{"id":1856,"date":"2024-08-09T19:11:53","date_gmt":"2024-08-09T23:11:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/marcom-team\/?page_id=1856"},"modified":"2026-02-27T11:13:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T16:13:41","slug":"github-smartsheets","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/marcom-team\/departments\/interactive-design\/github-smartsheets\/","title":{"rendered":"How We Work with GitHub &#038; Smartsheet"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Working with GitHub &amp; Smartsheet<\/h1>\n<p>Learn about the workflow for how we structure and align GitHub &amp; Smartsheet within a <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/marcom-team\/departments\/interactive-design\/what-we-do\/id-offerings\/custom-projects\/\">custom project&#8217;s lifecycle<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/marcom-team\/departments\/interactive-design\/id-info\/github-smartsheets\/i-d-project-workflow\/\" class=\"button-secondary\">Strategy &amp; Implementation Phase Specifics<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\" bu-callout aligncenter\"><\/p>\n<h4>For New Hires<\/h4>\n<p>Here are presentations offering a high-level overview of the information in this section.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/presentation\/d\/1kWOlvjIkrvF2o_sTrcms9MSn5-a9-w-M-HwCpExzZJM\/edit?usp=sharing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"button-secondary\">The Best of Friends: Smartsheet &amp; GitHub<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/presentation\/d\/1zssk-iIYQrYxlZerE6cMoN0qL-S7OSzhj-UrLEfJpcM\/edit?usp=sharing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"button-secondary\">Managing Your Tasks in GitHub Projects &amp; Issues<\/a><br \/>\n<\/div>\n<h2>What We Support<\/h2>\n<p>Learn about what we support and any applicable guidelines.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/marcom-team\/departments\/interactive-design\/github-smartsheets\/our-support\/\" class=\"button-secondary\">Our Support<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>How Our Environment&#8217;s Set Up<\/h2>\n<p>Curious about how Dev environments fit together? Learn how Sandboxes, ID Core, Deploys, and Staging &amp; Production connect to power BU&#8217;s websites.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/marcom-team\/departments\/interactive-design\/github-smartsheets\/our-setup\/\" class=\"button-secondary\">Our Dev Setup<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Training Videos<\/h2>\n<p><span>Whether you\u2019re new to GitHub or need a refresher, these tutorials walk you through our most common workflows and best practices. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mymedia.bu.edu\/channel\/channelid\/174507791\" class=\"button button-secondary\">BU MyMedia Videos<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h1>GitHub<\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">GitHub is the service we use to host, manage, and version control our code. GitHub&#8217;s Projects feature is <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">used by a project&#8217;s implementation project team members [mainly ACDs, Designers, and Developers] to define business requirements and align technical requirements, features, and prioritized tasks. GitHub issues are where they should be having discussions and documenting decisions made as a team.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Understanding how Interactive Design uses GitHub streamlines our project workflows, ensuring efficient client service. <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/marcom-team\/departments\/interactive-design\/github-smartsheets\/i-d-project-workflow\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">See the Workflow page<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for details on the steps and timing of creating issues, finalizing requirements in issues, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"bu_collapsible_container \" aria-live=\"polite\" data-customize-animation=\"false\"><h4 class=\"bu_collapsible\" aria-expanded=\"false\"tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\">GitHub Terms<\/h4><div class=\"bu_collapsible_section\" style=\"display: none;\"><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>GitHub Project<\/strong>: A collection of issues organized into kanban columns such as the issues being worked on in the current sprint.<br \/>\n<em>See: <\/em><\/span><em><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/marcom-team\/departments\/interactive-design\/github-smartsheets\/adding-milestones-github-projects\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Project Configuration<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>GitHub Issue<\/strong>: A feature, component, template, task, or bug. There are different types, but generally it is something that has to be completed, discussed, questioned, or considered. There should be one issue created for a feature, component, template, task, or bug, not separate issues based on role. This ensures discussion, requirements, etc., are consolidated on a single issue.<br \/>\n<em>See: <\/em><\/span><em><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/marcom-team\/departments\/interactive-design\/github-smartsheets\/setting-up-github-issues\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Setting Up Issues<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>GitHub Label<\/strong>: A <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/bu-ist\/responsive-child-starter\/wiki\/Best-Practices:-Github-Labels\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">standardized set of tags<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that are used to identify status, functionality, or the type of work involved in the GitHub issue. The standardized set of labels should be used in all projects, though additional custom labels following the same format can be added.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Feature<\/strong>: All the work required for a set of functionality or content types in a project that solves a content or business problem.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Milestone<\/strong>: A group of issues organized together. In our workflow Milestones will be used for organizing planned releases.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Post Type<\/strong>: A post type structures the data for a type of content that is maintained in WordPress.<br \/>\n<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">See: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/support\/article\/post-types\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">WordPress\u2019s explanation<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Template<\/strong>: A template is a collection of components, functionality, and design traits that determine how a type of content looks and behaves on the website.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Component<\/strong>: An element in a template or project, especially one that is reused in more than one place in a project.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Assignments on Issues<\/strong>: Use assignments for assigning responsibility. It\u2019s for you to do something with it, and then reassign to the next person responsible for work on it, or unassign when no work remains.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>% Complete Fields<\/strong>: The percent complete on each task helps Project Managers and ACDs know how far along you are on each issue in the sprint. This is an estimate and should be added in 10% increments: 10%, 50%, 90%, etc. Each person working on the project should update these estimates as you make updates to the issue (as time permits) and ensure all of the issues you\u2019ve worked on in that sprint are updated before the check-in meetings so the team can review.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In general, 100% done means it\u2019s been deployed.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<h4>GitHub Processes &amp; Policies<\/h4>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/marcom-team\/departments\/interactive-design\/github-smartsheets\/repository-setup-config\/\">GitHub Repository Setup &amp; Configuration<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/marcom-team\/departments\/interactive-design\/github-smartsheets\/github-issues-setup\/\">Setting Up GitHub Issues<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/marcom-team\/departments\/interactive-design\/github-smartsheets\/adding-milestones-projects\/\">Adding Milestones &amp; GitHub Project<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/marcom-team\/departments\/interactive-design\/github-smartsheets\/github-roles-responsibilities\/\">GitHub Workflow &amp; Responsibilities<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h1>Smartsheet<\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For high-level planning, Smartsheet is our overall go-to for implementation, collaboration, and workflow tracking to ensure budgets and timelines are successfully met.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"bu_collapsible_container \" aria-live=\"polite\" data-customize-animation=\"false\"><h4 class=\"bu_collapsible\" aria-expanded=\"false\"tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\">Smartsheet &amp; Management Terms<\/h4><div class=\"bu_collapsible_section\" style=\"display: none;\"><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span><strong>ID Workspace<\/strong>:\u00a0<\/span><span>The collection of our entire portfolio of project documentation. This workspace is broken down, by project, in Toolkits [folders].<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span><strong>Project Toolkit <\/strong>[folder]: The collection of project tools, related to one project.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>Brockatron 5000<\/strong>: Our in-house Estimation Sheet.<\/li>\n<li><strong>CRAID Log<\/strong>: A record of a toolkit&#8217;s tasks lifecycle of Change, Risk, Action, Issue, Decision.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Post-Launch Bug Reporting<\/strong>: Each project comes with a post-launch bug report sheet, populated by client-reported bugs.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Resource Management:<\/strong> Your resource plan \u2013 what\u2019s assigned to you now, and what is coming in the future.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<h4>Smartsheet Processes &amp; Policies<\/h4>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/marcom-team\/departments\/interactive-design\/id-info\/github-smartsheets\/smartsheet-project-toolkit\/\">ID Project Toolkit and ID Workplace<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/marcom-team\/departments\/interactive-design\/id-info\/github-smartsheets\/smartsheet-resource-management\/\">Resource Management &amp; Scheduling<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/marcom-team\/departments\/interactive-design\/github-smartsheets\/smartsheet-update-requests\/\">Update Requests<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<hr \/>\n<div class=\" bu-callout aligncenter\"><\/p>\n<h2 data-start=\"55\" data-end=\"88\"><strong data-start=\"55\" data-end=\"88\">Time Tracking<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p data-start=\"90\" data-end=\"343\" class=\"\">Please make sure your <strong data-start=\"280\" data-end=\"297\">assigned work<\/strong> is being consistently and accurately tracked.<\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"345\" data-end=\"365\"><strong data-start=\"345\" data-end=\"363\">Key Reminders<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Be sure to <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/marcom-team\/creative-services\/time-tracking\/\">understand our ActiveCollab time-tracking policies<\/a> before reading ahead.<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"366\" data-end=\"466\" class=\"\">\n<p data-start=\"368\" data-end=\"466\" class=\"\"><strong data-start=\"368\" data-end=\"407\">All assigned work that moves the project forward should be tracked <\/strong>\u2014 even if it&#8217;s research and concepting or trying to get a development aspect to work. For full-time designers and developers, 100% resourcing 25 billable hours of your workweek \u2014 or 5 hours a day or more.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"467\" data-end=\"550\" class=\"\">\n<p data-start=\"469\" data-end=\"550\" class=\"\"><strong data-start=\"469\" data-end=\"502\">Project meetings are billable<\/strong>, unless they\u2019re for planning\/estimating only.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"551\" data-end=\"713\" class=\"\">\n<p data-start=\"553\" data-end=\"713\" class=\"\">Track <strong data-start=\"559\" data-end=\"580\">all communication<\/strong> (Slack, email, meetings) under \u201cCommunication \u2013 Internal\/External.\u201d Ask: <em data-start=\"654\" data-end=\"688\">Did it move the project forward?<\/em> If yes, it\u2019s billable.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"715\" data-end=\"736\"><strong data-start=\"715\" data-end=\"734\">Tips + Updates<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul data-start=\"737\" data-end=\"958\">\n<li data-start=\"737\" data-end=\"803\" class=\"\">\n<p data-start=\"739\" data-end=\"803\" class=\"\">Ask your PM or post in <strong data-start=\"762\" data-end=\"783\">#ask-timetracking<\/strong> if you\u2019re unsure.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"804\" data-end=\"878\" class=\"\">\n<p data-start=\"806\" data-end=\"878\" class=\"\">We\u2019re always updating templates and documentation to clarify what goes where.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"879\" data-end=\"958\" class=\"\">\n<p data-start=\"881\" data-end=\"958\" class=\"\">Outlook reminders and 1:1 check-ins may be used to improve tracking habits.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"960\" data-end=\"1024\" class=\"\">Time tracking isn\u2019t fun \u2014 but it\u2019s essential. Questions? Just ask!<\/p>\n<h3>Be Advised<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Incorrect time tracking can lead to decisions based on inaccurate data, affecting future task time allocation.<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Track your time daily for the current week to avoid the complexities and downstream effects on projects of retroactive adjustments.<\/li>\n<li>If you change billable time, but need to change it following a billing integration: please reach out to the project&#8217;s Project Manager to let them know <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>ASAP<\/strong><\/span>.<\/li>\n<li>Billing integrations run at <strong>9:30 am<\/strong>, <strong>12:30 pm<\/strong>, <strong>3:30 pm<\/strong>, and <strong>6:30 pm<\/strong> daily.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PMs run weekly burn rate reports and compare them to your <code>%complete<\/code> entries in Smartsheet to assess if we\u2019re on track and if the budget is on target.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>Note: The time spent in GitHub creating and managing issues is non-billable regardless of phase.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4>Downtime<\/h4>\n<p>There are two ways to track <strong>Downtime<\/strong>, which has been included as two tasks within our ID Admin project in ActiveCollab:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li data-start=\"551\" data-end=\"713\"><strong>Downtime \u2013 No Available Work<\/strong>: Use only if you\u2019ve exhausted all options, such as:\n<ul>\n<li data-start=\"551\" data-end=\"713\">You have nothing to move forward with,<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"551\" data-end=\"713\">You&#8217;ve offered to help others finish pull requests, <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/marcom-team\/departments\/interactive-design\/github-smartsheets\/our-support\/servicenow-ticket-process\/\">ServiceNow tickets<\/a>,<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"551\" data-end=\"713\">You&#8217;ve asked for more work, or to be assigned any remaining <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/marcom-team\/departments\/interactive-design\/github-smartsheets\/our-support\/servicenow-ticket-process\/\">ServiceNow tickets<\/a> from Jon Brousseau or Kristen.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"551\" data-end=\"713\"><strong>Downtime \u2014 System Related<\/strong>: Only to be used for tech issues, such as application outages or internet issues.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<h1>Next Section:<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/marcom-team\/departments\/interactive-design\/id-info\/\">ID General Info &amp; Resources<\/a><\/h1>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Working with GitHub &amp; Smartsheet Learn about the workflow for how we structure and align GitHub &amp; Smartsheet within a custom project&#8217;s lifecycle. Strategy &amp; Implementation Phase Specifics What We Support Learn about what we support and any applicable guidelines. Our Support How Our Environment&#8217;s Set Up Curious about how Dev environments fit together? Learn [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12906,"featured_media":0,"parent":199,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/marcom-team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1856"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/marcom-team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/marcom-team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/marcom-team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12906"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/marcom-team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1856"}],"version-history":[{"count":50,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/marcom-team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4270,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/marcom-team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1856\/revisions\/4270"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/marcom-team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/marcom-team\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}