After integrating DPR with ADO, Workitems are getting linked under product but not under a release

[RC19]

We have integrated ServiceNow Digital Product Release with ADO and are able to extract workitems to the plan of the product . but when i created a release with the same product as primary, workitems are not getting linked OOB . then how is it supposed to work ? how can we track our release without workitems getting attached to it ? please answer.  

[Sachin_Nasa]

Hi @RC19 ,

Even after integrating Digital Product Release (DPR) with Azure DevOps (ADO), creating a Release does not auto‑link ADO work items just because the same Product is set as Primary. That’s expected. DPR requires you to explicitly add/import scope from the connected planning tool.

How it’s supposed to work (supported flow):

1. Connect DPR to ADO and verify that the relevant epics/features/stories are visible to the product for planning. 
2. In Release Planning, add/import those items as the release scope. Once added, they appear in release dashboards/policies for tracking.

If you need auto‑linking (not OOB):

• Build a small customization (Flow Designer or Script Include) to fetch ADO items by product/tag/area path on release creation and attach them to the release scope. 
• Or consider DevOps Change Velocity if you want deeper, governed traceability (work items, commits, test/security results) tied into Change policies.

Integration enables visibility and import; it does not auto‑attach work items to Releases. Use Release Planning to add scope, or customize for automation.

If you find this response helpful, please mark it as Helpful and accept it as the solution if it addresses your question—it would encourage me to contribute more to the ServiceNow Community.

Thanks & regards,
Sachin Narayanasamy

[RC19]

Hello @Sachin_Nasa Thanks for your reply.

1. In Release Planning, add/import those items as the release scope. Once added, they appear in release dashboards/policies for tracking.

Can you please explain this in detail ? what is meant by Release Planning here and how to associate those work items to release? can you please explain this step in more detail.

Because in release scope of a release, I am able to only create new product enhancements. There is no option to add existing enhancements here.

[Sachin_Nasa]

Hi @RC19 ,

Hi, thanks for the follow‑up — happy to clarify this in a simpler way.

In Digital Product Release, “Release Planning” simply means choosing which work items (from ADO or ServiceNow) should be part of your Release.
This selection does not happen on the Release form itself. That’s why you only see “Create New Enhancement” there.

Out‑of‑the‑box, DPR expects you to pick work items from the Product’s Planning Workspace and then add them to the Release.

---

✅ How to associate ADO work items to a Release (step‑by‑step)

1. Open your Product.
2. Go to Planning → Planning Workspace.
   Here you’ll see all ADO‑imported Epics/Features/Stories.
3. Select the items you want included in your Release.
4. Click “Add to Release” and choose your Release.

Once you do this, the items will automatically show up under the Release Scope, and all dashboards/readiness/policies will start tracking them.

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✅ Why you can’t add existing enhancements directly in the Release form

This is expected OOB behavior.
The Release form is not designed for planning — it only lets you create new enhancements if needed.

All planning happens at the product level → Releases simply consume that planned work.

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🔧 If you want auto‑linking when a Release is created

This is not available OOB, but you can automate it with a small customization (Flow Designer or Script Include) if your process requires it.

If you find this response helpful, please mark it as Helpful and accept it as the solution if it addresses your question—it would encourage me to contribute more to the ServiceNow Community.

Thanks & regards,
Sachin Narayanasamy

[RC19]

Thanks @Sachin_Nasa 

1. Open your Product.
2. Go to Planning → Planning Workspace.
   Here you’ll see all ADO‑imported Epics/Features/Stories.

I don't see planning -> planning workspace. I am guessing you mean Release planning section of a product and I see only epic from ado is getting added here but not user stories, bugs and features and I see user stories, bugs and features are just getting added to the plan of product but in the release planning which is confusing as i can't see option to link those to a release.