Task dependencies and relationships in CWM

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated March 4, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Task dependencies and relationships in CWM

    Collaborative Work Management (CWM) enhances visibility into task connections by allowing users to link work items directly, eliminating reliance on spreadsheets or notes. This feature facilitates the management of dependencies across teams and projects, enabling team members to progress on tasks independently of their linked items' states.

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    Key Features

    • Linking Work Items: Users can link any task-type work item across different Boards and Spaces within the ServiceNow AI Platform. This connects tasks and provides visibility into dependencies.
    • Relationship Types:
      • Prerequisite: Indicates a task must be completed before another can begin, useful for communicating upstream dependencies.
      • Dependent: Signifies a task is needed by another task before it can commence, highlighting downstream impacts.
      • Related: Represents a general connection between tasks without a specific order, ideal for tasks that share context.
    • Visual Indicators: On Kanban boards, tasks with relationships display an indicator icon, allowing team members to view related tasks and their relationships directly from the board.

    Key Outcomes

    This feature streamlines project management by providing clear visibility into task dependencies, facilitating better planning and collaboration. Users can effectively manage their workflows, ensuring that dependencies are accounted for without complicating their processes. Additionally, removing or altering dependencies is straightforward, allowing teams to adapt to changing project requirements easily.

    Increase visibility into how work is connected by linking work items directly in Collaborative Work Management (CWM), eliminating the need to track dependencies in spreadsheets or notes fields.

    In CWM, you can link any task-type work item to another to show how pieces of work relate to each other. Relationships are informational and team members can progress on a work item regardless of the state of its linked items. Relationships can be created across Boards and Spaces, giving teams visibility into cross-team dependencies for their work.

    Relationship types

    Work items in CWM support three relationship types.

    Prerequisite

    Indicates that another work item must be completed before this item can begin. Use this relationship to communicate sequencing and upstream dependencies to your team. Only task-type work items extending the Task [task] table and CWM tasks can be added as prerequisites. Planning items such as Epics aren’t supported.

    Dependent

    Indicates that this work item is needed by another work item before work on that item can begin. This is the inverse of a prerequisite relationship and communicates downstream impact to your team.

    Related

    Indicates a general connection between two work items without implying a specific order of execution. Use this relationship when items share context, overlap in scope, or are otherwise connected without one blocking the other.


    A Kanban board showing a work item card with the relationships indicator, and the right side panel open listing the related work items and their relationship types.

    Linking work items across boards and spaces

    You can link any task-type work item to another across the ServiceNow AI Platform, regardless of which Board or Space it belongs to. To create a relationship, search for the work item by name and attach it. The search covers all task type work items that you have permission to view.

    Note:
    Work items brought onto a Board through the Connected work feature don’t display relationships on their original source record unless the relationship is added directly on that record.

    Relationships on the Kanban board

    When a work item has one or more relationships, a relationships indicator icon appears on its Kanban card. Selecting the icon opens the right side panel showing the related work items and their relationship types, so team members can view dependency details without leaving the board.

    Kanban view showing task cards with scrum task and relationship indicators on the cards.

    Task dependency considerations and limitations

    • Planning items such as Epics can’t be added as prerequisites because they aren’t derived from the Task [task] table.
    • You can add a work item as a dependency on if you have permission to view that item.
    • Relationships have no effect on percent complete calculations for CWM Tasks or Boards in Strategic Planning Workspace.
    • If a story in the Story [rm_story] table already has prerequisite and dependent stories associated to it, those details are shown in CWM.
    • Adding a story-type work item as a relationship to another story syncs with the prerequisite and dependent fields in the Story [rm_story] table.
    • Adding a non-story-type work item as a relationship to a story does not sync with the Story [rm_story] table.