Improvements Backlog – Champion Guide

Audience: designated customer backlog champions. Assumes you've read (or can skim) the End User Guide for the basics of reading the page.

Your role

As a backlog champion you curate your organisation's improvements backlog with EngageSQ:

• Propose new improvement items on behalf of your organisation.
• Prioritise the backlog using MoSCoW priorities — this is the single ordering everyone sees.
• Refine items while they are still proposals.
• Accept EngageSQ's estimate and scope when an item is Under Review, which queues it for joint planning.
• Withdraw items that are no longer needed, or supersede them with a reshaped replacement.

Discussion and planning still happen offline with EngageSQ; the page is where decisions land.

How access works: EngageSQ tags your Help Centre user with backlog_champion and links you to your organisation. Your edit rights apply only to your own organisation's items. If the editing controls described below don't appear, contact EngageSQ to check your account setup.

Proposing an item

1. Open the Backlog page and click + Propose an item.
2. Fill in the form:
   • Title (required) — short and descriptive; this is what everyone sees in the list.
   • Short summary (required) — a couple of sentences on what this is about. Supports rich text (bold, italic, lists, links).
   • Describe the need (optional but recommended) — why is it needed, what problem does it solve, who is affected? The better this is, the faster triage goes.
   • Attach files (optional) — screenshots, examples, specs. Files are attached right after the item is created.
   • Initial priority (optional) — set a MoSCoW priority now, or leave it as "Set later".
3. Click Submit. The item lands in the backlog as Proposed and the EngageSQ team will review and refine it.

New items record you as the requester automatically.

Prioritising with MoSCoW

Every item carries one of four priorities, and the list is grouped by them:

Priority	Use it for
Must have	Critical for your organisation — top of the queue for planning
Should have	Important, but the next tier down
Could have	Nice to have if capacity allows
Won't have	Explicitly deprioritised (kept visible so the decision is on record)

Items with no priority sit in an Awaiting priority group — treat that group as your to-do list.

To change a priority: use the dropdown in the item's Priority column (or on its detail page). It saves immediately — you'll see a "Priority updated" toast. Priorities stay editable at every status except Shipped and Withdrawn, so re-prioritise freely as circumstances change; it never overwrites EngageSQ's estimates or design notes.

Editing an item

Open the item and click Edit item. You can change the title, short summary, description, and attach more files.

You can only edit details while the item is still Proposed. Once EngageSQ starts analysis, the request text is frozen so the design and estimate always match what was asked. If the need has changed after that point, use Supersede (below) — the page will show a notice pointing you there.

Accepting an estimate and scope

When EngageSQ finishes analysis, the item moves to Under Review with a Solution design summary and an estimate. This is your sign-off gate:

1. Open the item and review the solution design summary and estimate.
2. If you're happy, click Accept estimate & scope. A confirmation shows the estimate and scope excerpt.
3. On confirm, the item becomes Ready to Plan, stamped with your name and the acceptance date.

Ready-to-Plan items are the pool that joint planning sessions draw from. Acceptance can't be undone from the page — if you accepted in error, contact EngageSQ and they'll move it back. If you're not happy with the design or estimate, don't accept: raise it with EngageSQ offline and they'll revise the design.

Withdrawing and restoring

• Withdraw (item detail page → Withdraw item): marks the item Withdrawn and hides it from the default view. Nothing is deleted — use Show withdrawn (n) above the table to see withdrawn items.
• Restore (open a withdrawn item → Restore item): brings it back as Proposed for fresh triage.

Withdraw items that are no longer needed rather than leaving them to go stale — a clean backlog keeps planning sessions focused.

Superseding an item

Use Supersede item (on the detail page) when a request needs to be reshaped after it has moved beyond Proposed — e.g. the scope changed materially, or two ideas merged.

What it does, in one step:

1. Creates a new Proposed item copying the current title, summary, description, priority, and category, with you as requester.
2. Withdraws the original and cross-links the two (the old item shows "View replacement item", the new one "View original item").
3. Takes you to the new item so you can edit it while it's Proposed.

This keeps the history honest: the original's design and estimate stay attached to the original, and EngageSQ triages the reshaped request fresh.

The lifecycle from your side

Status	Whose move	What you do
Proposed	EngageSQ triages	Refine details, set a priority
Under Analysis	EngageSQ designs & estimates	Answer questions offline if asked
Under Review	Yours	Review design + estimate → Accept estimate & scope (or push back offline)
Ready to Plan	Joint	Discussed at the next planning session
Planned / In Progress	EngageSQ delivers	Watch progress; re-prioritise the rest of the backlog
Shipped	Done	—
Withdrawn	Either	Restore if it becomes relevant again

Tips and troubleshooting

• A "Priority updated"/"Item updated" toast confirms every save. If you instead see "You don't have permission to make this change", your champion access may not be set up — contact EngageSQ.
• One organisation per item. If you champion multiple organisations, your access follows your primary organisation; EngageSQ duplicates items across orgs where several are affected, so each org keeps its own priority.
• Attachments failing? The item still saves; re-open it and use Edit item → Attach more files to retry.
• Deep links are shareable — send colleagues the item URL; they'll see the read-only view.