---
title: "BigPicture Performance and Scaling Guidelines for Support Engineers"
canonical: "https://support.appfire.com/space/SUPPORT/3553526137/BigPicture%20Performance%20and%20Scaling%20Guidelines%20for%20Support%20Engineers"
format: markdown
---
This guide helps support engineers respond consistently to customer questions about BigPicture performance, scale, and practical limits. It is based on a resolved support case and can be reused for similar requests.

> ℹ️ Use this page when a customer asks about task volume, number of projects in scope, Gantt performance, browser recommendations, or scaling expectations for a Box or an entire BigPicture site.

# When to use this guidance

- Customer asks for performance limits or sizing guidance
- Customer wants to know how many tasks a Gantt or Box can handle comfortably
- Customer asks whether there is a hard limit for tasks or projects
- Customer asks which browser is recommended
- Customer is planning a large-scale rollout and wants best practices before implementation

# Customer intent behind this type of case

These requests are usually not bug reports. They are advisory conversations. The customer is trying to understand whether BigPicture will scale for their environment and how to use it safely without degrading performance.

Support should aim to do two things:

- Provide clear, practical limits and recommendations
- Set expectations that performance depends on configuration, data volume, and usage patterns

# Approved support position

| Question area | Recommended answer | Support nuance |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Comfortable number of work items | A single Box can comfortably support about **20,000 to 30,000 issues**. | Clarify that this refers to **one Box**, not the full BigPicture site across all boxes. |
| Site-wide vs single Box | The 20k-30k guidance applies **per single Box**. | Do not present it as a global tenant limit. |
| Browser recommendation | BigPicture works on **Chrome, Safari, and Firefox** when kept up to date. | If the customer asks for one recommendation, suggest **Chrome**. |
| Projects in Scope Definition | Customers can add many projects to a Box scope. | There is no simple practical “unlimited” recommendation; more projects and more issues can significantly affect performance. |
| Task limit per Box | By default, the task limit per Box is **100,000 issues**. | This value can be increased, but higher limits may negatively affect performance. |
| Safer large-scale view | If the goal is to see many tasks at once, recommend using the **Gantt module of the Home Box**. | This is usually safer than loading everything into one operational Box. |

# How support should answer

1. **Acknowledge the planning need.**
  Confirm that the question is valid and that performance depends on both scale and setup.
2. **Answer each question directly.**
  Customers often ask in bullets. Mirror that structure so the reply is easy to verify.
3. **Differentiate soft guidance from hard limits.**
  Explain the difference between “comfortable use” guidance and a configurable ceiling such as the default 100k task limit.
4. **Add usage advice.**
  Recommend moderation in scope size and suggest the Home Box Gantt for broad visibility.
5. **Link documentation.**
  Always include the relevant documentation so the customer has a durable reference after the ticket is closed.

> ℹ️ Best practice: if a customer asks multiple scale questions, answer in numbered format. This reduces follow-up and makes the response easier for the customer to forward internally.

# Suggested macro response

> Thanks for reaching out. Here are the key performance and scaling guidelines for BigPicture:
> 
> 1. A single BigPicture Box can comfortably support around **20,000 to 30,000 issues**. This is a **per-Box guideline**, not a site-wide limit across all boxes.
> 2. BigPicture works with **Chrome, Safari, and Firefox** when using current versions. If you want one preferred option, we recommend **Chrome**.
> 3. You can add many projects to a Box scope, but we recommend moderation. A very large scope can have a noticeable impact on performance.
> 4. By default, the task limit per Box is **100,000 issues**. This can be increased, but doing so may affect overall performance.
> 
> If your goal is to view a very large set of tasks at once, a better approach is often to use the **Gantt module of the Home Box** rather than placing everything into one Box.
> 
> For more detail, please review the documentation linked below. If useful, we can also discuss your expected scale and use case in more detail.

# Key messaging to keep consistent

- **Do say:** “comfortable use,” “recommended,” “default limit,” and “performance depends on scale and configuration.”
- **Do say:** “20,000-30,000 issues per single Box” when speaking about practical comfort.
- **Do say:** “100,000 issues per Box by default” when speaking about task limit configuration.
- **Do not say:** “BigPicture supports unlimited scale without tradeoffs.”
- **Do not say:** “20,000-30,000 issues across the whole site” unless documentation explicitly states that.
- **Do not overpromise:** actual performance can vary based on data complexity, sync rules, browser behavior, and how much content is loaded at once.

# Risk areas and how to handle them

| Risk | Why it matters | How to mitigate |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Customer interprets guidance as a hard guarantee | May create escalations if their environment behaves differently | Use language like “comfortable use,” “recommended,” and “depends on configuration.” |
| Customer assumes scope size has no practical impact | Large scopes can slow the experience | Encourage moderation and recommend Home Box Gantt for broad views. |
| Customer confuses Box limit with tenant-wide limit | Can distort implementation planning | Explicitly state that the 20k-30k figure applies per Box. |
| Customer wants architectural assurance | Support may drift into consulting without enough context | Share guidance first, then invite a follow-up discussion focused on their expected number of issues, boxes, and usage patterns. |

# Documentation to include in replies

- [https://support.appfire.com/space/DLP/2212233525/Sizing+guide?utm_source=htmlredirect&utm_medium=confluence](https://support.appfire.com/space/DLP/2212233525/Sizing+guide?utm_source=htmlredirect&utm_medium=confluence)
- [https://support.appfire.com/space/DLP/2211842666/How+to+improve+performance?utm_source=htmlredirect&utm_medium=confluence](https://support.appfire.com/space/DLP/2211842666/How+to+improve+performance?utm_source=htmlredirect&utm_medium=confluence)
- [https://support.appfire.com/space/DLP/2211187382/Performance](https://support.appfire.com/space/DLP/2211187382/Performance)
- [https://support.appfire.com/space/DLP/2212529460/Sync+rules#Task-limit](https://support.appfire.com/space/DLP/2212529460/Sync+rules#Task-limit)

# When to escalate or probe further

Ask follow-up questions or involve a specialist if the customer is asking for deployment-specific advice rather than general guidance.

- [ ] Customer expects more than 30k issues in a single operational Box
- [ ] Customer wants to raise the default 100k task limit
- [ ] Customer reports actual slowness rather than asking for general limits
- [ ] Customer wants validated recommendations for a large enterprise rollout
- [ ] Customer’s use case depends on loading many projects and very large scope definitions into one Box

<details>
<summary>Suggested discovery questions for complex cases</summary>


</details>

# Case notes from the source ticket

- Issue key: **SUPPORT-268429**
- Status: [RESOLVED]
- Request type: Support Request
- Outcome: Customer received clarification, confirmed understanding, and thanked support
- Pattern observed: customer asked about limits, browser recommendations, project scope size, and per-Box task ceiling

> ✅ This case is a good model for concise advisory handling: direct answers, relevant docs, clear distinction between recommended scale and default task limits, then closure once the customer confirms.