SPW: Roadmap Milestone dependencies missing - item dependencies not sufficient

[HermannAl]

Hello,

It is essential to make milestone dependencies visible in the SPW roadmap to enable effective portfolio tracking. Could you provide guidance on how to accomplish this? Currently, I am only able to link items, which does not provide the level of detail required.

[phil_bool_unifi]

Hi @HermannAl . It sounds like you’re trying to express a dependency not on a whole project completing, but on a specific milestone within that project being reached.

Out of the box, that level of dependency isn’t supported in Strategic Planning Workspace. Dependencies are defined at the planning item level (e.g. project), not at the milestone level. While it’s technically possible to customise this, it would require significant effort and isn’t aligned with how the roadmap is designed to work.

From a design perspective, roadmap dependencies are intended to show high-level relationships between planning items. Even if a milestone is reached, the parent project is still active and could change, so associating dependencies at the project level is typically sufficient for most use cases.

Milestones are synced into the workspace, but they can’t be selected in dependency records because they live on a separate table (sn_milestones_milestone) that isn’t part of the planning item hierarchy. Supporting milestone-level dependencies would therefore require custom fields and logic, and wouldn’t automatically change how dependencies behave or display on the roadmap.

In most cases, the added complexity isn’t justified by the benefit — so it’s worth carefully considering whether the requirement can be met using standard project-level dependencies.

[HermannAl]

Thank you for your response. However, simply establishing dependencies on overall planning items will not effectively manage critical milestone dependencies. It appears that SPW may not be the appropriate tool to address this need.

[phil_bool_unifi · Accepted solution]

Hi @HermannA I wouldn't give up just yet.  The planning workspace is continuing to evolve with every release, and is a central component of the future of ServiceNow SPM. 

In the short term, it might be helpful to display the stage of the project on the bar, and to make sure your project flow or stage gates reflect the milestones they've completed, so dependencies can be instantly evaluated based on that information.  You could in theory enrich the Dependency record so it displays the stage of the project the dependency is associated to.  You may even be able to locate the logic that determines when the arrow is red/blue, and leverage that logic based on the stage.

Just be aware that these customisations will need to be reviewed with each major upgrade, so keep good documentation when you're doing them.  

I'd just advise you make sure your focus is on the process or outcome, not a specific customisation.  Look at the root cause of the challenge (dependencies on stage gates/milestones rather than outcomes of projects) and understand what they're trying to achieve.  There are always options.  

Good luck!