BLOG : Visual Task Boards (VTB) Types – A Complete ServiceNow Guide

[Sushma Pavani K]

Overview

Visual Task Boards (VTBs) transform standard list and form navigation into an interactive, graphical interface. They provide teams with a visual way to manage, track, and prioritize work by displaying tasks as movable cards on customizable boards.

Benefits of Visual Task Boards

• Improve team collaboration and task visibility
• Simplify task prioritization and tracking
• Enable drag-and-drop management of task statuses
• Offer customizable views and real-time updates

Types of Visual Task Boards

Board Type	Description
Freeform Board	Displays all personal tasks. Members can add/remove task cards and lanes freely.
Flexible Board	Displays tasks that match a filter against a specific table. Cards are removed if they no longer meet filter conditions. Lanes are editable.
Guided Board	Like flexible boards, but lanes are automatically generated based on a specific field (e.g., State) and cannot be edited.

1. Freeform Visual Task Boards

Freeform boards are ideal for managing ad-hoc or personal tasks. You can create lanes like To Do, Doing, and Done, and manually add task cards.

Create a Freeform VTB

Role required: None

Steps:

1. Navigate to All > Self-Service > Visual Task Boards.
2. Under My Task Boards, click New (or Create New Visual Task Board if it's your first).
3. Select Freeform in the Create New Board window.
4. A new board opens with default lanes (To Do, Doing, Done).
5. Click the board name to rename it as needed.

2. Data-Driven Visual Task Boards

These boards are tied to task records (e.g., Incident, Change) and automatically reflect the task state or other fields.

Board Types Based on Field Selection:

Selected Field Type	Board Type Created	Behavior
Choice or Reference	Guided Board	Lanes created based on all available values of the selected field (e.g., Incident State).
None	Flexible Board	Default lanes (To Do, Doing, Done) are shown. Lanes are editable.

Create a Data-Driven VTB

Role required: None

Steps:

1. Navigate to All > Self-Service > Visual Task Boards.
2. Click New under My Task Boards.
3. Select Data Driven Board.
4. Choose the base Task Table (e.g., Incident).
5. (Optional) Select a Lane Field (e.g., State) to define how cards are grouped.
   • Selecting a choice/reference field creates a Guided Board.
   • Selecting None results in a Flexible Board.
6. (Optional) Apply a filter (e.g., tasks assigned to me).
   • Tasks no longer matching the filter will be automatically removed.
7. (Optional) Rename your board.

Notes:

• Guided Boards from choice fields (e.g., State) create lanes for all possible values.
• Guided Boards from reference fields create lanes only for values currently used in existing tasks.
• Lanes auto-update if new field values appear in tasks over time.

Additional Tips

• Enable Card View for detailed card management options.
• To simplify view, clear the option: Show Compact Cards > Show Card Info.

Conclusion

Visual Task Boards are a powerful tool within ServiceNow to bring structure, visibility, and agility to task and project management. Whether you're handling personal tasks, team incidents, or cross-functional change requests, VTBs offer a flexible, intuitive interface to stay organized and productive.

For Simple Use Cases for each type of Visual Task Board (VTB) Freeform, Guided, and Flexible, see the post:

https://www.servicenow.com/community/next-experience-forum/blog-simple-use-cases-for-each-type-of-vi...