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Planview Customer Success Center

Card Scoring Overview

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What Is Card Scoring?

Card scoring helps organizations prioritize work by providing the ability to visually and relatively score/rank/evaluate AgilePlace cards using a board-defined set of criteria. Once a card’s score is set, it will then be shown directly on the face of that card (similar to other visual icons currently used). Card scoring in AgilePlace provides transparency and confidence around prioritization, helping teams and organizations to:

  • Determine which work should be started, avoided, and/or further researched.
  • Prioritize work with greater confidence, efficacy and agility.
  • Promote best practices for ranking & prioritizing work across an organization.

A card's total score ranges from 1 to 99 and is usually a sum of various weighted metrics; each metric answers a question about the work represented by that card, such as how valuable the work is, as well as how confident you are in that answer. A card's total score can also be a manually entered number that overrides the sum of any weighted metrics.

The following video provides an overview of AgilePlace card scoring (Duration: 6.5 minutes).

Card Scoring Workflow

Scoring cards takes only a few simple steps:

  1. On a board, add the cards you want to evaluate to the Card Scoring panel.

  2. In the AgilePlace toolbar, near the top left corner of the screen, click Card Scoring icon.png.

               

    Card Scoring screen - with callouts2USE.png

    Example of the Card Scoring panel

               

  3. Select a metric template to evaluate the cards. Each template contains a different set of criteria you will use to evaluate each card, such as one that compares value and cost. Each template also includes a formula that multiplies each metric value by a predefined weight percentage that determines how much each metric affects the total score.
  4. Enter scores for each card's metrics on the Scoring Chart or manually enter a total score on the Scoring Table for each card.
  5. Click Apply to save the scores to the cards on the board.
  6. Evaluate the card scores to plan which cards to prioritize first. You can view the scores graphically on the Scoring Chart and on the board itself and numerically on the Scoring Table. Higher scores indicate higher potential return for the work represented by the card.
  7. Clear or modify scores and add or remove cards as needed.

For details about the Card Scoring panel, see Card Scoring Panel Screen Basics.

           

Card Scoring Metric Templates

To help you evaluate cards, select a metric template that includes a set of criteria relevant to your purpose, such as one that compares value versus cost. Each metric template is independent, so scores applied using one template do not carry over to another template. However, if you change templates, saved scores in one template will reappear if you switch back to that template later. You can either use a system template or a custom template created by an administrator.

System Templates

The application includes default system templates you can use instead of a custom metric template. The following table lists the system templates included with the application, the metrics in each default template, and the questions that each metric answers.

System Template Metrics Used for Evaluation
Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF)
  • Value: How valuable is this work for your organization, and how confident are you in this assessment?
  • Time criticality: How quickly and urgently does this work need to be completed, and how confident are you in this assessment?
  • Risk reduction: How much does this work reduce risks in the future, and how confident are you in this assessment?
  • Effort: How much effort does completing this work require, and how confident are you in this assessment?
Value vs Cost
  • Value: How valuable is this work for your organization, and how confident are you in this assessment?
  • Cost: How much will it cost to complete this card, and how confident are you in this assessment?
Three Buckets
  • Strategy alignment: How strongly is this card's work aligned to your organization's strategy, and how confident are you in this assessment?
  • Change required: How much change is required to complete this card, and how confident are you in this assessment?
  • End user importance: How important would completing this card's work be to the end user, and how confident are you in this assessment?

Custom Templates

Board Administrators and Board Managers can add, modify, and delete custom templates that contain the criteria you want to use to evaluate cards.

           

NOTE

System templates are indicated by a lock icon and cannot be modified or deleted. Custom templates are currently limited to 6 metrics.

           

To add a custom template:

  1. In the upper right corner of the board, click action menu> Board Settings.
  2. In the left pane, click Card Scoring.
  3. Click Add Template.

    The blank template that appears includes one untitled metric by default.

  4. Enter a Template Name.
  5. For each metric you want to add to the template, perform the following steps; note that the first metric is automatically added when you first create a template:
    1. If necessary, click Add Metric. Card Scoring custom templates are limited to 6 metrics.
    2. In the Name column, click Untitled Metric and enter a name for the metric.

      The application automatically creates an abbreviation based on the name you entered after you type Enter or navigate away from the Name box.

    3. Click the Abbreviation cell if you want to change the default abbreviation.
    4. In the Weight cell, enter the percentage that you want the metric to count in the total score. For example, if you will have four metrics that are weighed equally, enter 25. All metric weights must total 100.
    5. If the metric should be weighted inversely, such as effort, click Inverted to enable the option. For more information, see Card Scoring Formulas.
    6. Click Untitled question and enter the question or description for the metric that you want to appear in the Scoring Chart.
  6. Click Save.

To modify a custom template:

  1. In the upper right corner of the board, click action menu> Board Settings.
  2. In the left pane, click Card Scoring.
  3. For the template you want, click the pencil icon.
  4. Click and modify the settings you want to change.
  5. Click Save.

To delete a custom template:

  1. In the upper right corner of the board, click action menu> Board Settings.
  2. In the left pane, click Card Scoring.
  3. For the template you want, click X.
  4. Click Yes to confirm.

Card Scoring Formulas

Card Scoring uses a weighted average calculation for all scores. All scoring templates multiply each metric value by a predefined weight percentage. The sum of these weighted metrics determines a card's total score. You can see the predefined weight percentages for each metric by hovering over info button in the top right corner of the Scoring Table.

For example, a board's Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) template could count value, time criticality, and risk reduction as 20% each and effort as 40%, which means that effort will count twice as much as any other metric in the total card score.

           

NOTE

Some metrics, such as effort, have an inverse effect on the total score; the lower that metric's score is, the higher impact it has on the total score. For example, if a low-effort, high-confidence card has an effort value of 10, that effort value is subtracted from 100 before being weighted and added to the card's score. If the metric template being used weighs effort as 50% of a card's score, effort will add 45 points toward the card's score, as shown in the following equation:

(100 − 10) × 0.5 = 45

The formula information found by hovering over info button will indicate if any metrics are inversely weighted.

           

           

           

Adding Cards for Scoring

You can use any of the following procedures to add one or more cards to the Card Scoring panel.

To add a single card:

  1. On the board, right-click the card you want and select Score Card.

The application adds the card to the Card Scoring panel.

To add multiple cards manually:

  1. On the board, Ctrl-click (Windows) or Cmd-click (Mac) each card you want to add to card scoring.
  2. Right-click one of the selected cards and select Score Cards.

The application adds the selected cards to the Card Scoring panel.

To add all cards in one lane:

  1. On the board, right-click in the lane you want and click Select All.
  2. Right-click one of the selected cards and select Score Cards.

The application adds the cards in the selected lane to the Card Scoring panel.

To add all cards in specific lanes when no cards have been selected for scoring:

  1. In the AgilePlace toolbar, near the top left corner of the screen, click Card Scoring icon.png.

               

    Card Scoring screen - with callouts2USE.png

    Example of the Card Scoring panel

               

  2. If necessary, click View Evaluation Chart and Scoring Table or Card Scoring to show the Scoring Table.

    If no cards are currently selected for scoring, the Scoring Table is replaced with a message indicating that no cards are selected.

  3. Click Add Cards.
  4. On the Add Cards from Selected Lanes screen, click each lane whose cards you want to add for card scoring. Click a selected lane again to unselect it.
  5. Click Add Cards.

The application adds all cards from the selected lanes to the Card Scoring panel.

           

           

Adding Scores to Cards

For each card you want to score, you can set a score for each of the weighted metric values on the Scoring Chart. The available metrics depend on the selected metric template. The Scoring Chart has one tab for each available metric (such as Value or Effort) as well as a Results tab that shows the ranking for each card with a total score.

On each metric's tab, the Needs Evaluation pane shows which cards are selected for scoring but lack a score for that metric.

           

TIP

When you have a card selected in any section of the Card Scoring panel, the application highlights the selected card in both the Scoring Chart and the Scoring Table. If you switch tabs in the Evaluation Chart, the card remains highlighted in that tab. 

           

When all metrics are set for a card, the application calculates the total score, which you can view on the Results tab as well as in the Scoring Table.

           

NOTE

You can also override the total score for a card as described in the second procedure in this section.

           

To add a metric score for a card:

  1. On the Card Scoring panel, click View Evaluation Chart and Scoring Table or Card Scoring in the Card Scoring toolbar to show the Evaluation Chart.
  2. In the Scoring Chart menu bar, click the tab for the metric you want (such as Time Criticality or Change Required).
  3. In the Scoring Chart, locate the button for the card you want to score in the Needs Evaluation pane.
  4. Click and drag the button to a spot on the chart that reflects both the metric score you want and your confidence level in that score.
  5. Repeat the previous step as needed to adjust the score.

Repeat this procedure as needed to score all the metrics for each card you want to score.

To override the score for a card:

  1. On the Card Scoring panel, click View Evaluation Chart and Scoring Table or Card Scoring to show the Scoring Table.
  2. In the Scoring Table, in the card's row, click in the Score cell.
  3. Click outside the Scoring cell, type Enter, or navigate to another section of the screen to save the new total score.

The confidence bar below the card's total score changes to a striped bar, which indicates the score is an overridden score.

           

           

Clearing Card Scores

You can clear the scores from a card in the Card Scoring panel only, which helps you score the card again with a clean slate without losing any previously applied scores. If you want to clear the applied scores from a card, you must do so for each card individually on the board itself.

To clear one score for a single card on the Card Scoring panel:

  1. On the Card Scoring panel, click View Evaluation Chart and Scoring Table or Card Scoring in the Card Scoring toolbar to show the Scoring Chart.
  2. In the Scoring Chart menu bar, click the tab for the score that you want to remove (such as Time Criticality or Change Required).
  3. In the Scoring Chart, find the dot or button that represents the card you want.
  4. Click and drag the dot or button to a spot where the Value and Confidence values are N/A (either in the striped section of the chart or completely off of the chart).

The score in the Card Scoring panel is cleared immediately. The applied score, if any, remains on the card on the board.

To clear all scores for a single card on the Card Scoring panel:

  1. On the Card Scoring panel, click View Evaluation Chart and Scoring Table or Card Scoring to show the Scoring Table.
  2. In the Scoring Table, in the card's row, click action menu > Clear scores.

The card's scores in the Card Scoring panel, including overridden scores, are cleared immediately. Applied scores, if any, remains on the card on the board.

To clear scores for all cards on the Card Scoring panel:

  1. In the top right corner of the Card Scoring panel, click action menu > Clear all scores.
  2. Click Yes to confirm.

All scores in the Card Scoring panel, including overridden scores, are cleared immediately. Applied scores, if any, remains on the card on the board.

To permanently remove all scores for one card:

  1. On the board, right-click the card you want and select Clear Score.

The application immediately clears the scores for the card.

To permanently remove scores for multiple cards:

  1. On the board, Ctrl-click (Windows) or Cmd-click (Mac) each card for which you want to remove all scores.
  2. Right-click one of the selected cards and select Clear Score.

The application immediately clears all scores for the selected cards.

                          

           

Applying Card Scores

On the Card Scoring panel, you can enter and modify scores without affecting any saved scores on the board. After you have finished entering scores, click Apply in the Card Scoring toolbar to save the updated card scores to the board. You can see which cards have unapplied scores in the Score column in the Scoring Table, where unapplied scores are indicated with the orange triangle icon.

Cards with applied scores have a card scoring badge in the bottom right corner, as shown in the following example. The number is the total score; a horizontal bar below the score shows the confidence level, while a dashed line below the score indicates that the score was overridden manually.

           

Board with scored cards.png

Board with applied card scores, including overridden scores

           

           

           

Evaluating Card Scores

After you apply card scores, you can compare and evaluate the scores in the Results tab of the Scoring Chart and on the board itself. Each card's total score is a sum of the score in each of the tabs to the left of Results, weighted according to the formula shown by hovering over info button in the Scoring Table. For more information on the total score calculation, see Card Scoring Formulas.

Evaluating Scores on the Results Tab

The Results tab on the Scoring Chart is a chart that plots each card into one of three sections based on their total scores and average confidence levels, providing a visual snapshot that groups the cards into the following areas that recommend actions for each card:

  • Lean into: Cards in this section should be prioritized because they have both high scores and high confidence levels in those scores, indicating that these cards are the most important. The cards closest to the top right corner would offer the highest potential return.
  • Continue to research: Cards in this section have low average confidence levels. Even if a card's total score is high, a low confidence level indicates that more research and refinement is needed before the card should be prioritized.
  • Steer clear of: Cards in this section have low scores plus high confidence levels in those low scores. Cards in this section should be put on hold or avoided entirely.

           

NOTE

Cards with total scores that were overridden appear on a separate graph that ranks these cards only by the overridden scores. This single-column graph appears next to the results chart only if any cards have overridden scores. Higher positions in the column indicate higher potential return for the card.

           

Evaluating Score on the Board

Cards with applied scores have a card scoring badge in the bottom right corner, as shown in the following example:

           

Board with scored cards.png

Board with applied card scores

           

Hover over a card's score badge to see more details, such as the numerical confidence value and whether the total score was overridden.

You can sort any lane by card score in descending order by right-clicking in the lane, then clicking Sort Cards By > Score.

           

           

Removing Cards from the Card Scoring Panel

To remove an individual card from scoring:

  1. On the Card Scoring panel, click View Evaluation Chart and Scoring Table or Card Scoring to show the Scoring Table.
  2. In the Scoring Table, in the card's row, click action menu > Remove card from scoring.

The card's scores are cleared and the card is removed from the Card Scoring panel immediately.

To remove all cards from scoring:

  1. In the top right corner of the Card Scoring panel, click action menu > Remove all cards.
  2. Click Yes to confirm.