Can a User Stories child to be changed to Features

[Reggie_Hicks]

I have a user who is requesting to change User Stories child to Features. I am wondering if this is possible and if so how would it be done. Is it a permissions issue?

[Trudy Claspill · Accepted solution]

Hello @Reggie_Hicks 

I think we need more information to answer your question.

Is the user trying to change an existing issue from one issue type (User Story) to another issue type (Feature)?

Is the user wanting to be able to create child issues under a User Story issue type, and have those child issues be named "Feature"?

Perhaps if you provide some annotated screen images to illustrate what the user wants then we will be able to offer advice.

[Reggie_Hicks]

The customer was really vague with his request, but he is stating that he is not able to create child user stories. He is also not still not able to set the parent of a User Story to be a feature.

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello @Reggie_Hicks 

The native Issue Type Hierarchy for Jira is

Epic (level 1)
|-- standard issue types (level 0) i.e. Story, Bug, Task
    |-- subtask issue types (level -1)

An issue's parent can be of an issue type in the level directly above it, and its children can be of an issue type in the level directly below it. An issue cannot have a parent or child issue that is from the same level.

Looking at your image I see this in the breadcrumbs

Project / {Project name} / TBCRE-24 / TBDRE-25

That tells me that

- TBDRE-24 is an Epic at level 1

- TBDRE-25 is a child under the Epic, and one of the standard issue types at level 0

I see that in the image the user has clicked on the Add button and the Subtask option is available. For the issue being viewed (TBDRE-25) the only type of child issue that can be added is one from level -1 - the subtask issue types level.

Now I have a few more questions.

1.  What type of project is being used. Get that information by finding the project on the View all projects page under the Projects menu. Then look at the information in the Type column.

2. Does the Feature issue type already exist for this project?

If it has already been created at  level -1, then the user can click on Subtask and get an entry field where they can select Feature. If Feature doesn't exist there, but Feature issue can be created by clicking on the Create Issue button, then Features are a level 0 or level 1 type of issue and cannot be made a child of another level 0 issue.

[Reggie_Hicks]

Company-managed project

[Trudy Claspill]

2. Does the Feature issue type already exist for this project, or Globally?

Go to the gear icon near your avatar and select Issues.

Then select Issue Types.

Is Feature in the list of Issue Types? If so, what number is shown in the Hierarchy Level column?

[Reggie_Hicks]

0

[Trudy Claspill]

That means that the Feature issue type is currently at the same level as the other standard issue type. In that case you cannot make it a child of other level 0 issue types.

They can convert existing Feature type issues into Subtasks.

Or a new issue type named something like Subtask-Feature could be created at level -1 and they could use that.

[Reggie_Hicks]

Would you have the step by step instructions to do so or at the very least a link that gives a walkthrough on how to do so per the customer, please.

Thanks

[Trudy Claspill]

Steps for which process? I mentioned two in my last response.

1. Convert an issue that is currently of type "Feature" to the type "Subtask", or

2. Create a new issue type, like "Subtask-Feature"?

[Reggie_Hicks]

They are actually asking for both processes if possible.

[Trudy Claspill]

1. https://support.atlassian.com/jira-service-management-cloud/docs/create-issues-and-sub-tasks/#Convert-an-issue-to-a-subtask

That documentation is in the Jira Service Management resources, but the process is the same for issues in a Jira Software project.

2. Creating a new issue type and making it available in a project is a multiple step process that can be executed only by Jira Administrators.

a. Add a new Sub-task issue type
https://support.atlassian.com/jira-cloud-administration/docs/configure-sub-tasks/

b. Determine the Issue Type Scheme used by the target project.
b1. Navigate to the project and select Project Settings.
b2. Select the Summary page.
b3. Make note of the name of the Issue Type Scheme.

c. Determine if the issue type scheme is used by only that project or by multiple projects.
c1. Click the gear icon near your avatar and select Issues.
c2. In the new navigation panel select Issue Type Schemes
c3. In the list find the Issue Type Scheme identified in B.
c4. Check the Projects column to see if more than one project is listed.
c5. If there is more than one project listed, decide if the new issue type should be added to all the listed projects.

d. If the answer to c5 is YES, add the issue type from A to the issue type scheme from B.
https://support.atlassian.com/jira-cloud-administration/docs/add-edit-and-delete-an-issue-type-scheme/

e. If the answer to c5 is NO, then
e1. create a new Issue Type Scheme by copying the existing one,
https://support.atlassian.com/jira-cloud-administration/docs/add-edit-and-delete-an-issue-type-scheme/
e2. add the new issue type to the new Issue Type Scheme
https://support.atlassian.com/jira-cloud-administration/docs/add-edit-and-delete-an-issue-type-scheme/
e3. associate the new Issue Type Scheme to the target project.
https://support.atlassian.com/jira-cloud-administration/docs/associate-issue-types-with-projects/

[Reggie_Hicks]

Thank you so very much!!!! @Trudy Claspill 

[Trudy Claspill]

You're welcome, @Reggie_Hicks !

If your questions have been adequately addressed, please consider clicking on the Accept Answer button above my response thread to mark your Question as Solved.