Start date /end date functionality in CWM board

[Shakara Whitehe]

I've run into a few issues when adding Stories to the CWM task board. The biggest one is that the Start and End Date fields don't populate in the list view and aren't editable. From what I can tell, rm_story and sn_cwm_task use different fields for these values, so they don't seem to map correctly.

I also noticed that while you can update the dates from the sn_cwm_board record, other changes (like the Short Description) aren't reflected in the CWM list view. It's not clear to me how fields are synced between the Story and sn_cwm_task records. On top of that, Start and End Dates can't be edited from the Gantt view for Stories.

This all seems to be OOTB behavior, but it feels pretty limiting. Has anyone found a workaround or a better approach?

[Vikram Reddy]

Hi @Shakara Whitehe,

Start with the field types, that's the actual root cause. sn_cwm_task stores start and end as expected_start and due_date, both plain Date fields. rm_story carries the same field names, but they're Date/Time, so the out-of-box mapping can't reliably push a value from one to the other. That's why the list view shows blank, locked dates for stories.

• Editing from the sn_cwm_board record writes straight to sn_cwm_task's own Date fields, sidestepping rm_story entirely, that's why dates "work" there
• Short Description not carrying back to the list view looks like a separate refresh/mapping gap, not the same date type issue
• Gantt view date edits for stories are a known recurring limitation across CWM releases, worth checking your plugin version before assuming it's just you

Thank you,
Vikram Karety
Octigo Solutions INC

[Ronald Lob]

Start and End Dates in CWM are a real mess. If you add the same story to two different boards it creates two seperate records in sn_cwm_task for that one story, and the Start / End Dates are tracked seperately. Which doesnt make any sense at all since it's the same work. You also can't edit these, you need to add the story to a Sprint and the dates will update, but only in CWM and not the Story itself. Then if you change the Sprint dates, the stories in those sprints dont update to the new start / end dates. Wonderful. 

It's just another example of how ServiceNow over-complicates something that should really be so simple. 

[Sunil B N]

Hi @Ronald Lob ,

I hear you. This is genuinely frustrating, and your frustration is completely valid. Things should be simpler for the end user. The data model to support legacy tables (like story/scrum tasks) alongside new CWM features can make this harder than it seems on the surface, but that doesn't make the experience any less painful when you're trying to manage it.

Issue 1: Story added to Multiple Boards and worked in different Sprints

I'm curious about your workflow here. When the same story lives in two boards with different sprint cycles, what's the experience you'd want? This will help us understand the right solution, because I know teams do need this flexibility and we should support it properly.

Issue 2: Story dates not updating when Sprint dates change

This one is clear cut: it's a gap in our implementation. We should sync the dates back to the Story record when Sprint dates change, and we're going to fix this. I appreciate you flagging it because it's exactly the kind of friction that compounds over time.

We genuinely want to make this CWM experience as seamless as possible. Your feedback on what's not working will help us prioritize the right improvements.

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience on this.

Best regards,
Sunil B N

[Ronald Lob]

Hello Sunil B N

Thanks for your response. 

Issue 1: Story added to Multiple Boards and worked in different Sprints

I agree, it might not make sense to have the same story in multiple boards, but the way end users work means we need to cater for these possible scenarios rather than the system not delivering. In our situation, teams have seperate boards with the same stories in them for different functions. For example, we have board with all open stories accross many projects so the team can view a kanban board to do daily standups. They dont want to sprint plan with this board, just run a daily standup accross all projects so they can plan their day. Then they will have the same story in a project specific board to track just that one project within Sprints. 

Issue 2: Story dates not updating when Sprint dates change

Thanks. Just a general UX item. It can be very frustrating for new users who can see Start / End dates on the story, but it differs to that on the CWM board. Totally understand the technical challenges that connected work offers (as not all tasks have a Start / End Date on their base tables) but the current setup makes us have to sync data between multiple tables which it should really just be a simple list view of data. 

Cheers

Ron