# Work Item

One unit of open work on the systems; together the rows are the group's single backlog.

One Work Item row is one unit of work about the systems that someone still has to do: a fix, a build, a review, an approval or an open question. It is typed `bds:Task`. Since 2026-10-28 the table is the single backlog of the group's system work. Open points from earlier plans, requirement documents and decision logs were moved into it, and new ones are added here instead of anywhere else.

A Work Item is work *on* the systems. Business tasks, such as a sales follow-up or a KPI collection, belong to the base of their domain: each domain is the only writer of its own workflows and of the tasks they generate (proposed, not yet adopted).

## What a row is

On 2026-10-28 the table has 145 rows:

| Status | Rows | | Kind | Rows |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| To Do | 83 | | Feature | 48 |
| In Progress | 8 | | Debt | 36 |
| Waiting | 54 | | Question | 32 |
| Done | 0 | | Review | 20 |
| Cancelled | 0 | | Approval | 9 |

Priority: High 18, Medium 84, Low 43. Every Waiting row names what it waits for in Waiting On; 6 rows also link Blocked By. No row has a Due Date. 117 rows link at least one System, 28 link none. No row is Checked yet.

[![Work Item is the single backlog of open work on the systems.](/systems/systems-central/screens/sc-work-item-grid.png)](/systems/systems-central/screens/sc-work-item-grid.png)

## Fields

### What and why

| Field | Type | Meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Title | Text, primary | The action, starting with a verb |
| Kind | Single select | Debt, Feature, Review, Question, Approval |
| Detail | Long text | What is open and what done looks like, in two to four sentences |
| Source | Long text | Paths or links of the documents where the work was written down, one per line |
| Recorded On | Date | Date of the oldest Source |

### State

| Field | Type | Meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Status | Single select | To Do, In Progress, Waiting, Done, Cancelled |
| Priority | Single select | High (blocks or breaks something), Medium, Low (can wait, including deferred work) |
| Waiting On | Text | The person, answer or event the item waits for; blank unless Waiting |
| Blocked By / Blocks | Links → Work Item | Items that must finish first, and the inverse |
| Due Date | Date | Only a real, agreed deadline |
| Done On | Date | Set when Status becomes Done or Cancelled |
| Assignee | Links → Membership (mirror) | One membership; blank when an agent does it or nobody has taken it |

### Scope links

Systems, Record Types, System Rules, Architecture Decisions and Tags. Link each one the work touches. Each appears as an inverse Work Items column on the other table.

### Review

| Field | Type | Meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Checked | Checkbox | A person confirmed the item is real, still open and well described |
| Review Note | Long text | Doubts to settle before ticking Checked |

## Lifecycle

To Do → In Progress → Done, with Waiting whenever the item cannot move, and Cancelled when it will not be done. Done and Cancelled rows stay in the table with Done On set; they are not deleted. Status values are maintained by people and agents. No formula or automation checks that Waiting has Waiting On, that Done has Done On or that Blocked By items are still open.

## Example

A fictitious row: Title `Add a technician check to Service Visit`, Status `Waiting`, Priority `Medium`, Kind `Feature`, Detail `Visits can be saved without a technician. Done when a check column flags them and the view filters on it.`, Waiting On `Approval of the rule`, Source `Field Service model, rule 3`, Recorded On the date of that entry, Systems `Field Service`.

## Related

[Keep work items current](/systems/systems-central/work-items) · [System](/systems/systems-central/entity-system)