Best practices for templates for Epics, tasks and sub-tasks in Jira cloud

[Ward Schwillens, Schwillie]

Hi There, 👋🏼

What is the best practice according to Atlassian regarding templates for Epics, tasks and sub-tasks in Jira cloud, all with their specific summaries, original estimates, and other standard fields? 

We have some standardized product implementation projects in professional services, that have always the same epics, the epics have their child tasks and the tasks have their sub-tasks. 

Instead of cloning from an existing project we would like to "generate" the project work items from a kind of a template. Take into account that the Professional Services team would maintain their template. Therefor a hardcoded automation doesn't seem to be a good idea.

What are the best practices here and what direction is this going? Should we create a ROVO Agent that creates the epics, tasks and subtasks based upon a list in a confluence page, or are there any other ideas? 

Thank you for your insights! 🙏

[Olga Cheban _TitanApps_]

hi @Ward Schwillens, Schwillie !

Short answer: Jira Cloud does not have native templates for full epic → task → sub-task hierarchies or for stand-alone work items either, for that matter. So your current options are:

1) Cloning a “model” epic when you need the same structure again

2) Using Automation for Jira to create a fixed set of child tasks when a trigger fires (for example, when you create an “Implementation epic”)

3) Using a dedicated template tool from the Atlassian marketplace

In the latter case, you get exactly what you need since dedicated tools are specifically built for creating and managing templates in Jira.

I can recommend our solution, Smart Templates for Jira. It allows you to save any set of work items as a template and then create new issues from it whenever you need to. The new set will include all the tasks, subtasks, and checklists from the original epic. Fields, issue descriptions, assignees, and other information will be preserved as well.

Here's an example: 

If you have custom hierarchy levels, such as Initiatives or OKRs, they can also be included - basically, Smart Templates work with any hierarchy, no matter how complex:



You can generate full sets of work items from such templates automatically on a schedule with a native Scheduler feature. Smart Templates also work with Automation for Jira, so you can trigger auto-generation based on custom conditions.

You can read more about this and about the workarounds I mentioned earlier in my article Issue Templates in Jira: Guide 2025

Please let me know if you have any questions

[Luka Hummel - codefortynine]

Hi @Ward Schwillens, Schwillie 👋🏼

In Jira Cloud, there isn’t a native “generate an Epic → Task → Sub-task hierarchy from a reusable template” feature. The easiest is probably to maintain actual issues as the template and clone them whenever needed.

With our app Deep Clone for Jira, you can do this in a way that’s PS-friendly and doesn’t turn into “automation spaghetti”:

1. Create a dedicated “Templates” project (e.g., PS Templates) and model your standard implementation: Epics with child tasks/stories, and their Sub-tasks, including Summary, Description, Original estimate, Components, Versions, links, etc.
2. When a new customer implementation starts, create the target project (blank or based on a project copy). If you also want to replicate project configuration, use Project Clone.
3. Generate the work items by cloning the hierarchy:
   • Use Epic/Tree Clone when you want to pick one (or a few) template epics and bring their full tree.
   • Use Bulk Clone if you want to clone multiple template hierarchies at once (including full hierarchies) into the target project.
4. If you need small per-project tweaks (prefix summaries, set dates, adjust estimates, set assignees, etc.), use the Field Editor feature so the “template” stays clean while each generated project is tailored.

To make this truly self-service for PS, save the clone setup as a Preset: go to Apps > Deep Clone for Jira > Manage Presets. You can even add a preset to the issue actions menu for quick repeatable runs.

About the “ROVO agent reading a Confluence list” idea:
From my experience, Rovo struggles with filling specific values into specific fields. This might change any second as Rovo gets more powerful all the time, but currently it doesn't seem to be able to do this. Additionally, for standardized professional services deliveries, you’ll usually want something deterministic and auditable. Keeping templates as Jira issues + cloning tends to be simpler to maintain, easier to govern, and more predictable for estimates/fields and hierarchy consistency.

[Dorota Popowska - Vilisoft]

Hi @Ward Schwillens, Schwillie 

For this kind of repeatable Epic → Task → Sub-task structure, the approach I usually recommend is creating templates using Jira’s native functionality, exactly as described in this Community article:

https://community.atlassian.com/forums/App-Central-articles/Why-repetitive-work-deserves-better-than-manual-effort/ba/p/3145891 

The idea is simple: any regular Jira issue can act as a template.
Your Professional Services team can maintain their own set of work items (Epics with children, Tasks with subtasks), update them whenever needed, and keep full control without hardcoded automations.

Once the template items exist, you can replicate them with Clone Expert for Jira. It clones entire hierarchies and lets you adjust everything in a preview table beforehand, so each generated project structure can be fine-tuned before creation.

On top of that, Clone Expert isn’t limited to templates only. You can clone any work items, with or without hierarchy, and customize the details before running the clone. This makes it easy to prepare ready-to-plan work items for any scenario, not just standardized project templates. In practice, you’re getting both template management and a universal cloning tool in one place.

If you’d like, I’m happy to jump on a live demo (book my time here) and walk through how this setup could work for your teams. In the meantime, feel free to explore the documentation or the short overview video on YouTube.

Bye!

Dorota

[Tomislav Tobijas]

@Ward Schwillens, Schwillie, I haven't played with Rovo for this particular scenario, but from my experience, we usually have automation that does what you're asking for.

You could build everything in the rule itself > meaning you create Lookup table(s) or simply list all create work item components, listing all things you want to re-create within the rule.
Another option would be to have some template Jira space (ex. project) where you would, again, use Jira automation to clone all those template items into the same or different space. 
In this scenario, we usually have a manual trigger that starts this automation.

But to 'modernize' the whole process, you could see how Rovo will handle this creation after you discuss your needs. I'm still guessing that the Rovo agent would need to be tailored for this specific use case.

Cheers,
Tobi

[Mercy]

Jira Cloud doesn’t yet provide native “issue hierarchy templates” that automatically generate predefined epics, stories, and subtasks, but there are reliable ways to standardize this. The cleanest Atlassian-supported approach today is to use issue automation with a “Create issue” action triggered by a manual rule or an issue creation event. You can maintain a single “template” epic and let the automation copy required child issues and field values such as Summary, Description, and Original Estimate. This approach stays maintainable because your Professional Services team can update one source issue rather than editing the rule logic.