Agile 2.0 Epic Dashboard

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 4 minutes to read
  • Summarize
    Summarized using AI
    This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete.

    Summary of Agile 2.0 Epic Dashboard

    The Agile 2.0 Epic Dashboard in ServiceNow enables Scrum Masters and agile teams to visually track and analyze the progress of stories within an epic over time. Accessible via All > Agile Development > Dashboards, this dashboard offers real-time insights into story completion, scope changes, team velocity, and forecasts for epic completion dates.

    Show full answer Show less

    Key Features

    • Epic Summary Tab: Displays key metrics such as total story count, stories completed, and stories missing estimates.
    • Epic Burnup Report: A line chart showing burnup trends with series for scope, completed work, and forecasts to predict epic completion based on historical data and scope changes.
    • Epic Cumulative Flow Diagram: An area chart tracking the number of stories in each state (Ready, Work in Progress, Ready for Testing, Testing, Complete) to monitor story flow and progress.
    • Story Cycle Time Chart: A bubble chart illustrating how long each story takes to move from in-progress to completion, including detailed cycle times in various states, helping identify outliers and bottlenecks.
    • Scope and Velocity Indicators: Tracks changes in epic size and team pace to warn if scope is increasing faster than work is completed.
    • Customization and Upgrades: Supports dashboard layout upgrades and report customization for enhanced data visualization and usability.

    Role and Benefits

    Scrum Masters benefit from this dashboard by gaining:

    • Clear visibility into real-time story progress and state durations.
    • Insights into epic burnup trends and scope changes.
    • Accurate predictions of epic completion dates to manage delivery expectations.
    • Identification of stories taking longer than expected to help address delays.

    Practical Use

    By leveraging the Agile 2.0 Epic Dashboard, ServiceNow customers can effectively monitor epic progress, adjust plans in response to scope changes, and optimize team performance to ensure timely delivery of epics. The dashboard excludes canceled stories from metrics to maintain data accuracy.

    Visually analyze the progress of the stories of an epic over a given period using the Epic Dashboard.

    Navigate to All > Agile Development > Dashboards and select Agile 2.0 Epic Dashboard.

    Figure 1. Epic Summary tab
    Epic Summary
    Figure 2. Cycle Time tab
    Epic cycle time report
    The Agile 2.0 Epic Dashboard provides the following information:
    • Displays the number of stories that are complete, and number of stories that are missing estimates for an epic.
    • Displays the number of stories of the epic in their current state and their progress.
    • Indicates the scope changes, if any, and trends of those scope changes.
    • Indicates the pace at which the team is working on stories in the epic.
    • Forecasts when the epic is likely to be completed based on scope change and completion rate trends.
    • Shows time elapsed for the stories of an epic to go from an in-progress state to a completed state.
    Canceled stories are not included in any of this data.

    End user and roles

    Table 1. End user goal with required role and benefits
    End user and goal Required role Benefits
    Scrum master: Needs clear visibility into real-time progress of team stories and the changes in scope for the epic to complete the epic on time. scrum_user
    • View current states and time in each state for the stories of the epic
    • View epic burnup trend
    • Estimate epic completion dates
    • Identify outlier stories that took longer than expected

    Indicators

    Scrum: Sum of story points of all stories in epics

    Generates the scope series in the Epic Burnup report, which indicates the size of the epic.

    Scrum: Sum of story points of completed stories in epics

    Generates the completed series in the Epic Burnup report, which indicates the amount of work that has been completed in the epic.

    Scrum: Count of all stories in the current epic

    Generates the area series the Epic Cumulative Flow Diagram report, which indicates the number of stories of the current epic by state.

    Breakdowns

    • Scrum: Epic
    • Scrum: State

    Widgets

    Total Story Count

    Indicates the total number of stories in the epic.

    Stories Completed

    Indicates the number of stories in the epic that are complete.

    Missing Estimates

    Indicates the number of stories in the epic that are missing estimates.

    Data visualizations

    If you are upgrading from version 1.0.2 or earlier of Performance Analytics Content Pack for Agile 2.0, then install this dashboard from Solution Library to upgrade its layout and access the following data visualizations:
    • Epic Cumulative Flow Diagram
    • Story Cycle Time
    For more information, see Upgrading the layout of Agile 2.0 dashboards.
    Table 2. Epic Summary
    Title Type Description

    Epic Burnup

    Line chartLine chart

    Shows the epic burnup trends. You can estimate when the epic is likely to be completed.

    The Epic Burnup report comprises the following series that can be hidden or displayed based on your preference:
    • Scope: Indicates the size of the epic.
    • Scope Forecast: Predicts the possibility of scope change for the future dates, which is based on historical data.
    • Completed: Indicates the amount of work in the epic that is complete.
    • Completed Forecast: Predicts the burnup for the future dates. It indicates whether you can complete the epic on time. This prediction is based on historical data.
    Note:
    The point at which the Completed Forecast series intersects with or crosses the Scope Forecast series is a predictor for when the epic might be completed. If the Completed Forecast series and the Scope Forecast series do not appear to ever intersect, it is a warning that scope is being added faster than work is being completed.

    Epic Cumulative Flow Diagram

    Area chartArea chart

    Monitor the progress of all the stories of your epic between its actual start and end dates.

    View the number of stories in each state by their arrival to a state, time in this state, and its departure from this state.

    The Epic Cumulative Flow Diagram report comprises the following areas that can be hidden or displayed based on your preference:
    • Ready: Indicates the number of stories of the epic that are ready to start work on.
    • Work in Progress: Indicates the number of stories of the epic that are in development.
    • Ready for Testing: Indicates the number stories of the epic that are ready to be tested.
    • Testing: Indicates the number of stories of the epic that are currently being tested.
    • Complete: Indicates the number of stories that are complete.
    Note:
    Stories in Ready and Cancelled states are not included in this report.
    Table 3. Cycle Time
    Title Type Description
    Story Cycle Time Bubble chartBubble chart Identify the time taken for each story in the epic to move from an in-progress state to completion.

    Each bubble on the graph represents a story. The height of the bubble from the x-axis shows how long that story took to move from an in-progress state to completion. The size of the story bubbles are relative to each other based on their story points.

    Hovering your mouse cursor over a bubble displays the following details about that story:
    • Story points
    • Date that the story is moved to completion
    • Total cycle time (in days) of the story
    • Number of days that the story was in the Work in progress state
    • Number of days that the story was in the Ready for testing state
    • Number of days that the story was in the Testing state

    From the Story State section towards the right of the report, you can filter the report to view the cycle time of the stories for the selected states. The chart displays the cycle time for each story as the cumulative sum of all duration of the selected states.

    If there are too many stories at any area of the chart and the bubbles appear crowded on the report, you can zoom in that particular area of the report for a clearer view.

    Cycle Time Zoom

    You can customize the Burnup and Cumulative Flow Diagram reports. For more information, see Customizing Agile 2.0 dashboard reports.