Glossary

Here are the words used in ZARMS, grouped by topic. For terms with a longer explanation, follow the link.

​

The basics

​

Team

The unit of an organization that uses ZARMS together, such as a company, department, or club. Members, plan, settings, and Google Drive folders are separate for each team. One person can join several teams.

​

Board

A container for related cards. Create one for whatever you want to group: a department, a client engagement, recurring work, and so on. ZARMS has no “project” unit. Boards play that role. → Create a board

​

Card

One piece of work. A card has assignees (four roles), a status, and dates, and each card gets its own Google Doc and folder. Each card has a number that runs across the team (e.g. #42). → Create a card

​

My Board

A view that collects the cards you can see across all boards. When you first open it, it shows only the cards where you have the ball. It’s also where cards that don’t belong to any board live. Cards on My Board are visible to every member except guests. → My Board: see the cards that are your turn

​

Ball

The person who needs to act next on a card. The card’s status decides which role has the ball. “You have the ball” means “it’s your turn.” → Why cards have four roles and a ball

​

Card roles

​

Creator

The person who started the card. You can change it to the person who actually made the request. Has the ball when the status is Draft.

​

Processor

The person who does the work. Has the ball when the status is Not started or In progress.

​

Reviewer

The person who checks that the result meets the requirements. Has the ball when the status is In review.

​

Receiver

The person who receives the finished deliverable, such as the requester or the place it’s submitted to. Has the ball when the status is Done, and archives the card once they’ve received it.

​

Follower

Someone who isn’t assigned but wants to keep up with a card. You follow a card yourself, and then you get all of its comments. Followers never have the ball.

​

Deliverable

What a card’s work produces, such as a document, a video, or a decision. ZARMS assumes every piece of work has a deliverable, and the work is finished when the Receiver receives it. → Write cards people understand

​

Statuses

There are six fixed statuses. Admins and board settings can change their labels. → Status and the ball: whose turn it is, Why there are exactly six statuses

​

Draft

Still being written and not yet sent as a request. Never becomes overdue.

​

Not started

The request has been sent, but work hasn’t started.

​

In progress

The Processor is doing the work.

​

In review

The Reviewer is checking the result. If something needs fixing, move it back to In progress.

​

Done

The work is finished. The Receiver receives the deliverable.

​

Cancelled

You decided not to do the work. Nobody has the ball, and it isn’t counted in completion rate or overdue counts. You can move it back to another status later.

​

Dates and time

​

Starts

The deadline for the Processor to start work (move the card to In progress). It isn’t a planned start date. If the card is still Not started when it passes, the card becomes overdue. → Why the start date is a deadline

​

Due

The deadline for the Reviewer to finish reviewing (move the card to Done).

​

Overdue

A card whose deadline has passed without the work moving forward. A Not started card is overdue when either Starts or Due has passed. An In progress or In review card is overdue when Due has passed.

​

Hours (planned), Hours (actual)

The time the Processor expects to spend on the work, and the time it actually took, in hours. When you move a card from In progress to In review in the card details, an estimated actual value is filled in automatically. → Set assignees and dates

​

Wrapping up and organizing

​

Archive

Clearing finished cards or boards out of lists while keeping the record. Archived cards are read-only, and you can restore them later. ZARMS uses Archive instead of deleting. → Why you can’t delete cards

​

Child card, parent card

When you break big work down, you link cards as parent and child. You can only link cards on the same board. → Find, share, and duplicate cards

​

Steps

A list of steps or small tasks inside a single card. Steps used to be called “checklist.” If a task needs its own assignee or dates, make it a child card instead. → Break work down into steps

​

Template card

A starting point for cards you create again and again. Template cards can’t be set to Done or Cancelled.

​

Custom fields

Card fields your team adds on its own. Admins create them.

​

People and permissions

​

Roles

The types of permissions in a team. There are four: Owner, Manager, Member, and Guest. Owners and Managers together are called admins. → Roles and what they can do

​

Guest

A role for people such as outside partners. Guests can see only the boards an admin chooses and the cards on them. → Show guests only some boards

​

Billing manager

The person who handles plan payments and invoices. Set separately from roles.

​

Directory

The list of people in a team. You can add people who don’t sign in to ZARMS to the directory and assign them to cards. → Manage the member list and directory

​

Groups

Sets of people, such as departments or sections. You can link groups to boards. Groups don’t affect permissions. → Groups and skills

​

Skills

Members’ qualifications and strengths, or the abilities a group needs. AI also uses them when suggesting a Processor.

​

AI and integrations

​

Credits

The unit used up when you use ZARMS AI features. One credit equals 1 yen (before tax). → Credits: AI usage

​

Ask AI

The feature under AI in the left navigation where you ask questions about cards and boards or ask AI to take actions. Actions that AI proposes run only after you check them. → Ask AI and have it take actions

​

Insights

A view for looking back over a period: the share of work finished on time, days spent waiting for review, the gap between planned and actual hours, and more. → Look back with Insights

​

MCP

A way for AI agents such as Claude and ChatGPT to work with ZARMS. → Use ZARMS from AI agents (MCP)

​

API key

A key that lets programs and AI agents connect to ZARMS. → Connect with an API key

​

Admin console

Where Owners and Managers change team settings, card defaults, custom fields, and more. → What you can do in the admin console