OpenProject 17.3: Evolving agile with backlogs and sprints

OpenProject 17.3 has been released and, as announced on our blog, introduces several improvements to agile project management, making it easier to plan and structure work with sprints, backlogs and boards.

In diesem Artikel stellen wir die wichtigsten Änderungen vor und erläutern, was sie für Ihre tägliche Arbeit bedeuten. And, as always, please see our release notes that contain all changes, features and bug fixes.

Eine kurze Navigation durch den Artikel:

• Agile evolution with sprints and backlogs
• Dedicated sprint objects
• All work packages visible on backlogs
• Automatic sprint board creation
• Closing a sprint and handling remaining work
• Action boards now available in the Community edition
• Other great improvements with OpenProject 17.3

Agile evolution with sprints and backlogs

Agile workflows have long been supported in OpenProject, but often required workarounds or manual setup. In our recent article on the future of agile work, we outlined how we want to further evolve these workflows and make them more intuitive and accessible.

With OpenProject 17.3, we are now taking the next step and bringing these improvements directly into the product, supporting both the planning and execution of agile work.

Wichtig

f you are already working with the Backlogs module, you will notice changes to the layout and behavior with OpenProject 17.3. These updates are designed to simplify your workflow, while preserving your existing data and structure.

Dedicated sprint objects

If you have been working with agile methods in OpenProject, you may already be familiar with using versions as a way to structure your sprints. While this approach worked well, it required a certain level of adaptation and was not always intuitive, particularly for teams transitioning from other tools.

With OpenProject 17.3, we are introducing dedicated sprint objects as a natural way to plan and organize your work. Instead of relying on workarounds, sprints are now a core part of the Backlogs module and can be used directly to structure your work packages.

Each sprint comes with key attributes such as name, status, and dates, and work packages can be assigned to sprints in a straightforward way. This creates a clearer and more consistent structure for planning and executing agile work and makes it easier for teams to get started, including those migrating from tools like Jira.

All work packages visible on backlogs

When planning work in backlogs, teams often had to decide in advance which work package types should be included. This could lead to situations where not all relevant work was visible in one place, requiring additional configuration or workarounds.

With OpenProject 17.3, backlogs now display all work package types within a project by default. This means that teams can manage and prioritize all relevant work directly in the backlog and sprint planning view.

This change provides a more consistent and flexible way to organize work, especially for teams that use different work package types across their projects.

Automatic sprint board creation

Setting up a board for a new sprint often required manual configuration, even after the sprint had already been planned. This added extra steps before teams could start working and made it harder to ensure a consistent setup across projects.

With OpenProject 17.3, a dedicated sprint board is now created automatically when starting a sprint. The board is configured based on the project’s workflows and includes all work packages assigned to the sprint.

Teams are taken directly to the board after starting the sprint, allowing them to begin working immediately without additional setup and focus directly on executing their sprint.

Closing a sprint and handling remaining work

Completing a sprint and preparing for the next iteration often required manual adjustments, especially when dealing with unfinished work.

With OpenProject 17.3, active sprints can now be completed directly. When closing a sprint, you are guided to handle remaining work packages in bulk, for example, by moving them back to the backlog or assigning them to another sprint.

This makes it easier to move from one sprint to the next and keeps your workflow consistent without additional manual steps.

Action boards now available in the Community edition

Boards have always been a central part of agile workflows in OpenProject, helping teams to visualize and organize their work. With the mentioned improvements to sprints and backlogs in OpenProject 17.3, their role becomes even more important.

With this release, all Action board types are now available in the Community edition. This extends the existing basic board functionality and allows teams to use a wider range of board configurations, such as Kanban or parent-child boards, without requiring an Enterprise plan.

In the future, we plan to develop and offer additional advanced board features, such as swimlanes and work-in-progress limits, as Enterprise add-ons.

This step reflects our commitment to making powerful agile tools accessible to a broader audience, while continuing to evolve OpenProject based on the needs of our Community.

See our documentation to learn about OpenProject’s Agile boards.

Other great improvements with OpenProject 17.3

OpenProject 17.3 offers more features and updates. Um diesen Artikel übersichtlich zu halten, finden Sie hier einen kurzen Überblick über einige weitere Verbesserungen, die besonders hervorzuheben sind:

Edit project attributes directly on the project overview page

Project attributes can now be edited directly in place on the project overview page, without opening a separate dialog. This makes it faster and easier to update project information.

Sharing of meeting templates (Enterprise add-on, Basic plan)

Meeting templates, introduced in OpenProject 17.2, can now be shared across projects. Depending on the configuration, templates can be made available within a project, across subprojects, or throughout the entire instance.

Improved workflow configuration for admins

Workflow configuration has been improved with a new index view by type, a more focused display of relevant statuses, and a more reliable saving experience.

Nested groups for better user and permission management

Groups can now be nested, allowing memberships and permissions to be inherited across the group hierarchy. This also lays the foundation for future improvements in structuring groups in OpenProject.

Improved handling of project identifiers

Project identifiers can now be changed more easily without invalidating existing links. In addition, identifier handling has been improved when creating or copying projects.

Improved work package search across the application

Work package search has been extended to more areas of the application. When selecting work packages, it is now possible to search by attributes such as type and status.

OpenProject 17.3: Migration, installation, updates and support

Follow the upgrade guide for the packaged installation or Docker installation to update your OpenProject installation to OpenProject 17.3. We update your hosted OpenProject environments (Enterprise cloud) today, April 15, 2026.

You will find more information about all new features and changes in our Release notes and in the OpenProject Documentation.

Falls Sie Unterstützung benötigen, stellen Sie Ihre Fragen im Community Forum. Falls Sie für den Enterprise-Support berechtigt sind, kontaktieren Sie uns und wir werden Sie gerne persönlich unterstützen.

• Neu bei OpenProject? To test all features of OpenProject 17.3 right away, create a 14 days free trial instance for our OpenProject Enterprise cloud.
• Prefer to run OpenProject 17.3 in your own infrastructure? Hier finden Sie die Installationsrichtlinien für OpenProject.
• Möchten Sie Ihre Community Version upgraden, um die Enterprise Add-ons auszuprobieren? Erhalten Sie einen 14 Tage kostenlosen Test-Token, um die Enterprise-Add-ons (alle Pläne) zu testen.

Danksagungen

Ein besonderes Dankeschön geht an das Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, die Stadt Köln, die Deutsche Bahn und ZenDiS für das Sponsoring veröffentlichter oder kommender Features. Ihre Unterstützung, zusammen mit den Bemühungen unserer großartigen Community, hilft uns, solche Innovationen voranzutreiben. Ein großes Dankeschön geht auch an unsere Community Mitglieder, die uns helfen, Fehler zu finden und zu beheben. Special thanks for reporting and finding bugs go to Walid Ibrahim, Jörg Mollowitz, Robin Kluth, Natalie Stettner, Gábor Alexovics, Patrick Lenk, and Daniel Elkeles.

Nicht zuletzt sind wir sehr dankbar für unsere sehr engagierten Übersetzer:innen auf Crowdin, die eine ganze Reihe von OpenProject-Strings übersetzt haben! Für dieses Release möchten wir insbesondere den folgenden Personen danken:

• Phi Công Nguyễn Vũ, für eine herausragende Anzahl von Übersetzungen ins Vietnamesische.
• Mehmet Coşkun, für eine große Anzahl von Übersetzungen ins Türkische.
• Liangzdz, for a great number of translations into Chinese Simplified.

Möchten Sie selbst bei den Übersetzungen mithelfen? Dann werfen Sie einen Blick in unseren Übersetzungsleitfaden und erfahren Sie, wie genau Sie beitragen können. Wir wissen das sehr zu schätzen!

Wie immer freuen wir uns über jedes Feedback zu dieser Version.