Manage team backlog in EAP

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

    The Backlog page in Enterprise Agile Planning (EAP) allows ServiceNow customers to create, update, prioritize, and schedule work items such as stories, features, capabilities, and epics. Work items can be organized into iterations like Planning Intervals (PIs) or Sprints depending on the team’s Agile structure and configuration. The layout and grouping adapt to team levels ranging from Agile Teams to Portfolios, ensuring visibility into relevant work items based on role and hierarchy.

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    Layout and Grouping

    • Agile Teams: Work items grouped by Sprints.
    • Agile Release Trains (ART): Grouped by Planning Intervals.
    • Solution Trains: Grouped by child ARTs.
    • Portfolios: Grouped by child Solution Trains.

    Kanban teams display assigned work differently, with portfolios grouping by child teams and team work shown in a list. The default display shows six iterations but can be customized by administrators.

    Work Item Types and Visibility

    Work items shown correspond to the team’s configured default types but can be changed to view other types (e.g., changing from Capabilities to Features). Only enabled work item types appear in the backlog, and completed or cancelled items are hidden by default in the backlog section but remain visible within iteration sections. Administrators can modify these display settings through system properties.

    Backlog Management Features

    • Create and edit iterations (PIs, Sprints) including details like name, capacity, and committed points.
    • Add, update, and prioritize work items with in-line editing.
    • Schedule work items from backlog into iterations and reorder items when grouping is not applied.
    • Start and complete iterations, moving incomplete work back to backlog.
    • Filter work items using column-level filters and customize displayed columns for personalized views.
    • Create child work items directly from parent items to streamline breakdown.
    • Copy existing work items to quickly create similar tasks.
    • Add frequently used teams to Favorites for faster navigation.

    Now Assist Integration for Work Item Generation

    Leverage Now Assist within EAP to accelerate work item creation and refinement:

    • Generate user stories from epics automatically, including titles, descriptions, and acceptance criteria.
    • Break down epics and features into multiple stories using AI-assisted suggestions.
    • Assess epic status and risks with clear health indicators and reasoning.
    • Create comprehensive and testable acceptance criteria without manual writing.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    By using EAP Backlog, customers can efficiently manage Agile work items across multiple team levels with a consistent interface. The ability to customize views, filter data, and automate story creation supports faster backlog grooming and iteration planning. Integration with Now Assist enhances productivity and quality of Agile delivery. Administrators have flexibility to tailor backlog visibility and iteration display to fit organizational needs, helping teams stay aligned and focused on prioritized work.

    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 Properties installed with Enterprise Agile Planning.

    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 section) to prioritize them.

      However, reordering is not possible when the planning items are grouped. For example you grouped the items in the Backlog section by State, you won't be able to reorder the items unless the grouping is removed.

    • Start and complete those iterations.
    • Move incomplete work to the Backlog.
    • Filter the data that's displayed.
    • Choose the columns to be displayed.
    • Open a work item in a new tab.

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