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Can different Work Type Schemes use different Work Type Hierarchies in Jira?

Can different Work Type Schemes use different Work Type Hierarchies in Jira?

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to understand whether this is possible in Jira.

I have two teams that share the same Jira instance but have different ways of working:

Team A uses one Work Type Scheme with its own set of issue/work types.
Team B uses a different Work Type Scheme with a different set of work types.

At the moment, both teams are using the same Work Type Hierarchy, but the hierarchy doesn't fit both teams particularly well. Ideally, each team would have a hierarchy that reflects how they structure their work.

For example (simplified):

Team A

Initiative
Epic
Feature
Story
Task

Team B

Programme
Project
Deliverable
Task

My question is:

Is it possible to have different Work Type Hierarchies associated with different Work Type Schemes, or is the Work Type Hierarchy always global within a Jira site?

If this isn't supported, how have others handled situations where different business areas need different hierarchy structures?

For context, we're using Jira Premium.

4 answers

2 votes

Yes and no, you cannot specify a specific work item hierarchy for each work item scheme, it is global for you instance. But you can have multiple work items associated with each level so you could make it specific for a project if your work item scheme only include the work items that the space should use. At my previous job I had multiple work items on each level, I had one project that use strategy, initiative, theme, and project if I remember correctly.

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1 vote

Hi @Faustina Eadie

As far as I'm aware, the Work Type Hierarchy is configured at the site level, not per Work Type Scheme. This means you can't have different hierarchies assigned to different schemes within the same Jira Cloud site, even on Jira Premium. Changes to the hierarchy apply to all company-managed projects in the site.

https://support.atlassian.com/jira-cloud-administration/docs/configure-the-issue-type-hierarchy

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Comment

1 vote

Jira work type hierarchy is global and shared across work type schemes.

However you can have more than one work type on each hierarchy level, therefore it should not be an issue to have both teams with different work types schemes that refer to one hierarchy.

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Comment

Can you explain a bit more about "having more than one work type on each hierarchy level'. So I could have 'Objective' and 'Initiative' both on Level 3?

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Comment

0 votes

Hi @Faustina Eadie

No this is not possible within Jira work type hierarchy is global in relation to Plans.

You would need to look at 3rd party app. like Structure or BigPicture

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Can different Work Type Schemes use different Work Type Hierarchies in Jira?

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