Hierarchial Project Structure

[Omkar Rajale]

I have a tool where we manage projects on a hierarchical basis.

for Ex .      

At the top level there will be a main template with generic screens , fields , workflows. New projects can be derived from it there can be two possibilities 1. Everything same as template 2. there might be few changes to screens , or new fields might get added or might me some changes in the workflow. Same thing can be for project A and B. Is it possible to implement this structure in jira?

[Walter Buggenhout]

Hi @Omkar Rajale,

Not 1-1 like you describe it, but that is probably not entirely necessary either. A project in Jira is an entity with a full set of configuration items, just like you describe it. In the summary page in project settings, you can see all these items listed:

If you create a company managed project for each level in your structure, you can use this as a template for every other project you need later on. When you then create a new project, you can use that template, which will basically share the configuration of the template with your newly created project. A big benefit here is that any updates you then apply to the template, will also be applied to your projects sharing the template configuration.

Hope this helps!

[Luka Hummel - codefortynine]

Hi @Omkar Rajale

If you are willing to use a marketplace app, you can implement your “template → derived projects (A/B) with optional tweaks” setup in Jira Cloud with a mix of Jira’s shared schemes and our app Deep Clone for Jira’s project/issue cloning. Here’s a practical way to do it:

• Create a company-managed “Template” project that contains your generic issue types, workflows, screens, fields, and (optionally) a starter set of template issues that represent your hierarchy (e.g. epics → stories → subtasks).
• For each new project, use Deep Clone for Jira to:
  • Project Clone the configuration (so the new project starts with the same schemes, boards, versions, components, etc.).
  • Then continue to clone the template issues into the new project (keeping the parent/child structure).
• For your A/B variants, adjust only what differs: add fields, tweak workflows, or mass-edit values during cloning.

• Template updates later: Jira can share schemes between projects (so changes to a shared scheme propagate). If you prefer isolated schemes per project, Deep Clone provides a fast snapshot of the template at creation time.

[Tomislav Tobijas]

Hi @Omkar Rajale ,

If you're on Jira Premium or Enterprise plans, you can create custom hierarchy levels above Epic level > read more here.

For example, we usually implement hierarchy levels such as:

• Initiative
  • Legend/Deliverable
    • Epic
      • Story
      • ...

Where each work type can have its own workflow, screens, etc.

Designing this usually takes a while as it's a process-related question, but in short, yes, it should be possible to recreate something like what you've mentioned in Jira.

Here's also a lesson about work types that might be helpful: Define work types for company-managed projects with schemes | Atlassian Learning 

Cheers,
Tobi