Sprint Burnup Cards in ClickUp
Sprint Burnup cards in ClickUp help you visualize how much work your team has completed during a sprint and how scope changes affect your progress toward the sprint goal. This guide explains how to add, read, and optimize these cards so you can manage agile delivery with more confidence.
Use this how-to article to understand the Burnup chart options, configure your dashboard, and interpret the metrics that matter most for accurate sprint tracking.
What Are Sprint Burnup Cards in ClickUp?
A Sprint Burnup card in ClickUp is a dashboard widget that plots work completed over time against the total scope of a sprint. It lets you see whether your team is on pace to finish all work and how scope additions or removals impact the sprint.
Burnup cards are based on tasks from a sprint and can use different measurements:
- Task count
- Time estimates
- Story points or other numeric fields
Because the chart burns up instead of down, it shows progress accumulating toward the goal line, making scope changes easier to understand at a glance.
How to Add a Sprint Burnup Card in ClickUp
To use a Burnup card, you must add it to a dashboard and select the sprint you want to track. Follow these steps to get started.
Step 1: Open or Create a Dashboard in ClickUp
- Navigate to the Dashboards section in ClickUp.
- Open an existing dashboard or create a new one dedicated to your agile metrics.
Dashboards let you combine multiple cards, including Burnup, Velocity, and other sprint reporting tools, in one place.
Step 2: Add a Sprint Burnup Card
- From the dashboard, click the option to add a new card.
- Select the Sprint Burnup card type from the reporting or sprint-related card list.
- Place the card where you want it to appear on the dashboard layout.
Once added, you can configure the card to point to the exact sprint and fields you want to measure.
Step 3: Configure the Burnup Card Settings
After inserting the card, configure how it should calculate progress:
- Select the sprint location or sprint folder you want to report on.
- Choose the sprint from the available list of sprints.
- Pick the metric for the Burnup chart, such as task count, time estimate, or story points.
- Save the configuration so the card loads your sprint data.
Configuration options control what you see on the chart and how accurate the forecast and completion trend lines will be.
Understanding the ClickUp Sprint Burnup Chart
Once configured, the Sprint Burnup card displays a line chart with several key elements that show how your sprint is progressing.
Core Burnup Lines and Metrics in ClickUp
The chart typically includes these components:
- Completed work line: Shows cumulative work finished over the sprint timeline.
- Total scope line: Shows the total amount of work in the sprint, including scope changes.
- Ideal or forecast line: Represents the projected pace needed to complete the sprint by the end date.
By comparing these lines, you can determine whether your team is ahead of, on, or behind the pace required to meet the sprint commitment.
Timeframe and Data Points
The Sprint Burnup card in ClickUp plots data by day across the length of the sprint. Each point on the chart reflects the cumulative total at that time, not just the work completed on that specific day.
This cumulative approach makes it easier to see trends and identify when scope increases or decreases occurred, as they cause noticeable jumps in the total scope line.
How ClickUp Calculations Work for Burnup
The accuracy of your Sprint Burnup card depends on how the underlying metrics are calculated. ClickUp uses different logic depending on which field you choose as the measurement.
Burnup Using Task Count
When the card uses task count as the metric, calculations are straightforward:
- Completed work: Count of tasks in a completed status within the sprint.
- Total scope: Count of all sprint tasks, including completed and incomplete.
This option is simple and works best when all tasks are roughly similar in size or when you want a quick, high-level view of sprint progress.
Burnup Using Time Estimates or Story Points in ClickUp
If you choose a numeric field, such as time estimates or story points, the chart uses summed values instead of simple counts.
- Completed work: Sum of the selected numeric field for completed tasks.
- Total scope: Sum of the same field across all sprint tasks.
This approach gives a more accurate picture of workload when tasks vary in complexity or duration. It is common to use story points for agile forecasting in ClickUp sprints.
Scope Change Representation
When new tasks are added to the sprint or estimates change, the total scope line on the Burnup chart will move upward. When work is removed or reduced, the line adjusts downward. This visual behavior helps product owners and scrum masters understand how scope changes impact commitments.
How to Read Sprint Burnup Trends in ClickUp
Interpreting the Sprint Burnup card enables you to make better decisions during the sprint and during retrospectives.
Identifying Healthy Progress
Use these patterns as a quick reference:
- Completed line close to forecast line: Team is tracking well toward completion.
- Completed line above forecast: Team is ahead of pace and may finish early.
- Completed line well below forecast: Risk of not finishing the sprint scope on time.
If the completed line flattens, it may indicate blockers or resource constraints that need attention.
Spotting Scope Creep in ClickUp Sprints
Scope creep appears when the total scope line increases during the sprint. Watch for:
- Large mid-sprint jumps in total scope.
- Frequent small increases that add up over the sprint.
Use this information to refine your planning process, adjust priorities, or renegotiate commitments with stakeholders.
Best Practices for Using Burnup Cards in ClickUp
To get reliable insights from Sprint Burnup cards, follow these operational best practices.
Keep Sprint Data Clean
- Ensure all sprint tasks have accurate estimates or story points before the sprint starts.
- Move tasks into completed statuses promptly when finished.
- Avoid changing estimates after work starts unless absolutely necessary.
Clean data helps the Burnup chart reflect reality and makes forecasts more trustworthy.
Combine Burnup with Other ClickUp Reporting
Use Sprint Burnup cards alongside other agile reports for a complete view:
- Velocity cards to understand average output per sprint.
- Sprint lists or views to drill into task-level details.
- Workload reports to balance assignments across team members.
This combined approach makes it easier to run planning, review, and retrospective ceremonies effectively.
Additional Resources for ClickUp Users
For the official product documentation that this how-to article is based on, see the Sprint Burnup cards help page on the ClickUp Help Center: Sprint Burnup cards documentation.
If you need broader strategic guidance on how to design agile reporting, dashboards, and workflow optimization, you can explore expert consulting resources at Consultevo.
By configuring and reading Sprint Burnup cards correctly in ClickUp, your team can track progress transparently, manage scope changes, and continuously improve sprint planning and delivery.
Need Help With ClickUp?
If you want expert help building, automating, or scaling your ClickUp workspace, work with ConsultEvo — trusted ClickUp Solution Partners.
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