Orangescrum Feature Release: Epic Board and Epic Approval

In large organizations — especially Government departments, PSUs, and enterprise project environments — every major initiative begins with a high-level approval cycle. Whether you’re designing a new infrastructure system, implementing DevOps automation, or launching a digital transformation program, every Epic needs a validation checkpoint before work begins.

To solve this long-standing governance challenge, Orangescrum introduces two powerful capabilities:

1. Epic Approval Workflow
2. Epic Board for Real-Time Visibility

Together, these features help organizations standardize approvals, avoid scope creep, streamline communication, and track execution across complex projects.

In our previous blog, we introduced the End-to-End Epic Management feature — giving teams a complete Agile hierarchy from Epics → Features → User Stories → Tasks. With that release, we laid the foundation for structured planning and seamless execution.

Building on that momentum, we’re now expanding Epic governance even further with Epic Approval and the Epic Board, empowering organizations — especially Government and PSU teams — with stronger control, transparency, and standardized decision-making.

What Is Epic Approval in Orangescrum?

Epic Approval is a new workflow enhancement that allows teams to:

1. Assign an Approver while creating an Epic

Inside the Epic creation form, you can now select an Approver

2. Let Approvers approve, reject, or mark the Epic as pending

The Approver gets a structured dropdown (Pending, Reviewing, Approved, Rejected) to validate the Epic.

This ensures every Epic is validated by the right authority before features, tasks, and stories begin.

3. Maintain governance across complex multi-level work

Many Epics involve dozens of features and hundreds of stories.

With approval in place, teams gain:

• Accountability
• Compliance with organizational processes
• Audit-ready documentation
• Proper authorization for scope and budget allocation

This is especially crucial in Government and PSU projects where approval procedures are mandatory.

Why Is Epic Approval Important?

In traditional project planning, high-level requirements often get lost because:

• Approvals happen outside the system
• No single source of truth exists
• Email-based approvals are scattered
• New team members have no visibility into earlier decision-making
• Approvers cannot easily track progress after giving approval

Orangescrum solves this by embedding approval directly into the Epic lifecycle.

Use Case Example: Statewide Citizen Service Monitoring System

Imagine a large e-governance modernization project involving:

• Real-Time Grievance Monitoring System
• Citizen Service Request Tracking
• Department-to-Department Escalation Workflow
• Mobile App for Field Officers
• Analytics Dashboard for Secretaries & Ministers

Each of these becomes its own Epic, containing:

• Multiple modules
• Several process flows
• Dozens of dependent development & integration tasks

Before execution begins, senior officials must approve:

• Which modules are mandatory in Phase 1
• Which dashboards are essential for public reporting
• Data access levels for departments
• Which workflows require legal compliance checks

With Orangescrum, this approval cycle happens directly inside the system — ensuring transparency, accountability, and audit-ready records.

How Epic Approval Works in Orangescrum

Step 1: Create an Epic

While creating an Epic, you enter:

• Epic Title
• Project
• Assigned Team
• Priority
• Label
• Approver (New)

This ensures the right stakeholder gets the approval request instantly.

Step 2: Approver Reviews Epic Details

Approvers can now:

• Review Epic scope
• Validate features and objectives
• Check dependencies
• Determine budget and effort impact

They see a dropdown: Pending → Reviewing → Approved → Rejected

This keeps the approval cycle transparent and traceable.

Step 3: Approver Makes a Decision

Approvers can:

• Approve the Epic
• Reject the Epic
• Keep it Pending until details are clarified
• Mark it Reviewing while evaluating

This structured process ensures no Epic moves forward without proper validation.

Introducing the Epic Board: Visualize the Entire Epic Lifecycle

Once an Epic is approved, it moves to the Epic Board—a visual dashboard designed to show:

• Epic Status (New, In Progress, Resolved, Closed)
• Approval Status (current version shows execution states; approval tracking coming next phase)
• Progress of features and stories inside each Epic
• Where bottlenecks exist
• Overall workflow progress

The Epic Board works similarly to a Kanban board but at a higher, strategic level.

Instead of tasks, you see Epics—and their movement shows the overall project progress.

Next Phase: Feature Board & Feature Mapping

In the upcoming release, Orangescrum will introduce a dedicated Feature Board along with Feature Mapping to give teams deeper visibility into how features connect to each Epic. This enhancement will allow users to visually track features, understand dependencies, and see how work breaks down from Epic → Feature → Story, bringing clearer alignment between planning and execution.

Benefits of Epic Approval & Epic Board

1. Stronger Governance & Compliance

Government, PSU, and enterprise projects require strict documentation. Epic approval ensures audit readiness and compliance with internal policies.

2. Eliminates Scope Creep

Only validated Epics enter execution. This prevents unnecessary or unplanned work from consuming resources.

3. Clear Responsibility & Ownership

Every Epic has:

• An Owner
• A Team
• A Reviewer
• An Approver

No confusion, no missed approvals.

4. Transparency Across Teams

Stakeholders can track status without chasing emails or spreadsheets.

5. Faster, Data-Backed Decision Making

Approvers can instantly see details and decide—accelerating the project lifecycle.

6. Improved Collaboration Between Teams

Especially beneficial in DevOps, Engineering, Construction, IT, and operations-led projects.

Where Epic Approval Fits in Your Workflow

Using Orangescrum’s new feature, here’s how your team workflow transforms:

Before	After
Epics created by managers	Approvals built-in inside Orangescrum
Approvals happen manually	One-click decision making
No traceability	Complete audit trail
No central record	Real-time visibility
Misinterpretation and delays are common	Consistency across all departments

Who Can Benefit the Most?

1. Government Departments

For projects with strict approval cycles, documentation, and accountability requirements.

2. PSUs & Public Projects

Where every Epic needs authorization before investing time and resources.

3. DevOps & Software Teams

Where large architecture changes must be approved at the Epic level.

4. Construction, Infrastructure & Manufacturing

Where Epics define major deliverables and milestones requiring validation.

5. Enterprises

Looking for more structured project governance and cross-departmental transparency.

Conclusion: Orangescrum Brings Governance & Agility Together

The Epic Approval and Epic Board features bring a new level of:

• Control
• Visibility
• Accountability
• Strategic clarity

to complex, high-impact projects.

For organizations handling large-scale programs — from DevOps automation to government initiatives—this ensures that the right work gets approved, the right team executes it, and leaders maintain visibility every step of the way.