Managing team backlog using EAP

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated March 7, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Managing Team Backlog using EAP Strategic Portfolio Management

    The Backlog page in Enterprise Agile Planning (EAP) allows teams to create, update, and prioritize work items while scheduling them into iterations like Planning Intervals (PIs) or Sprints. The layout remains consistent across different team levels, but work item grouping varies based on the Agile structure, from Agile Team to Portfolio levels. The default view displays a limited number of iterations, which can be adjusted with admin assistance.

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    Key Features

    • Work Item Grouping: Grouped by Sprints at the Agile Team level, Planning Intervals at the ART level, and child ARTs or Solution Trains at higher levels.
    • Work Item Types: Default work items vary by level, with the ability to change the type displayed based on configuration.
    • Detailed View: Access work item details in a side panel, including all fields and related lists.
    • Iteration Creation: Create PIs and Sprints to prioritize and schedule work.
    • In-line Editing: Update work items directly in the Backlog to reflect changes in status, assignments, or story points.
    • Backlog Grooming: Reorder and filter planning items to prioritize and manage workload effectively.

    Key Outcomes

    By utilizing the EAP Backlog features, teams can efficiently manage their workload, prioritize tasks, and adapt to changing project requirements. Key capabilities include creating and scheduling work items, breaking down complex tasks into manageable parts, and personalizing the data display to enhance productivity. Teams can track progress through iterations, ensuring alignment with project goals and timelines.

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

    EAP Backlog.

    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.

    Default work items

    The work items shown in Backlog are 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 and 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 your product managers or team members want to switch to viewing 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.
    Within the Backlog, you can:
    • 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.