Agile Board and Update Set Integration During Production → Development Environment Clone

[kuuum_aaaya]

Hello ServiceNow Community,

I'm seeking advice from anyone who has experience with maintaining the relationship between Agile Boards and Update Sets during production to development environment cloning.

Background:

Update Set related tables (sys_update_set, etc.) will be excluded during cloning

Development environment has custom integration between Agile Board stories and Update Sets via related lists

The clone process may break the relationship between stories and Update Sets

Production environment has Agile Board plugin installed but is not actively used

Potential Approaches:

Pre-export + Post-recovery (XML extraction → re-import after clone)

Re-establish relationships using production data

Discontinue the integration

Questions:

Which of the above approaches would be most effective?

If pursuing approach #1, what are the key considerations and potential pitfalls during recovery?

(Optional) Is it possible to exclude/preserve Agile-related tables during cloning even if they're not actively used in production? Target tables include: rm_story, rm_epic, rm_sprint, rm_release, rm_task, rm_scrum_task, sys_journal_field, backlog_definition

Any insights, experiences, or best practices would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance for your help.

[M Iftikhar · Accepted solution]

Hi @kuuum_aaaya ,

The relationship between Agile stories and Update Sets will break during a clone because sys_update_set and related tables are always excluded.

The most reliable approach is Option #1 (Pre-export + Post-recovery):

1. Before Clone

   • Export your in-progress or critical Update Sets to XML.

   • This captures the metadata and relationships you need.

2. After Clone

   • Import the Update Sets back into Dev from XML.

   • Commit them so the changes are available.

   • If you still want them “in-progress,” you can change the state back or merge them into a fresh Update Set.
     
     

I found some references from community which can help u:

Preserve Update Sets when Cloning a Community thread where pre-export → XML / import after clone is discussed.
https://www.servicenow.com/community/itsm-forum/preserve-update-sets-when-cloning/td-p/810249


Update sets show committed after cloning dev  here someone did exactly what we are talking about
https://www.servicenow.com/community/developer-forum/update-sets-show-committed-after-cloning-dev/m-...

This explains the “Preserve In Progress Update Sets” option added in Orlando release, which helps reduce manual export/import. 
https://www.servicenow.com/community/developer-articles/system-clone-preserve-update-sets-orlando/ta...

This is from forum, about how to preserve update sets of latest 90 days during cloning.
https://www.servicenow.com/community/servicenow-ai-platform-forum/preserve-in-progress-update-sets/m...


Exclude a Table from Cloning  Doc about excluding tables like sys_update_set via clone settings. Useful to understand what cannot travel via clone.
https://www.servicenow.com/docs/bundle/zurich-platform-administration/page/administer/managing-data/...

Thanks & Regards,
Muhammad Iftikhar

If my response helped, please mark it as the accepted solution so others can benefit as well.