Configure Work Item types

Work Items represent various artifacts - requirements, tasks, change requests, for example. Each artifact type is represented in Polarion by a Work Item type defined in the global configuration, the project configuration, or both. (For projects, the default types are usually predefined in the project template on which the project is based.) If the default types do not meet your specific needs in terms of semantics or artifacts represented, you can customize the relevant configuration.

For example, suppose one default type for a project is Defect, but your internal terminology is Issue. You can change the name of the existing type to conform to your standard. Or suppose a given project needs to track an artifact Supplier Part, but the project configuration has no analogous Work Item type. You can easily define a new type to represent such an artifact. If the need for the customized type or types will extend beyond a single project, it is advisable to create or customize a project template and define the desired type(s) there. (For information see Customize Project Templates.)

You can customize the Work Item type configuration in the Types page of the Work Items Topic of Administration.

To configure Work Item types:

  1. Log on with administrator permissions for the scope you want to configure (Global or project).

  2. If configuring a project, open the project. Otherwise, open the Repository.

  3. Enter Administration, expand Work Items and select Type.

The configuration is stored in the underlying configuration file workitem-type-enum.xml. The Types page provides a visual interface for the configuration. On the page you can:

  • Modify properties of existing Work Item types.

  • Delete existing Work Item types.

  • Define new Work Item types.

    For new custom types, you can upload custom icon images. You can also specify an existing Work Item as a template for all new items of your new type. For more information see Define Template Work Items.

The workitem-type-enum.xml file is one of a number of enumeration configurations. It is therefore alternatively accessible via the Enumerations page (Administration Work Items Enumerations: workitem-type-enum.xml). You need to access the file through this path if you want to remove an existing Work Item type configuration. For more information see Configure Enumerations.