Initiative statuses show where each initiative stands, from first draft to completion. You can rename the built-in statuses to match your team's terminology, and add up to five custom statuses for steps your workflow needs.

How built-in and custom statuses work

Lifecycle Manager includes eight built-in statuses: Draft, Open, Proposed, Approved, In Progress, On Hold, Declined, and Completed. New initiatives start as Draft.

Each custom status behaves like one of the built-in statuses, except Draft. That built-in status controls:

• Which Roadmap board column the initiative appears in. Custom statuses don't add new columns.
• Its color and sort order.
• Whether the initiative counts as open or closed in reporting.

Renaming a status only changes its name. Your new names appear everywhere initiative statuses are shown in Lifecycle Manager, for everyone on your account.

How to access Initiative statuses

1. Click your account name, then click Account Settings.
2. In the Features section of the Settings navigation, click Roadmap.
3. Click the Configuration tab.

The Statuses list shows the built-in statuses first, then your custom statuses. Changes on this page save automatically.

How to rename a status

1. Find the status you want to rename.
2. Enter a new name in the field beside it.
3. Press Enter or click outside the field.

Status names can be up to 50 characters and must be unique. A custom status's name can't be blank.

How to reset a built-in status to its default name

To restore a renamed built-in status, do one of the following:

• Click the Reset to default icon () beside the status.
• Clear the status's field, then press Enter or click outside the field.

The default name is restored everywhere the status appears.

How to create a custom status

1. Above the status list, click New status.
2. Enter a unique name, then use Behaves like to choose the built-in status it should behave like.
3. Click Create status.

You can create up to five custom statuses. Once you reach five, New status is unavailable until you delete one.

How to delete a custom status

You can only delete a custom status when no initiatives use it. If the Delete icon is greyed out, hover over the icon to see how many initiatives use the status. Change those initiatives to another status first.

1. In the status list, click the Delete icon beside the custom status.
   
2. Click Yes, delete status in the confirmation pop-up to confirm.

Deleting a custom status can't be undone. Built-in statuses can't be deleted.

Using custom statuses on the Roadmap

You can set an initiative to a custom status anywhere you choose its status. A few things work differently from built-in statuses:

• Board columns
  An initiative with a custom status appears in the column for the built-in status it behaves like. Dragging the card to another column changes it to that column's built-in status.
• Filters and exports
  Filtering or exporting by a custom status includes every initiative in the built-in status it behaves like, not only the ones set to the custom status.

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