Manage team backlog in EAP

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated May 22, 2026
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Manage team backlog in EAP

    The Backlog page in Enterprise Agile Planning (EAP) enables ServiceNow customers to create, update, prioritize, and schedule work items across different team levels such as Agile Teams, Agile Release Trains (ART), Solution Trains, and Portfolios. It supports organizing work into iterations like Planning Intervals (PI) or Sprints and provides a consistent layout with grouping based on team hierarchy and configuration.

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    Layout and Grouping

    • Backlog layout is consistent across team levels; grouping varies by Agile structure level and configuration.
    • Default grouping for Full Configuration:
      • Agile Team: grouped by Sprints
      • ART: grouped by Planning Intervals
      • Solution Train: grouped by child ARTs
      • Portfolio: grouped by child Solution Trains
    • Kanban teams have a different grouping, with portfolios grouped by child teams and teams displaying assigned work as a list.
    • The default number of iterations shown is six but can be customized via system properties with admin assistance.

    Work Item Types and Visibility

    • Work items displayed correspond to types mapped to each team’s configuration (e.g., Stories at Agile Team level, Features or Capabilities at higher levels).
    • Users can change the displayed work item type to view different levels of work assigned to a team.
    • Completed and cancelled work items are hidden by default in the Backlog section but remain visible in iteration views; this behavior can be adjusted through system properties.
    • Details of work items can be viewed in a side panel or full details mode for comprehensive field and related list access.

    Functional Capabilities in Backlog

    • Create and update iterations such as PIs and Sprints to plan work timelines and team capacity.
    • Add new work items including stories, features, epics, and capabilities directly in the Backlog.
    • Break down parent work items into child items efficiently within the EAP workspace.
    • Use Now Assist to generate user stories and acceptance criteria, streamlining story creation and ensuring clarity.
    • Duplicate existing work items to save time when creating similar tasks.
    • Schedule and prioritize work by reordering items and moving them into iterations for execution.
    • Start and complete iterations directly from the Backlog to track team progress.
    • Personalize the Backlog view by selecting columns and applying filters, including column-level filtering for quick data access.
    • Mark frequently used teams as Favorites for quicker navigation within the EAP workspace.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    This functionality enables Agile teams and management to maintain a clear and prioritized backlog aligned with their Agile structure, improving planning accuracy and visibility across all levels of their Agile framework. The integration of iteration creation, work item management, and Now Assist automation enhances productivity and collaboration. Customizable views and filtering ensure users can focus on relevant data, while configuration options allow tailoring the backlog experience to organizational needs.

    Using the Backlog page of Enterprise Agile Planning, create, update, and prioritize work items. Additionally, schedule work items into iterations such as Planning Intervals (PI) or Sprints.

    EAP Backlog.

    The following sections provide a brief overview of EAP Backlog and the actions that you can perform in it.

    Layout and default grouping

    The layout of Backlog across different team levels such as Agile Team, Agile Release Train (ART), Solution Train, or Portfolio, remains the same. The change is in the way that the work items are grouped. As you go bottom to top in an Agile structure, the work assigned to the teams is grouped as follows:

    Important:
    The team hierarchy and the iterations within teams are based on your EAP configuration. The following information applies to the default Full Configuration.
    • Agile Team: Grouped by Sprints.
    • ART: Grouped by Planning Intervals.
    • Solution Train: Grouped by child ARTs.
    • Portfolio: Grouped by child Solution Trains.
    Any work item that doesn't fall into any of these groups is displayed in the Backlog section.

    By default, the number of iterations that the Backlog page displays is set to 6. You can work with your admin to modify this number using a system property. For more information, see Configure the display limit of iterations in EAP Backlog.

    Layout and default grouping for Kanban teams

    The Backlog for teams using the Kanban configuration is grouped as follows:
    • Portfolio: Assigned work items are grouped by child teams. Any work item that is not assigned to the child teams is displayed in the Backlog section.

      Backlog view of EAP Kanban portfolio.

    • Team: Assigned work is displayed in a list.

    Default work items

    The work items shown in Backlog are of the Type that is mapped for this team in the configuration. As you move up in your Agile structure, the level of the work assigned also increases. At an Agile Team level, you see information of stories. As you move up through ARTs and Portfolios, you see information of Features, Capabilities, and Epics. However, at any level, you can change the type of the work items displayed.

    Work item mapping for an EAP team.

    For example, in the screenshot, Capability is the default item type mapped to Compliance and onboarding tech Solution Train based on its configuration. You can change this selection to see work of other types assigned to this team. When this selection is changed to Feature, you can see all the features assigned to this ART. Similarly, you can choose to create and assign a different type of work item for this Solution Train, even though its default item type is Capability.

    View the details of any work item in the side panel by selecting its primary column. To access all the fields and related lists of the work item, select Full details from the side panel.

    Note:
    The Backlog page for an EAP team shows only those work items that are enabled in its default configuration. For example, for an ART with Full Configuration, the Backlog might show only Features by default. If you want to view other work item types such as Capabilities, Epics, or Stories, work with your admin to update the required EAP configuration details. For more information, see Configure display of other work item types in EAP Backlog and Planning board.

    Completed and cancelled items in Backlog

    The Backlog section hides completed and cancelled work items by default, so the list shows only items that are active and ready to plan or schedule. Sprint and Planning Interval (PI) sections continue to show all work items, giving you visibility into both ongoing and finished work for each iteration.

    You can work with your admin to change either default per section using two system properties: sn_apw_advanced.show_inactive_items_in_backlog_list for the Backlog section and sn_apw_advanced.show_inactive_items_in_iteration for iteration sections. For more information about both properties, see .

    Column-level filtering of data

    Quickly find the work items that you need by using column-level filters for the data on your EAP Backlog. Using the Column filtering option (), you can filter data on any column displayed on the Backlog tab, which is of the type choice, string, or reference.

    Column level filtering for EAP Backlog.

    Actions within the Backlog

    Within the Backlog, you can perform the following actions:
    • Create iterations such as PIs or Sprints for your teams.
    • Add work to the team's Backlog.
    • Schedule work from Backlog into different iterations.
    • Make in-line edits to update information of work such as Status, Assigned to, or Story points.
    • Reorder planning items (in a group) to prioritize them.
    • Start and complete those iterations.
    • Move incomplete work to the Backlog.
    • Filter the data that's displayed.
    • Choose the columns to be displayed.

    Use the following tasks to start creating and scheduling work for teams in EAP.