indicator — not to be confused with the per-Plan capacity tooltip displayed on column headers.

Enabling capacity display

Capacity bar display is controlled by a combination of parameters:

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`capacityLoad`	boolean	`false`	Enables capacity/load calculations for resources. Must be `true` for capacity bars to appear.
`capacityField`	string	(none)	Custom field ID containing the capacity values used in load calculations (e.g., story points field, hours field).
`hoursPerDay`	number	`8`	Working hours per day, used in capacity normalization calculations.
`multiCapacityLoad`	boolean	`false`	Enables capacity loading across multiple plans simultaneously.
`userCapacityLoad`	boolean	`false`	Enables user-level capacity loading. Requires `useTeamsService=true`.

Configuration example:

capacityLoad=true
capacityField=storyPoints
hoursPerDay=8

Capacity configuration parameter values are whitespace-sensitive. Do not add leading or trailing spaces around = assignments when editing capacity parameters.

Hovering over the capacity bar on a Plan column header (not the swimlane bar) displays a detailed tooltip with capacity information per plan. This tooltip is only available when capacityLoad is enabled via Widget Parameters.

Planningboard capacity tracking has the following known gaps compared to Nextedy GANTT:

No multi-assignee capacity distribution — if a work item has multiple assignees, capacity is not split across them.
No sub-item effort distribution — effort from child work items is not rolled up to parent items for capacity purposes.

Not Assigned/Other Row

When using Enumeration Field or Users (Assignee) assignment types, a special Not Assigned/Other row (UNASSIGNED) is displayed at the bottom of the swimlane list. It contains work items that have no value for the grouping field.

Drag-and-drop behavior with Not Assigned/Other

Action	Result
Drag card from user/enum swimlane to Not Assigned/Other	Removes that specific value from the multi-valued field. Other values on the card are preserved.
Drag card from Not Assigned/Other to a user/enum swimlane	Assigns that user or enum value to the work item.

When a work item has multiple values for the grouping field, it appears in each corresponding row simultaneously. Dropping it onto Not Assigned/Other removes only the value corresponding to the source swimlane row — not all values. The change persists after board refresh.

License-Based Swimlane Access

Swimlane interaction is restricted based on whether the current user holds a Planningboard license.

Capability	Licensed user	Unlicensed user
View swimlane contents	Yes	Yes
Collapse / expand swimlane	Yes	Yes
Drag cards between swimlanes	Yes	No — drag operations are blocked; cards return to their original row
View capacity bar	Yes	Yes

Unlicensed users retain full visibility of the board — including swimlane contents and capacity bars — for collaboration and review purposes. Editing capabilities (drag-and-drop, creating plans, accessing the sidebar) are restricted to licensed users.

Configuration Example

The following example configures a board with user-based swimlanes, capacity enabled, and empty lanes hidden:

# Swimlane assignment
assignmentMode=ASSIGNEE
userRole=project_user
swimlaneSort=alphabetical
showEmptySwimlanes=false
collapsibleSwimlanes=true

# Capacity
capacityLoad=true
capacityField=storyPoints
hoursPerDay=8

Report link example for user swimlanes:

/polarion/#/project/PlanningBoard/wiki/SOME_REPORT?user=${r.objectId.itemId}

The ${r.objectId.itemId} placeholder is substituted at runtime with the user ID for the selected swimlane row.

Page	Description
Swimlanes Parameters	Full widget parameter reference for swimlane configuration
Capacity Parameters	Capacity and load parameters
Assignment Modes	Detailed reference for each assignment mode
Toolbar Controls	Global collapse/expand and other toolbar actions
Unplanned Sidebar	Sidebar controls for unplanned work items
Card Quick Actions	Per-card hover actions

Sources

KB Articles

Planningboard interface & basic interactions
Swimlane Assignment Types
Planningboard Widget Parameters

Support Tickets

#6681
#6688

Source Code

licenseReadonly.cy.ts
Config.java
AssignmentMode.java
widget.vm
PlanningBoardWidget.java

Board Layout Overview

Collapse / Expand Controls

Per-swimlane toggle

Widget parameter

Show Empty Swimlanes

Assignment Type

Assignment type options

Users (Assignee)

Parent Item

Enumeration Field

Project

SAFe Assignment Types

No Swimlanes

Swimlane Sort Order

Capacity Bar

Enabling capacity display

Capacity tooltip

Not Assigned/Other Row

Drag-and-drop behavior with Not Assigned/Other

License-Based Swimlane Access

Configuration Example

​Board Layout Overview

​Collapse / Expand Controls

​Per-swimlane toggle

​Widget parameter

​Show Empty Swimlanes

​Assignment Type

​Assignment type options

​Users (Assignee)

​Parent Item

​Enumeration Field

​Project

​SAFe Assignment Types

​No Swimlanes

​Swimlane Sort Order

​Capacity Bar

​Enabling capacity display

​Capacity tooltip

​Not Assigned/Other Row

​Drag-and-drop behavior with Not Assigned/Other

​License-Based Swimlane Access

​Configuration Example

​Related Reference

Board Layout Overview

Collapse / Expand Controls

Per-swimlane toggle

Widget parameter

Show Empty Swimlanes

Assignment Type

Assignment type options

Users (Assignee)

Parent Item

Enumeration Field

Project

SAFe Assignment Types

No Swimlanes

Swimlane Sort Order

Capacity Bar

Enabling capacity display

Capacity tooltip

Not Assigned/Other Row

Drag-and-drop behavior with Not Assigned/Other

License-Based Swimlane Access

Configuration Example

Related Reference