This article explains the third tab of the board settings; Stages. Stages allow you to structure your company's workflow, such as the steps in a production process or the stages of a project.

To add a stage, simply click the green Add Stage button. Give the stage a name and configure it using the Activities and Advanced Settings tabs.

The Activities tab provides a clear overview of which activities are available and which are currently active within a specific stage. This is important because it allows vPlan to determine which activities can be scheduled in that stage.

To link an activity to a stage, simply select the checkbox in the left column. Once selected, the activity appears in the right column under Active. This means that any card linked to this activity can now be scheduled in that stage.

An activity can be linked to multiple stages, allowing you to move cards freely from one stage to another, as long as the activity is active in both stages.

If you no longer want to link an activity to a stage, simply clear the checkbox in the left column. You can also click the trash icon in the right column to remove the link. This gives you full control over which activities are available in each stage, ensuring your planning matches your workflow.

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Delay (days)

If you want to maintain a fixed gap between this stage and the next, you can enter a number of delay days. Specify the number of working days that should remain between this stage and the next one.

For example, after a 'Painting' stage, you may always want to allow one day for drying before the card moves to the next stage. In that case, set the delay to 1 day. When scheduling a card, the stage following Painting will automatically be planned one working day later. This can still be adjusted manually on the planning board if needed.

Plan efficiency

Resources have a capacity based on the working schedule you defined when creating them. If you don't want resources to be scheduled to their full capacity, you can assign a planning efficiency to the stage, for example 80%.

In this case, vPlan will consider the resource fully booked once 80% of its available capacity has been scheduled.

Default capacity

The default capacity determines the capacity that new resources receive when they are linked to this stage. Whenever you add a resource to the stage, it is automatically assigned the specified capacity percentage. You can always adjust the capacity for individual resources afterwards if required.

Capacity notification

This setting allows you to see on the board how much work has been scheduled within a stage and whether it fits within the available capacity. This makes it easier to balance your planning and prevent resources from becoming overloaded.

Independent of other stages

In vPlan, stages normally define the order of your workflow. For example, if your process consists of Preparation, Production, and Assembly, you cannot normally schedule the Assembly stage before Production. If you do, vPlan will display a warning.

If, however, your workflow allows stages to start simultaneously or does not require a fixed sequence, you can enable Independent of other stages. When this option is enabled, vPlan no longer enforces the stage order, allowing cards in this stage to start before other stages have begun.

Regardless of which tab you are working in, you can always save your changes. Click Save at the bottom of the screen to save your changes or create a new stage.

Existing stages can also be removed by clicking the Delete button.