Quick Project Setup
Here are the basics to get you up and running with Mingle!
Mingle projects are where you store information about the projects you are working on. Mingle projects are very flexible and powerful. Mingle projects are composed of structured information, known as cards, and a powerful Mingle page. Both cards and pages can contain attached information. Source code can be associated with a Mingle project. Additionally, daily conversations can be stored in Mingle as Murmurs. All of this information can then be linked together, providing an truly integrated collaboration environment for your team.
To gain these benefits, you must first create a Mingle project and set it up so that it matches the way you work.
This section assumes you've already configured a database, installed Mingle, and completed the configuration wizard and setup the first user.
The first user is the Mingle administrator and he/she has the necessary permissions to complete all of these steps.
Step one - Create a new project
Create a new project from template
If you create a project from a template you need to decide which template is best for you.
You can use one of Mingle's pre-configured project templates as a basis for creating your project. These templates are based on a variety of common agile methods and practices. Additionally, your organization may also have created a template or templates specific to your needs. If this is the case check the manage templates page for details of these templates.
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To create a new project, click the New project link on the Current projects page (the first page you see after installation or logging on - click the Mingle logo to display this page).
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When entering project details, select the 'Use an existing template' radio button and then choose the template you want to use as a basis for your project. You can of course choose to make a project without using a template, however that will involve additional project configuration.
- Select a template option
- Include - Exclude cards: The template may include some sample cards. Often they serve to illustrate some of the functionality of the template, by providing data for charts and tables for example. You can always delete these cards once you've created your new project and become familiar with the template. Alternatively you can choose 'Exclude Cards' to prevent them from being copied into your new project.
- Include - Exclude pages: The template may include some pre-built wiki pages. For example the Overview page which is generally setup to display project status reporting. You can always delete or modify these pages once you've created your new project and become familiar with the template. Alternatively you can choose 'Exclude Pages' to prevent them from being copied into your new project.
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Click the 'Create project' link to complete the project creation.
Step two - Customize your project
The Mingle project templates include relevant project settings, project reporting and sample cards. You can use these as a basis for customizing your project. From within your new project, customize project settings by clicking the Project admin tab.
There are several project settings you can configure. These are conveniently grouped under the various heading you see on the sidebar.
Card types
Card types are the different kinds of things you would like to track in a project. Various kinds of projects would setup their own card types. A project which is purely in maintenance mode might have very different types of cards (bugs, issues, enhancements etc...) than a project which is under active development (story, bug, risk, UI issue etc...). Each card type can have its own set of properties. Customize card types by selecting Project admin tab, Card types link.
Card properties
Cards are the basic units you use to manage projects in Mingle. Card properties are how you define, sort, group and manage cards based on your project's workflow. Each card property has one or more values that represent a card's current status. Customize card properties by selecting Project admin tab, Card properties link.
Card transitions
Card transitions let you define your team's workflow, and you use transitions to forward work to various team members at different stages of the project lifecycle. Card transitions place links on cards that match certain card properties. Clicking these links updates cards according to the card properties you specify. They are used for completing common actions such as closing a bug or marking a user story as complete. Customize card transitions by selecting Project admin tab, Card transitions link.
Card trees
Card trees allow you to define a hierarchy of parent-child relationships between any card types. These relationships can be viewed graphically, as a tree view or hierarchy view, and cards can easily be added and moved around in the tree view. Customize card trees by selecting Project admin tab, Card trees link.
Card keywords
Card keywords are words, numbers or symbols that Mingle uses to create automatic links in cards and pages. When you're editing a card or page and you add any of these keywords, Mingle will automatically convert them to links. E.g. a card keyword of # lets you type #123 to create a quick link to card 123. Customize card keywords by selecting Project admin tab, Card keywords link.
Favorites and tabs
You can setup favorites for quick access to commonly used card views, and turn the more common views into navigation tabs.
Use the sample cards that came with the template to help setup your favorites. From within your project, setup favorites by clicking the All tab, then filter the card properties you want to view in the favorite. Select Favorites on the right, and click on the Add current view to team favorites... link.
You can then turn the favorite into a tab from the Manage team favorites and tabs in the Favorites sidebar panel.
Project variables
Project variables allow you to specify a value which can be referenced in many places within your Mingle project. Customize project variables by selecting Project admin tab, Project variables link.
Step three - Setup project reporting
In Mingle, project reporting can be done via the Overview tab, Mingle pages or cards. Here you can chart reports to see the status of your project and team workloads. Since your project is based on a template, it will already include a few relevant graphs, tables and charts that you can customize. Mingle uses its own markup language called MQL, which you can use to create new reports.
Step four - Add Mingle users and project team members
Once you're comfortable with your project settings, you can add users to Mingle and register them on your project.
To add new users
To add new users, click the Manage users link from the Current projects page (the first page you see after logging on - click the Mingle logo to display this page).
Learn more about managing users.To add team members to your project
To add team members to a project, open your project from the All and click Project admin tab > Team.
Learn more about managing project team members.Step five - Clean up template items
Since you created your project based on a template, there will be some items from the template that you won't use in your project. You should remove these before starting your project.
- Each template contains a set of sample cards that you should remove. To remove these cards, click the All tab, select all cards and click the Delete button.
- Other items you may wish to remove include extra transitions, card trees, card properties, tags, favorites and tabs, card keywords and project variables. Click the Project admin tab to access each of these areas.
Step six - Start using Mingle
See Using Mingle for details.