Plan work into fixed iterations, run the active sprint, and review what the team delivered.
This guide applies only to Scrum projects.
Who Can Use This Feature #
Tenant Admins can manage the Backlog and run sprints. Employees need access to the Scrum project and the relevant project permissions.
- Reorder the backlog changes planning order.
- Move work into a sprint places work in a sprint, moves it to another sprint, or returns it to Backlog.
- Create and edit sprints controls sprint name, goal, and dates.
- Start and complete sprints controls the actions that change the team’s committed plan.
- See workload & capacity reveals the Backlog capacity panel and Start Sprint capacity preview, in addition to named workload in Insights.
Reordering work and committing it to a sprint are separate permissions. A user may be able to rank Backlog items without being able to move them into a sprint.
Work-item creation, editing, assignment, priority, estimates, and status changes retain their own permissions.
Where to Find It #
Open Dashboard → Projects → [Scrum Project] → Backlog.
Backlog contains unscheduled work and planned sprint containers. The Board shows the active sprint. Completed sprint details open from the sprint report route.
Prepare the Backlog #
Create or refine work, rank the most important items first, filter by parent or work type, and add estimates where the team uses them. Select several items for bulk assignment, priority, status, estimate, label, deletion, or movement into a sprint.
Create and Plan a Sprint #
Click Create sprint. Add a name, optional goal, duration, start date and time, and end date. Move the work the team intends to deliver into the sprint.
Capacity compares planned work with team availability over the sprint dates using the project working calendar. An over-committed warning does not remove work; it tells the team to review the plan.
Capacity is most useful when work has estimates and sprint dates are accurate. Project closures, extra working days, and the length of a working day come from Settings → Working calendar.
By default, a Scrum project runs one active sprint at a time. If Parallel sprints is enabled in General settings, more than one sprint can be active and the Board can switch between them or group active work by sprint.
Start the Sprint #
Open the sprint actions and click Start sprint. Confirm its name, goal, duration, dates, and start time. Once active, its work appears on the Scrum Board.
If the Board says no sprint is running, return to Backlog and start a planned sprint.
Starting a sprint establishes the committed set used by reporting. Work added or removed later is recorded separately so the sprint report can distinguish planned delivery from scope change.
Complete the Sprint #
Click Complete sprint from the active sprint. The dialog shows completed work, unfinished parents, and open subtasks.
A sprint cannot be completed while any subtask in it remains open. Finish those subtasks first. A Done parent with an open subtask is shown for context, but the open subtask is what blocks completion.
When all subtasks are Done, choose where unfinished parent items should go:
- Backlog: Keeps their rank and returns them to future planning.
- New sprint: Creates an unstarted sprint without dates. This option appears only when the user has Create and edit sprints.
- An existing sprint: Moves the work into the selected open sprint, which keeps its own dates.
Completion does not mark unfinished work Done. Office-X snapshots the completed and incomplete lists before moving unfinished work, so the sprint report remains historically accurate.
After completion, use View report from the success message to open the preserved sprint report directly.
Read the Sprint Report #
The report separates:
- Done and not-done work
- Items added after the sprint began
- Items removed during the sprint
- Sprint dates and goal
Burndown shows remaining work, burnup compares completed work with total scope, and velocity compares delivery across completed sprints.
Common Questions #
Why can I edit a sprint but not start it? Create/edit and run permissions are separate because starting and completing change the team’s committed plan.
Why is Backlog missing? The project is Kanban, or you are not inside a Scrum project.
Why is capacity low? Check sprint dates, estimates, project working days, holidays, exceptions, and member availability.
Summary #
Keep the Backlog ordered, plan a realistic sprint, check capacity, then start it. At the end, decide where unfinished work goes and use the report to improve the next plan.
