Capture epic data

The license package Lean Portfolio Management is required to work with epics. The use case Portfolio Backlog Management must be activated.

Epics are large-scale initiatives that drive strategic change and innovation, often spanning multiple teams and departments. Typical epics include launching a new product line, initiating an AI-powered customer support system, or implementing a company-wide sustainability program.

Epics have distinct oversight, execution strategies, and success metrics, and stakeholders must clearly define the expected outcomes and business benefits. Epics are broken down into features that provide tangible benefits to users. Given an epic's wide-reaching scope, it is important to specify one or more features as a minimum viable product (MVP). Due to their complexity, epics are typically tracked and managed in Kanban boards.

Users with the user profiles Portfolio Manager, and Portfolio Admin can add and edit epics in Alfabet . Click for an overview of permission concepts.

In the navigation panel, click Agile Architecture > Epics.​ Per default, the data workbench displays only a set of basic attributes. You can add more columns to capture other attributes directly in the data workbench or you can navigate to an epic's content area and define it in more detail there. Click to learn about how to use data workbenches.

Create a new epic from scratch. Go to Agile Architecture > Epics and click New > Epic. Specify the epic's attributes as well as the relationships that the epic has to other assets in the repository. All mandatory fields must be defined to create the epic and save it.

Edit the attributes and relationships for an epic. Click the Navigate  Navigate button next to an epic to open its content area. Specify the epic's attributes as well as the relationships that the epic has to other assets in the repository.

Try to capture as much information as possible about the epic because complete data considerably improves the results of business questions and other analytics.

Once an epic is in the repository, you can define more details about it in the Epics data workbench.

Per default, the data workbench displays a limited set of basic attributes. You can add more columns via the Structure column to capture other attributes directly in the data workbench.

Or specify and analyze the epic in detail in its content area . In the data workbench, click the Navigate button for an epic to open its content area > Overview page.

Define the epic's basic data. All mandatory fields must be defined to create the epic and save it.

A Lean Business Case is a just-enough, evolving justification used to evaluate and guide an epic from idea to implementation. Alfabet supports the Lean Business Case as recommended in the Scaled Agile Framework™, whereby epics, their minimum viable products, and projected business value are captured. You can use the Lean Business Case for further evaluation and prioritization.

To capture the details for an epic's lean business case in Alfabet, go to the epic's content area to define the following:

  • Go/No-Go Decision: Go to Overview attribute group > Go/No-Go Decision field to determine whether an epic should proceed with implementation based on its expected value, cost, and feasibility. Select either Defer to Later, Go to proceed with implementation, or No-Go to stop implementation of the epic.
  • Funnel Entry Date: Go to Lifecycle attribute group > Funnel Entry Date field to capture the date when the epic is first introduced into the Portfolio Kanban Funnel.
  • Other Potential Features: Go to Relationships attribute group > Features field and add all features that shall be delivered with the epic. Include all features that are considered part of the minimal viable product ( MVP Features).
  • In Scope: Go to Additional Details attribute group > In Scope field to describes the capabilities, features, or outcomes that the epic will cover.
  • Out of Scope: Go to Additional Details attribute group > Out of Scope field to describes the capabilities, features, or outcomes that the epic will not cover.
  • MVP Features: Go to Additional Details attribute group > MVP Features field and select the smallest set of features that can be delivered to test the epic’s hypothesis and validate its expected value. You can only select features that have already been assigned to the epic in the Features field.
  • Epic Owner: Go to Responsibilities attribute group > Epic Owner field to capture the person who is responsible for coordinating the epic via the Portfolio Kanban system. Epic owners collaboratively define the epic, its Minimum Viable Product (MVP), and Lean business case. Once the lean business case is approved, they facilitate implementation of the epic.
  • Stakeholders: Go to Responsibilities attribute group > Stakeholders field to capture the organizations and persons that have a vested interest in the epic.
  • Description: Go to Description field and capture a hypothesis statement that describes why the epic is expected to deliver value and how that value will be measured.
  • Leading Indicators: Go to Evaluation view to specify the Cost of Delay evaluation type which includes indicators for User - Business Value, Time Criticality, and Risk Reduction - Opportunity Enablement. Specify the Epic Cost Estimation evaluation type which includes indicators for MVP Cost Forecast, Initial Implementation Cost Forecast, Refined Implementation Cost Forecast, and Expected Revenue Forecast.

A role represents a functional responsibility that a user or organization has for the epic. Assigning users and organizations to roles is critical to understanding responsibility for assets in the IT and is required to answer the business question Who is responsible for our assets?.

Responsibilities are based on preconfigured role types. Your company may also configure custom role types via the Portfolio Admin user profile. Depending on the role type, a specified user and/or a specified organization may fulfill the responsibility for the epic. A user assigned responsibility via a role has read-only permissions to the epics. To change data about the epic, they must also be specified as an authorized user or member of an authorized user group.

Roles can be assigned to an epic in the Epics data workbench or the epic content area via Overview > Responsibilities. A person can have one of the following roles or a custom role added by your company:

To specify responsibilities for the epic:

  1. Click in the relevant role field to open the selector.
  2. Expand the ORGANIZATION or USER sections in the selector and select the person or organization fulfilling the role.
  3. Click OK to save the role definition and close the selector.

An evaluation is a measurement of the performance of an epic. Preconfigured indicator types and possibly custom indicator types added by your company are available to evaluate and are used in various analyses in Alfabet . Some indicator types are automatically computed by the system and others must be manually defined.

Define the epic's indicators. Click the navigate  Navigate button of the epic to open the content area. Go to the Overview page and scroll to the Evaluations view and open it. The evaluations Cost of Delay and Epic Cost Estimation each have several indicators that should be defined. Point to the tooltip symbol  TooltipButton for each indicator to learn more about it.

Select an indicator type and click Edit Indicator or click Group Edit to open a dialog where all indicator types can be edited that are not automatically computed by the system.

Update computed indicators. Click the Calculate button to update computed indicators via the Calculate button. The indicators will be recalculated based on the current data.

A feature can only be assigned to one epic. Once features are assigned to the epic, they may be specified in the epic's MVP Features attribute to indicate that the feature constitutes the epic's minimum viable product.

Create a new feature from scratch. Go to the epic content area via Overview > Features and click  New plus sign button > Create Feature. Specify the feature's attributes as well as the relationships that the feature has to other assets in the repository. All mandatory fields must be defined to create the feature and save it. You can assign features to the epic in the data workbench and specify the indicators in the columns.

Move an existing feature to this epic. Click the  New plus sign button > Move Existing Feature Here. Select the feature that you want to assign to this epic. If the feature was assigned to another epic, it will be moved to his epic.

The assets that are impacted by the epics make up the architectural scope of the epic. You can add any application, business capability, business process, component, information flow, or organization to the architecture of an epic.

Information flows specified for applications that have been added to an epic's architecture scope will not be automatically added to the epic. You must explicitly add the relevant information flows to the epic in the Affected Architecture Scope view.

  1. Go to the epic's content area > Architecture Scope > Affected Architecture. The rows in the matrix visualize the epic.
  2. Select the cell below a class header to add an asset to the architectural scope of an epic and click New > Add Existing Architecture Element.
  3. Select one or more assets and click OK.

Value streams represent how value flows to the customer. Linking an epic to a value stream ensures the effort contributes to tangible outcomes rather than isolated or low-impact work. When epics are tied to value streams, it becomes easier to compare and prioritize them (e.g., using WSJF) because their cost of delay and impact are clearer in a real business context.

  1. Go to the epic's content area > Architecture Scope > Affected Architecture. The rows in the matrix visualize the epic.
  2. Select the cell below the Value Stream header to add an asset to the architectural scope of an epic and click New > Add Existing Architecture Element.
  3. Select one or more operational value stream or developmental value stream and click OK.

Review an epic's affected architecture and analyze what affected architecture elements are also impacted by other epics. Consider whether the epics could be consolidated to reduce complexity.

  1. Go to the epic's content area > Architecture Scope > Affected Architecture Overlap. The following columns are displayed:
    • Class: Displays the class that the shared asset is based on.
    • Asset: Displays the architecture element assigned to the selected epic and another epic
    • Epic: Displays the other epic that the identified architecture element is also assigned to.
    • Status: Displays the epic’s release status.

The Business Capabilities Impacted by Epics report is a nested matrix that highlight the business capabilities affected by epics that helps you to uncover overlaps, redundancies, and potential inefficiencies in terms of investment in your business capabilities. Users can highlight mission-critical business capabilities to assess whether they are receiving sufficient investment, and enhance their analysis with a range of relevant KPIs.

  1. Go to Agile Architecture > Epics data workbench.
  2. Define the epics that you want to see in the data workbench. These are the epics that will be displayed in the report.
  3. Click Visualize > Epic Analysis > Business Capabilities Impacted by Epics. A nested matrix shows the business capability mode. Click the  GlobalFilter filter button and specify the filter fields to show business capabilities based on epics. Here's how to interpret the information:
    • Each business capability is represented by a nested box in the matrix.
    • Shows all levels of business capabilities in the business capability hierarchy per default. To see all levels, ensure that the Aggregate on Business Capability Level filter is not specified. Each business capability is colored according to its hierarchy level.
    • Epics that impact a business capability are displayed inside the nested box representing the business capability.
      • If there are more than 11 epics impacting the business capability, an element will show how many epics are not displayed in the matrix. Double-click the element to open a data workbench showing a complete list of epics impacting the business capability.
      • Epics may be aggregated to business capability on the second or third level via the Aggregate on Business Capability Level filter. For example, select 2 to aggregate the epics from business capabilities on the 3rd and 4th levels to their parent business capability on the second level.
    • To color business capabilities based on their business relevance, switch the Highlight Business Relevance filter on.
    • To add an epic indicator, select an indicator in the Show Epic KPI field.
    • Click the ThreeDots_Black 3-dots button > Show Legend to understand the color coding.

Go to the epic's content area > Investment Context > Strategic Themes. Specify the strategic themes that the epic supports.