Swapping Feature and Epic issue types for SAFe adoption

Question

We are adopting the SAFe methodology, which uses the hierarchy of:

Epic->Feature->Story

We are currently using the Jira standard, which uses the hierarchy of:

Feature->Epic->Story

I have figured out how to swap the two issue types, their screens, and workflows without disturbing the existing issue's parent, child, or linked relationships (think millions of issues!)

The conundrum comes from the issue type layout. At first, I thought I could recreate the layout of an Epic using the fields and order of fields from a Feature. Conversely, I could recreate the layout of a Feature using the fields and order of fields from an Epic.

Recreating the layouts may work, but it appears I would have to do it for every project (we have hundreds!).

My question is, can you copy the layout of one issue type to another? Jira will allow you to copy an issue layout from one project to the same issue type in other projects, which is excellent. But this only works if it is for the same issue type. i.e., Epic to Epic, Feature to Feature.

Has everyone come across a challenge and found a workaround to solve it? If I did not explain the situation well, please feel free to ask clarifying questions. To make this issue switch is a must-have for us in the very short term, and doing this hundreds of times is not tenable.

I can't wait to see how you solve this problem without purchasing Jira Align or plugin apps. All help and suggestions are welcome!

Thank you!

Don Hames · Answer

Hi, @Walter Buggenhout. Thank you for your response. I was aware of copying layouts to other projects with the same screen scheme, but I needed to copy the layout to other projects and a different issue type. In other words, I need to copy the Epic layout to the other projects' Feature layout. And copy the Feature layout to the other projects' Epic layouts.

I have everything working except when you open an Epic (previously a Feature), it uses the previous Feature layout. The fields don't match, and the data is incorrect.

As it turns out, swapping the issue type, the workflows, and the screens was simple. The layout for the Epic can be configured to match the previous Feature, and the Feature layout can be configured to match the previous Epic, but it is only for one project.

Not all Epics or Features use the same layout since it can be configured per project. Unless there is a better way, I will have to reconfigure the Epic and Feature layouts per project. So close, but so far away. :)

Walter Buggenhout · Answer

On a side note: very much interested to hear how you managed to swap the hierarchy of your issue types in a bit more detail, if you'd be willing to share a bit more on that!

Walter Buggenhout · Answer

Hi @Don Hames,

Yes, you can copy an issue layout to other projects. You just need to go into the project settings of a project you would like to use as your master project, navigate to issues > layout and then click on edit issue lay-out for a layout available in your project.

At the bottom of the edit screen, click copy issue layout. A 3-step wizard will pop up, allowing you to copy over the lay-out to any other projects that share the same underlying screen scheme.

Hope this helps!