User Actions → Actions → Backlogs

Backlogs

A backlog is a queue that contains all of the potential work item that could be built, including actual work, proposed features, good ideas, or discovered defects. The work item in a backlog should cover the entire product's lifecycle, from the current release (and the current sprint) to future releases (and future sprints). Any work item in a backlog can be viewed as an ordered list (sorted by rank), in a table, or by in a tree (grouped as a parent or child work item, as defined by your organization's work breakdown structure).

A backlogs is the places in which a work item is managed, be it an epic, a story, a defect, a task, or a custom work item.

Editing a work item directly in a backlog

You can edit a work item directly in a backlog. Click Edit Icon Edit, make your changes, and then click Save Icon Save.

To edit work a work item directly in a backlog
  1. Choose a backlog.

     

    Choose a backlog.

     

  2. From the backlog toolbar, select Edit Icon Edit.
  3. Make your changes.
  4. Click Save Icon Save. (To exit without saving changes, click Edit Icon Edit.)

Hiding a work item

You can hide any work item that is not included in the backlog in which you are currently working.

To hide a work item
  1. Choose a backlog.

     

    Choose a backlog.

     

  2. From the backlog toolbar, select More.

     

    Hide all work items.

     

  3. De-select Show All.

Prioritizing a work item

You can prioritize a work item (sometimes called ranking a work item) in a backlog. Viewing a backlog in list view mode will ensure that you can view a work item by relative priority (where a higher rank equals a higher priority). (By default, Serena Agile shows backlogs in the View Backlog as Tree Icon Tree view mode, which does not rank stories.)

To prioritize stories in a backlog
  1. Choose a backlog.

     

    Choose a backlog.

     

  2. Click View Backlog as List Icon List.
  3. Choose the story you want to re-rank, select it (by holding down the mouse button), and then drag it to its new relative priority.

     

    Re-ranking a work item in a backlog

     

  4. When a work item is in the location you want it to be, de-select it (by releasing the mouse button). The backlog will refresh and the work item will have been re-ranked according to its new relative priority.

     

    Re-ranked work items in a backlog

Selecting a different backlog

You can move between backlogs by selecting a new backlog while working in any backlog.

To select a different backlog
  1. Choose a backlog.

     

    Choose a backlog.

     

Showing every work item

You can show every work item in the work hierarchy, including parents and children of any work item that is not being worked on in the sprint or release in which you are currently working.

To show every work item
  1. Choose a backlog.

     

    Choose a backlog.

     

  2. From the backlog toolbar, select More.
  3. Select Show All.

     

    Show all work items.

Viewing a backlog

You can view every work item in a backlog. There are three layout options: Table, List, and Tree. The Table and Tree options use your organization's work breakdown structure to display the order of every work item. The List option displays a work item by priority.

To view a backlog
  1. Choose a backlog.

     

    Choose a backlog.

     

  2. From the backlog toolbar, select More, and then View Backlog as Table Icon Table, View Backlog as List Icon List, or View Backlog as Tree Icon Tree.