SAFe entities
Summarize
Summary of SAFe entities
This content explains the key SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) entities used to plan, track, and deliver software products effectively. It describes the hierarchical work breakdown structure from epics to stories, the organization of agile teams, and the cadence of delivery through program increments and sprints within Agile Release Trains (ARTs).
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Key Features
- Epic: The largest unit of work in SAFe, representing significant business initiatives or hypotheses. Epics span multiple program increments and are prioritized using WSJF (Weighted Shortest Job First) to maximize business value. Epics are decomposed into features for delivery by ARTs.
- Feature: A feature is smaller than an epic and must fit within a single program increment. Features are prioritized in the ART backlog and further broken down into user stories for implementation by SAFe teams.
- Story: Stories capture specific product requirements or business cases in user-centric language. They are small enough to be completed in one sprint, with effort estimated in story points reflecting relative complexity or work required.
- Agile Release Train (ART): A group of agile teams working collaboratively towards delivering a common solution. ARTs organize work around program increments.
- Program Increment (PI): A timeboxed period (typically 8–12 weeks) during which ART teams plan and deliver value through a series of sprints, usually four development sprints plus one innovation and planning sprint.
- SAFe Team: Cross-functional, autonomous teams possessing diverse skills who collaborate to achieve goals. Roles with appropriate permissions can create teams, assign members, and associate teams with SAFe work items like stories, features, and epics. Team membership management can be restricted to system administrators if configured.
- Sprint: Subdivisions of program increments measured in weeks, during which teams complete their assigned stories.
Applying SAFe Entities in ServiceNow
- Create and manage epics to represent large business objectives and decompose them into features.
- Define features and break them into user stories to facilitate incremental delivery by teams.
- Write stories that express detailed user requirements and estimate effort using story points.
- Set up Agile Release Trains to coordinate multiple teams working on a shared solution.
- Plan and track progress through program increments and associated sprints to ensure timely delivery.
- Create and manage SAFe teams, assign members, and link teams to relevant work items for clear ownership and accountability.
Why This Matters
Understanding and applying these SAFe entities within ServiceNow enables customers to structure large-scale agile programs effectively. This framework helps align teams, prioritize work based on business value, and deliver incremental, tested solutions predictably. Proper use of SAFe entities facilitates collaboration across teams, transparency into progress, and supports scaling agile practices at the enterprise level.
Learn about the various SAFe entities that are used to successfully plan, track, and deliver your software products.
- Epic
Epic in SAFe is the largest unit of work, which can be continuously worked through multiple program increments. Epic captures business hypotheses and is prioritized and assessed using the WSJF (Weighted Shortest Job First is used to prioritize and sequence jobs to produce optimum business value) score.
An epic is further decomposed into features for implementation and delivery by SAFe ARTs.
- Feature
A SAFe feature is equivalent to an epic in Agile Development. It must be small enough for completion within a program increment cycle. It is prioritized and sequenced in an ART backlog based on its global ranking. A feature is further decomposed into user stories for implementation and delivery by SAFe teams.
- Story
A SAFe story is a brief statement encapsulating a product requirement or business case written in user-centric language. A story must be small enough for completion in one sprint. The estimated effort required to complete a story is measured in story points. More points are assigned to a story requiring more effort. Story points are arbitrary measurements of the effort (not necessarily the time) required to complete a story, based on the estimates from the SAFe team members.
- Agile Release Train
Agile Release Train (ART) comprises a set of teams working towards a single solution.
- Program Increment
A program increment is set period during which teams in an ART collaborate and produce to achieve agreed-upon goals. A program increment in SAFe is similar to a sprint in Agile Development, typically spanning 8–12 weeks. The most common form of program increment comprises four development sprints followed by one innovation and planning sprint.
- SAFe team
SAFe team is an autonomous, cross-functional team containing members possessing different skill-sets who work in collaboration to achieve a common goal.
A user with the safe_scrum_master or safe_art_user role can create a SAFe team. You can assign these teams to SAFe work items such as stories, epics, and features.
Once a SAFe team is created, you can add members to it.- New customers: System administrator can add members to the team.
- Existing customers: A user with the safe_scrum_master or safe_art_user role can
add members to your SAFe team.Note:
You can restrict this function just to the system administrator by creating the safe.disallow_scrum_add_group_member property and setting it to true.
For information on how to create a property, see Add a system property.
- Sprint
Program Increments in SAFe are further segmented into sprints for teams involved in it, and are measured in terms of weeks.