nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

Custom sorting in Structure app for Jira

Ryan Plummer DISH

I have been researching a way to get a complete, "drag-and-drop" work list for my team. The intent is to use this as a Master Priority list for my department.

The Backlog view is not helpful because it automatically breaks out work assigned to a Sprint. My team needs to see a complete list of open work items, regardless of Sprint, so that if something higher-priority comes up, we know what to pause while we work on the new item.

The views in the Structure app work really well because they can show ALL the work and have amazing column customization. Unfortunately, any time I try to use the drag feature at the left of the rows, I get an error saying I can't re-order JQL results. Even when I use the Generators instead of a JQL query, I get the same error.

Has anyone figured out a way to pull a list of ALL work in a Project that allows for custom [drag-and-drop] re-ordering? Ideally, this list would also be able to be filtered by Execution Team as well, but not lose that custom ranking.

This is #1 on the list of functionality lost switching from Rally to Jira. Very frustrating. We are having to run our prioritization off a Tableau dashboard and eyeball the Jira Backlog. It's not efficient or accurate.

Accepted answers

Stepan Kholodov

Hello @Ryan Plummer DISH

To be able to manually sort issues that are added to the structure by an insert generator, you need to have a Sort generator that can support the result of such actions. You can use:

- the Sort by Rank generator if you're on Jira Cloud. If you enable the 'Moving items in the structure will update ranks' option in the generator's configuration, it will allow you to move issues within their current hierarchy level.
- the Manual Reordering Sort generator if you're on Jira Data Center.

Alternatively, you can use the Sort by Priority generator and sort issues automatically by the Priority field. It will not allow you to manually move issues in the structure, but the generator will react to changes in the Priority field. I.e. instead of moving an issue with higher priority at the top of the list, you can change its Priority field (on its Issue Page or by double-clicking on the value in the Priority column), and the sorter will move the issue up for you.

I hope this helps. If you need further assistance or if you have other questions about Structure, please reach out to us directly at our support portal.

Best regards,
Stepan
Tempo (the Structure app vendor)

All comments

Jamie Edmondson_hxw4w1

Hi @Ryan Plummer DISH . Have you already tried working with the Plans feature in Jira (it has also been called Advanced Roadmaps)? I know that if you set Plans up against your project, it will list all of the issues and you CAN drag and drop the issues and have them ranked. If you haven't tried this yet, I highly recommend you take a look at it. I do think it would solve your problem.

Stepan Kholodov

Ryan Plummer DISH

Sort by Rank helped. And I was able to create filters for all the teams.
Now I'll just have to figure out how to get the initial priority ranking done [and hopefully automate it moving forward].

THANKS!

Ryan Plummer DISH

I have not, but I will look into it. There is a lot in Jira we haven't been able to play with yet due to all the madness of switching such a critical work software for an entire enterprise.

Thanks for the recommendation.

Anna Pinnolis

Hello. Was the Sort by Rank generator removed at some point? When I attempt to add a Sort generator (Jira Cloud), I only see Field and Formula options.

Stepan Kholodov

@Anna Pinnolis
Hello! The Rank field should be available on the 'Sort by Field' list.
If it's not there, please reach out to us at our support portal, and we'll look into it.

Best regards,
Stepan

Smriti Lohani

Hi Stepan,

In Jira Cloud, I already have generator added with sort by Rank in structure and it works flowless with all worktype. But it doesnt work for sub-tasks. I am unable to re-order subtasks within same parent. Do you know know why, Is it expected behaviour?

I am getting message 'Work item reordering within the same parent is not supported. You were moving work item XYZ.' Can you please help.

Thank you,

Smriti

Stepan Kholodov

@Smriti Lohani please check that the Sort generator's 'Sort Levels' setting is set to All levels. Perhaps the error is shown because the sorter is currently not applied to the level of the hierarchy where the sub-tasks in question are located.

If this doesn't help, please submit a support ticket at our portal, and we'll look into it.

Best regards,
Stepan