Spotlight #1 - Linking work items

Spotlight #1 - Linking work items



Hello everyone, 
  
We are excited to launch our spotlight series. Well, before we get into the topic, I wish to give a short brief on the focus line of this series. 

Spotlight     

Spotlight carries a monthly update on a specific feature in Zoho Sprints. I will walk you through an in-depth analysis of a particular feature with an use case. At the end of each session, you can comment your queries or suggestions. 

We recently launched a feature and I hope you would have seen a new section under 
Settings ---> Manage Work Items ---> Link Work Items

Today, we will be discussing on Work Item Linking.  
 
Prerequisites
  • Ensure whether you are either on the premium or enterprise plan to access this feature. 
  • Only the team owner and admin can create link types. 
Working with default link types
 
Link defines a connection between two relevant work items. Relevance can be related to different types and we call them the Link Types. Zoho Sprints comes up with six default link types.
 
A link type is composed of Link Name and Back Link Name. 
  • A link name is the direct linking that you define between two work items. 
  • A back link name is the reverse linking that is set for two work items.  
Case 1:  Let us take a simple scenario where there are four work items in the backlog. The user wants to create a link between the work items. 
  • Item A:  Create the task form 
  • Item B:  Character limit exceeds for the task name
  • Item C:  Generate task reports
  • Item D:   Resource utilization chart 
User sets the following link types for the above work items:
  • Depends on: Use the "depends on" link type when either of the work item depends on the other. Here, Item C depends on Item A. Only after the user creates a task form they can view the task report.   
  • Has bug: Use the "has bug" link type only for linking bugs. Item B is a bug of Item A. While testing the task form the user finds that the predefined character value exceeds the allowed limit. 
  • Impacts: Use the "impacts" link type when either of the items affects or influences the other. In the above case, Item A impacts Item D. For example, based on the load of the user you can create and assign tasks to them. The resource utilization chart looks balanced if the tasks are assigned equally.  
You can assign similar link types to the relevant work items in your project.
 

 
Working with custom link types
 
If the default link types are not what you are looking for, to link work items, you can create your own link types. Learn more on how to create custom link types. 
 
Case 2:  Becky has used up all the default link types and now she has a different use case. There are three prioritized work items that blocks a work item.
  • Item A: Process invoice to workers
  • Item B:  Time logs of the workers are missing in the back end 
  • Item C: Hours logged via mobile are not saved
Becky cannot process the invoice for her workers as there's a problem in the timesheet module. This blocks her from generating invoice. 

She can create a new link type. Here the Link name is ' Blocks'  and the Back Link Name is ' Is blocked by'. While linking Item A , you can select the back link as 'Is blocked by' and choose Item B and Item C . Since these two items blocks the invoice process. 

Did you know?
  •  We don't restrict users to reopen or close the dependent items before reopening or closing the main work item. You can individually modify the status of the items linked to the 'Depends on' link type.  

  •  You can delink the work items anytime and link them back.
  •  We support linking of work items across projects and sprints. 
Do you have work items that can be interlinked? Use the default link types or create new link types as per your business requirements. If you have any queries or suggestions comment below. 
 
Watch this space for the next spotlight. 
 
Happy sprinting!
Monica. R 

    • Sticky Posts

    • Ask the experts - Live Q and A on the latest releases from Jan-Apr 2019

      Hello all,   We are excited to kick-start the 'Ask the experts' community series for Zoho Sprints. This series is user-centric and we will focus more on the latest releases and queries that are frequently discussed in our customer support tickets. The first version will cover all the features released in the first quarter of 2019.    What's in the first half?   The first half of this year has been successful with some feature releases and enhancements. Take a look at the list below: Custom layouts

    • Focus Group #1 - Epics in Zoho Sprints

      Hello, everyone! As a part of our community learning series, we kick-start "Focus Groups" where you'll get a chance to have a look at a feature that's in its beta phase. "Epic" has been one of the most requested features of late. So, our first focus is on epics.  Our engineering team has developed a module for Epic in Zoho Sprints and the feature is in its testing phase now. We've planned to show a small demo to the folks who register with us through this post. You can also evaluate this feature

    Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


      • Recent Topics

      • CRM x WorkDrive: File storage for new CRM signups is now powered by WorkDrive

        Availability Editions: All DCs: All Release plan: Released for new signups in all DCs. It will be enabled for existing users in a phased manner in the upcoming months. Help documentation: Documents in Zoho CRM Manage folders in Documents tab Manage files

      • Is it possible to enforce a single default task for all users in a Zoho Projects ?

        In Zoho Projects, the Tasks module provides multiple views, including List, Gantt, and Kanban. Additionally, users can create and switch to their own custom views. During project review meetings, this flexibility creates confusion because different users

      • [Free Webinar] Zoho Creator webinars - Learning Table and Creator Tech Connect Series in 2026

        Hello everyone, Wishing you all a wonderful new year! May 2026 and the years ahead bring more opportunities, growth, and learning your way 🙂 We’re excited to kick off the 2026 edition of the Learning Table Series and Creator Tech Connect Series ! Learning

      • Reply and react to comments

        Hi everyone! We're excited to bring to you a couple of new features that'll make your sprint process simpler. A cloud application brings with it an array of social media features that can be efficiently used in your organizational setup. As an agile scrum

      • Restrict Users access to login into CRM?

        I’m wanting my employees to be able to utilize the Zoho CRM Lookup field within Zoho Forms. For them to use lookup field in Zoho Forms it is my understanding that they need to be licensed for Forms and the CRM. However, I don’t want them to be able to

      • Module Customisation - Lookup function not available

        Good evening, Within my business, I can have multiple customers, who have multiple mobile assets. When I set these assets up, I enter information such as vehicle registration, Vehicle identification number (VIN), Unit number, YOM, in addition to others.

      • zoho click, and nord VPN

        Unfortunately, we've been having problems with Zoho Click, where essentially the line cuts off after about a minute's worth of conversation every time we are on VPN. Is there a way we can change this within the settings so it does not cut the line off

      • Zoho Calender

        a) does the clanender in zoho project allow you to see the name of the event in the celnder view, it currently says either "Task (1) or "Milestoen (1)" b) Alternatively does the calender in Zoho project integrate with zoho calender?

      • Matching ZOHO Payments in Banking

        Our company has recently integrated ZOHO Payments into our system. This seemed really convenient at first because our customers could pay their account balance by clicking on a link imbedded in the emailed invoice. Unfortunately, we can't figure out how

      • Team Gamification

        Would love to motivate, engage and encourage our team with our social media posts. Would like to include Gamification features of Social Media in Zoho Social or Marketing Automation. And also bring in Social Advocacy tools/tracking/management to these,

      • Power up your Kiosk Studio with Real-Time Data Capture, Client Scripts & More!

        Hello Everyone, We’re thrilled to announce a powerful set of enhancements to Kiosk Studio in Zoho CRM. These new updates give you more flexibility, faster record handling, and real-time data capture, making your Kiosk flows smarter and more efficient

      • New Enhancements to Zoho CRM and Zoho Creator Integration

        Hello Everyone, We’ve rolled out enhancements to the Zoho Creator and Zoho CRM integration to align with recent updates made to the Zoho Creator platform. With enhancements to both the UI and functionality, This update also tightens access control by

      • Work Type - Limitation

        Hello, I'm setting up work types and have noticed, a limitation on the parts area to 10 lines. Can this be increased to 20 or greater? In addition to this, when I attempt to add the work type to a work order, the correct labour hours doesn't flow through.

      • Emails sent through Bigin are not posting in IMAP Sent folder

        I have set up my email to work from within Bigin using IMAP.  I am using IMAP so I can sync my email across multiple devices - phone / laptop / desktop / iPad / etc.  I want all my emails to populate my email client (outlook & iphone email) whether or

      • Turning the page for Zoho SalesIQ: 2025 to 2026

        As we wrap up 2025, we would like to take a moment to reflect on what we set out to achieve this year, what we’ve delivered, and where we’re headed next. What we focused on in 2025 This year was all about strengthening the core of engagement and AI, making

      • Stage-probability mapping feature in custom module

        Hi, I'm building a custom module for manage projects. I would like to implement the stage-probability feature that Potentials has. Is this possible?

      • Temporary Outage in Zoho Cliq Affecting US Users – July 23, 2025

        We experienced a service disruption in Zoho Cliq that impacted core functionality for users in the US region. The issue occurred between Jul 23, 2025, 06:54:00 PM IST and 07:13:13 PM IST, lasting approximately 19 minutes. To restore service stability,

      • Why Sharing Rules do Not support relative date comparison???

        I am creating a Sharing Rule and simply want to share where "Last Day of Coverage" (Date field) is Greater than TODAY (Starting Tomorrow). However, sharing rules don't have the option to compare a date field to a relative date (like today), only to Static

      • Zoho Cliq not working on airplanes

        Hi, My team and I have been having this constant issue of cliq not working when connected to an airplane's wifi. Is there a reason for this? We have tried on different Airlines and it doesn't work on any of them. We need assistance here since we are constantly

      • Problem with Workdrive folders

        I'm having a problem a problem accessing files in a Zoho work drive folder when using the Zoho writer app. The problem folder appears grayed out in the Zoho work drive window in both the online and writer application. However I can open the folder in

      • Send Supervisor Rule Emails Within Ticket Context in Zoho Desk

        Dear Zoho Desk Team, I hope this message finds you well. Currently, emails sent via Supervisor Rules in Zoho Desk are sent outside of the ticket context. As a result, if a client replies to such emails, their response creates a new ticket instead of appending

      • Multi-currency and Products

        One of the main reasons I have gone down the Zoho route is because I need multi-currency support.  However, I find that products can only be priced in the home currency, We sell to the US and UK.  However, we maintain different price lists for each. 

      • Create an Eye-Catching Announcement Widget for Your Help Center

        Hello Everyone! In this week’s edition, let’s explore how to keep your customers updated with exciting news in the Help Center. See how ZylkerMobile wowed their customers by bringing updates right to their portal. ZylkerMobile, the renowned brand for

      • Send Whatsapp with API including custom placeholders

        Is is possible to initiate a session on whatsapp IM channel with a template that includes params (placeholders) that are passed on the API call? This is very usefull to send a Utility message for a transactional notification including an order number

      • Customer Management: #6 Common Mistakes in Customer Handling

        Managing customers doesn't usually fall apart overnight. More often, slight gaps in the process slowly become bigger problems. Incidents like missed follow-ups, billing confusion, and unhappy customers will lead to revenue loss. Many businesses don't

      • Zoho Desk iOS app update: UI enhancement of picklist and multi picklist fields

        Hello everyone! We have enhanced the UI of the picklist and multiselect picklist fields on the Zoho Desk iOS app to provide a more refined, efficient, and user-friendly experience. We have now supported an option to Search within the picklist and multiselect

      • Zoho Desk iOS app update: Revamped scribbles with Apple pencil kit

        Hello everyone! We’re excited to introduce a revamped Scribble experience, rebuilt from the ground up using Apple PencilKit for smooth strokes, proper scaling, and seamless image uploads. Please update the app to the latest version directly from the App

      • Zoho Desk Android app update: Norwegian language support

        Hello everyone! In the most recent Android version of the Zoho Desk app update, we have brought in support to access the app in Norwegian language. We have introduced the Norwegian language on the IM module of the Zoho Desk app as well. Please update

      • Field Description is very small

        Hello, The field Description in the activity is very small. Why don't try open a new window, or a bigger popup, or increase the width of the "popup".  Example:

      • Function #53: Transaction Level Profitability for Invoices

        Hello everyone, and welcome back to our series! We have previously provided custom functions for calculating the profitability of a quote and a sales order. There may be instances where the invoice may differ from its corresponding quote or sales order.

      • Payment Vouchers

        Is there any Payment Vouchers in Zoho? How can we create payment for non-trade vendors, i.e. professional fees, rent, and payment to commissioner income tax?

      • API in E-Invoice/GST portal

        Hi, Do I have to change the api in gst/e-invoice portal as I use zoho e books for my e-invoicing. If yes, please confirm the process.

      • When I click on PDF/PRINT it makes the invoice half size

        When I click PDF / Print for my invoice in Zoho Books, the generated PDF appears at half size — everything is scaled down, including the logo, text, and layout. The content does not fill the page as it should. Could someone advise what causes Zoho Books

      • Search by contain letter in a column

        Hello, everyone I need a filter function that searches by letter in a cell, and it should be a macro. To clarify further, if I have a column with several names and I chose a search cell and what I want is search by a single letter, for example, "a" then

      • Enrich your contact and company details automatically using the Data Enrichment topping

        Greetings, I hope you're all doing well. We're happy to announce the latest topping we've added to Bigin: The Data Enrichment topping, powered by WebAmigo. This topping helps you automatically enhance your contact and company records in Bigin. By leveraging

      • Easier onboarding for new users with stage descriptions

        Greetings, I hope all of you are doing well. We're happy to announce a recent enhancement we've made to Bigin. You can now add descriptions to the stages in your pipeline. Previously, when creating a pipeline, you could only add stages. With this update,

      • Zoho Books Invoices Templates

        It would be really helpful to have more advanced features to customise the invoice templates in Zoho Books. Especially I´m thinking of the spacing of the different parts of the invoice (Address line etc.). If you have a sender and receiver address in

      • Can add a colum to the left of the item in Zoho Books?

        I would need to add a column to the left of the item column in Books. When i create custom fields, i can only display them to the right of the item.

      • Verifying Zoho Mail Functionality After Switching DNS from Cloudflare to Hosting Provider

        I initially configured my domain's (https://roblaxmod.com/) email with Zoho Mail while using Cloudflare to manage my DNS records (MX, SPF, etc.). All services were working correctly. Recently, I have removed my site from Cloudflare and switched my domain's

      • AI Bot and Advanced Automation for WhatsApp

        Most small businesses "live" on WhatsApp, and while Bigin’s current integration is helpful, users need more automation to keep up with volume. We are requesting features based on our customer Feedbacks AI Bot: For auto-replying to FAQs. Keyword Triggers:

      • Next Page