Aha! Roadmaps | Add your first workspace

Setting up your workspace hierarchy is an important first step when you are getting started with your Aha! Roadmaps account. If you want to explore a demo organization before you create your own, head to these articles first:

• Explore a demo product workspace in your account

• Explore a demo marketing workspace in your account

Click any of the following links to skip ahead:

• Define your hierarchy

  • Workspace lines

  • Workspaces

  • Workspace types

• Clear demo data from your account

• Add workspace hierarchy elements

Define your hierarchy

Whether you have a complex hierarchy organized around multiple divisions or a single-workspace team, the way you structure your Aha! Roadmaps account matters. Your Aha! Roadmaps hierarchy should allow everyone in your account to align on strategy and organize around the ways that your customers or users consume your products, programs, or services.

Hierarchies in Aha! Roadmaps can have a mix of workspace types — product, IT, services, project, business, or marketing. You can also build a hierarchy that is focused on just one workspace type.

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Workspace lines

A workspace line is a hierarchy item in Aha! Roadmaps that allows you to create a nested portfolio structure. By default, every new account starts with a workspace line representing your company. You can add as many levels of workspace lines as you need — representing lines, divisions, or any other structure that helps you visualize your workspace hierarchy. Unlike workspaces, workspace lines do not contain features or releases. They allow you to set a cohesive strategy at the workspace line level that your workspaces can inherit.

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Workspaces

A workspace is a collaborative environment where a team can manage features and releases that share a common purpose.

Since workspaces are where fundamental building blocks like activities and schedules reside, it is very important to define your workspaces correctly. Taking what should be a single workspace and breaking it up into multiple workspaces can lead to confusion and extra work. On the flip side, taking what should be multiple workspaces and defining them as a single workspace can result in overly broad environments that can be challenging to manage.

If you are considering whether to define your workspace as one workspace or multiple workspaces, ask yourself these questions.

• Does the potential workspace deliver work on its own independent schedule?

• Does the potential workspace manage its own workflows, data types, and statuses?

• Does the potential workspace have its own strategy?

• Does the potential workspace have its own manager?

• Does the potential workspace need its own independently prioritized backlog?

• Can the potential workspace release independently of other workspace types?

If your answer is no to these questions, it should generally be a single Aha! Roadmaps workspace.

If your answer is yes to these questions, then you should generally have multiple workspaces.

If your answers are a mix of both, or if you are unsure, then you should start with a single workspace. You can always add workspaces later. A single workspace is generally an easier starting point for most teams.

Note: If you want to apply workspace settings consistently across your Aha! account, you may be interested in workspace templates.

For more information, see these support articles related to workspace hierarchy.

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Workspace types

When you create workspaces for your hierarchy, you can select from several different workspace types. Each type comes with terminology and navigation elements tailored to your team's workflow. Multiple workspace types can co-exist in the same Aha! Roadmaps account or under the same workspace line, or you can choose to build your workspace hierarchy with the same workspace types under the same workspace line type.

The workspace types available are:

• Product

• IT

• Services

• Project

• Business

• Marketing

See this article for more information on workspace types.

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Clear demo data from your account

If you just created your Aha! Roadmaps account, you may have used the demo product or demo workspace to get acquainted with how Aha! Roadmaps works. But now that you have gone through the demo, it is time to disable it and start creating your own hierarchy.

You can delete or disable the demo company and product by going to Settings ⚙️ Account Customizations Workspaces and clicking the Delete buttons that appear to the right of the demo product and company.

You can also delete or disable any test data you entered yourself — including any hierarchy elements you created during your trial period. In that same menu (Settings ⚙️ Account Customizations Workspaces) click the Delete button by any test workspaces or workspace lines that you created yourself. This will give you a clean slate to build anew.

Note: This approach assumes that you only have test data in your account right now and that your workspaces don't have any live data in them. Reach out to our Product Success team at support@aha.io if you are unsure about how to proceed.

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Add workspace hierarchy elements

Once you are comfortable with how you would like to structure your workspace hierarchy, the actual creation process is simple. Go to Settings ⚙️ Account Configure workspaces and click the Add dropdown to create workspaces and workspace lines.

For more detail, read about:

• • Creating a single-workspace hierarchy

  • Creating a multi-workspace hierarchy

  • Creating a portfolio hierarchy

Note: Workspaces cannot be converted to workspace lines and vice versa.

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Getting started

This article is part of a series designed to help you get started in Aha! Roadmaps. Click any of the links below to move on.

1. Get started with Aha! Roadmaps

2. Explore a demo workspace in your account

3. You are here

4. Import data into Aha! Roadmaps

5. Invite your team to collaborate

6. Set up your first integration

7. Create and share your first roadmap