SAFe Feature Dashboard

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of SAFe Feature Dashboard

    The SAFe Feature Dashboard in the Yokohama release provides ServiceNow customers with a comprehensive visualization of feature progress and scope changes over time. It enables users to track the completion status of stories within a feature and assess whether the feature can be delivered on schedule. This dashboard is especially valuable for SAFe ART users who need real-time insight into work completion and scope dynamics.

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    Key Features

    • End User Roles and Goals: Tailored for SAFe ART users and SAFe scrum users, the dashboard aggregates story point data and generates critical reports such as the Feature Burnup report.
    • Widgets:
      • Stories: Displays the total number of stories in the feature.
      • Scope: Shows the total story points representing the feature’s workload.
      • Stories Missing Estimates: Identifies stories lacking estimates, helping prioritize refinement.
      • Blocked Work: Highlights the amount of story points currently blocked, flagging potential risks.
    • Data Visualizations:
      • Feature Burnup Chart: A line chart illustrating scope changes and completion trends using series like Scope, Scope Forecast, Completed, and Completed Forecast. It helps predict feature completion dates by analyzing when completed work intersects projected scope.
      • Stories By State: A bar chart summarizing the number of stories by their current state, providing a quick progress overview.
      • Story Cycle Time Bubble Chart: Visualizes time taken for each story to progress from in-progress to completion, with bubble size proportional to story points. Interactive filtering by story states and zoom functionality enhance detailed analysis.
    • Upgrade Considerations: Customers upgrading from older versions (1.0.2 or earlier) should install this dashboard via the Solution Library to access the enhanced layout and visualizations.
    • Customization: The dashboard reports, including the Burnup report, can be customized to fit specific monitoring needs.

    Key Outcomes

    • Enables transparent tracking of feature progress and scope fluctuations, facilitating informed decision-making.
    • Helps identify potential delays early by forecasting completion dates based on historical data trends.
    • Supports proactive management of blocked work and missing estimates to maintain delivery momentum.
    • Provides detailed cycle time insights for individual stories, aiding process improvement and resource allocation.

    The SAFe Feature Dashboard provides a visualization of the changes in scope and the progress of the stories in the feature over a given period.

    Figure 1. Feature Summary tab
    SAFe Feature Summary
    Figure 2. Cycle Time tab
    SAFe Feature Cycle Time tab

    End user and roles

    Table 1. End user goal with required role
    End user and goal Required role
    SAFe ART user: View the amount of work that has been completed in a feature. Gauge whether the feature can be completed on time. SAFe_scrum_user

    Indicators

    SAFe: Sum of story points of all stories in the feature

    Generates the completed line in the Feature Burnup report.

    SAFe: Sum of story points of completed stories in feature

    Generates the scope line in the Feature Burnup report.

    Widgets

    Stories

    Indicates the total number of stories in the feature.

    Scope

    Indicates the scope of the feature which is in story points. This widget lets you see at a glance how much work must be completed in a feature.

    Stories Missing Estimates

    Indicates the number of stories in the feature that are missing estimates.

    Blocked Work

    Indicates the amount of work (in story points) in the feature that is blocked.

    Data visualizations

    If you are upgrading from version 1.0.2 or earlier of Performance Analytics Content Pack for Essential SAFe, then install this dashboard from Solution Library to upgrade its layout and access the following visualizations:
    • Feature Burnup
    • Story Cycle Time
    For more information, see Using Solution Library for Essential SAFe dashboards.
    Table 2. Work item progress
    Title Type Description
    Stories By State Bar chart

    Bar chart

    At a single glance, understand the overall progress of a feature seeing all of its stories grouped by state.
    Feature Burnup Line chart

    Line chart

    Indicates the scope changes, if any, and trends of those scope changes. You can estimate when the feature is likely to be completed.

    The Feature Burnup report comprises the following series that can be hidden or displayed based on your preference:
    • Scope: Indicates the size of the feature, as the sum of story points defined in this feature.
    • Scope Forecast: Predicts the possibility of scope change for the future dates, which is based on historical data.
    • Completed: Indicates the amount of work (in story points) in the feature that is complete.
    • Completed Forecast: Predicts the burnup for the future dates. It indicates whether you can complete the feature on time. This prediction is based on historical data.
    Note:
    The point at which the Completed Forecast series intersects with or crosses the Scope Forecast series is a predictor for when the feature might be completed. If the Completed Forecast series and the Scope Forecast series do not appear to ever intersect, it is a warning that scope is being added faster than work is being completed.
    Table 3. Cycle Time
    Title Type Description
    Story Cycle Time Bubble chart

    Bubble chart

    Identify the time taken for each story in the feature to move from an in-progress state to completion.

    Each bubble on the graph represents a story. The height of the bubble from the x-axis shows how long that story took to move from an in-progress state to completion. The size of the story bubbles are relative to each other based on their story points.

    Hovering your mouse cursor over a bubble displays the following details about that story:
    • Story points
    • Date on which the story is moved to completion
    • Total cycle time (in days) of the story
    • Number of days that the story was in the Work in progress state
    • Number of days that the story was in the Ready for testing state
    • Number of days that the story was in the Testing state

    From the Story State section towards the right of the report, you can filter the report to view the cycle time of the stories for the selected states. The chart displays the cycle time for each story as the cumulative sum of all duration of the selected states.

    If there are too many stories at any area of the chart and the bubbles appear crowded on the report, you can zoom in that particular area of the report for a clearer view.

    Cycle Time Zoom

    You can customize the Burnup report. For more information, see Customizing Essential SAFe dashboard reports.