Understanding Flexi Kanban Types
Flexi Kanban supports three board types: Standard, Child, and Composite. Choosing the right one depends on where the board will live and how it relates to your data — not on how complex your workflow is. All three types are equally powerful and share the same underlying capabilities.
Standard Board
What It Is
A Standard Board is the most common Flexi Kanban board type. It presents records as cards organized into columns, giving your team an immediate visual overview of where work stands across your entire org — or any filtered subset of it.
A Standard Board lives as a standalone page in your Salesforce app. It is org-wide by default, meaning it can display records from across the organization, scoped only by whatever filters you configure.
A single Standard Board can surface records from multiple Salesforce objects simultaneously — making it flexible enough to represent mixed or cross-functional workflows in one place.
How It Works
You configure a Standard Board by selecting:
The Salesforce object(s) whose records should appear on the board (e.g., Opportunity, Case, Lead, or any custom object — including a mix of object types)
The columns — each column is independently configurable, including its header, footer, data loading settings, and the criteria that determine which records it displays
The fields to display on each card, along with card layout and optional dynamic color coding based on conditions you define
Filters to control which records appear on the board, supporting complex, multi-criteria conditions
Once configured, users see a live board. Moving a card from one column to another immediately updates the underlying Salesforce record — and can trigger automated actions such as field updates, notifications, or Salesforce flows.
When to Use a Standard Board
A Standard Board is the right choice when:
You want a standalone, org-wide view of a workflow or process
Your team needs a fast, actionable overview they can work from directly
Common examples:
Sales pipeline (Opportunities by Stage)
Support queue (Cases by Status)
Lead nurturing board (Leads by Lead Status)
Project tracker (Custom Object by Phase)
Staffing triage board (Job Openings and Candidates as separate columns on one board)
Real estate listings board (Properties and Deals as separate columns on one board)
Note: Boards that display records from multiple objects — like the staffing and real estate examples above — are still a single Standard Board. This is a native capability of any Flexi Kanban board, not a reason to use a Composite Board. A Composite Board is for placing multiple independent boards side by side on one screen — not for mixing object types.
Child Board
What It Is
A Child Board is technically the same board type as a Standard Board — it uses the same engine, the same configuration options, and works in exactly the same way. The difference is purely in where it is placed and how its filters are set up.
A Child Board is embedded directly on a Salesforce record page as a Lightning component. Its filters are pre-configured to automatically show only the records related to the parent record it is placed on. When a user opens that parent record, the board loads instantly and displays only the relevant child records — no manual filtering required.
This makes it ideal for managing work within the context of a single record, without navigating away from it.
How It Works
A Child Board is placed on a parent record page using Salesforce's Lightning App Builder. During configuration, you set hidden filters that scope the board to records related to that specific parent — using the relationship field that connects them.
When a user opens the parent record, the board reads the current record's ID, applies the pre-configured filters automatically, and displays only the related child records grouped by their stage or status.
Everything else — card layout, column configuration, automation, color coding — works identically to a Standard Board.
When to Use a Child Board
A Child Board is the right choice when:
You want to manage related records in the context of a specific parent record
Your team works record-by-record and needs all related work visible without navigating away
Different parent records have different sets of child records that need independent tracking
Common examples:
Account → Opportunities: All open deals for a specific account, visible directly on the Account record page
Opportunity → Tasks: All follow-up tasks for a deal, managed without leaving the Opportunity
Project → Milestones: All milestones for a project, tracked directly on the Project record
Case → Child Cases: All sub-cases linked to a parent case, visible in context
Contact → Activities: All pending activities for a contact, triaged without leaving the Contact record
Standard Board vs. Child Board at a Glance
Underlying board type
Same
Same
Where it lives
Standalone page in a Salesforce app
Embedded on a parent record page
Scope
Org-wide, controlled by manual filters
Automatically scoped to the parent record
Filter setup
Configured by the user or admin
Pre-configured hidden filters tied to the parent record
Best for
Org-wide process and pipeline views
Contextual, record-level work management
Multi-object support
Yes
Yes
Composite Board
What It Is
A Composite Board is a workspace that combines multiple independent Standard Boards into a single screen. Think of it as a mashup — instead of one board with one purpose, you assemble several standalone Flexi Kanban boards and place them together side by side.
Each board within a Composite Board remains fully independent: it has its own object configuration, its own columns, its own filters, and its own set of records. But placing them together gives teams a broader, unified view of work that spans different processes or domains at once.
What makes Composite Boards especially powerful is the ability to set up communication between the individual boards — so that selecting or acting on a record in one board can filter or trigger a reaction in another. This turns a simple side-by-side layout into a coordinated, multi-board workspace.
Note: Composite Boards are an advanced capability designed for specific use cases. Most teams will find that Standard and Child Boards cover the vast majority of their needs. Composite Boards are less commonly used and typically require more deliberate planning to configure well.
When to Use a Composite Board
A Composite Board becomes relevant when:
You need to monitor multiple independent workflows simultaneously, side by side, in one place
Different teams or processes each have their own board, but you want a single consolidated view
You want boards that are aware of each other — where an action on one board influences another
A single Standard Board is not enough to represent the full breadth of what a role or team needs to see at once
Example: A sales operations manager might assemble a pipeline board (Opportunities by Stage), a support board (Cases by Priority), and a renewals board (Contracts by Renewal Status) into a single Composite Board — giving a full picture of the business without switching between separate apps or views.
Choosing the Right Board Type
For most teams getting started with Flexi Kanban, a Standard Board is the natural first step — fast to configure and immediately useful for any process. As needs grow, a Child Board brings contextual, record-level visibility directly onto parent record pages. A Composite Board is the right choice when multiple standalone boards need to live together and, optionally, interact with each other.
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