Will modifying the Jira hierarchy break the subtask parent relationship?

Question

We are planning to add the Initiative Issue Type to our Jira project to provide an additional level of hierarchy.  We currently have the epic/story-task/subtask hierarchy.  Will modifying the hierarchy cause all parent/child relationships to break?  If so, does this include all subtasks?

Mike Hadaway_n0rs95 · Answer

We do have the premium plan, and we have a sandbox.  We will test in our sandbox prior to making any mods in production.

My concern is based on the product documentation found here

An excerpt states:

Changing your issue type hierarchy will break existing parent and child relationships between your issues.

When you attempt to modify the existing structure of your issue type hierarchy, Jira will calculate the impact of these changes and require confirmation to proceed.

Please ensure that you understand the risks and impact of changing your issue type hierarchy before modifying its structure as once these changes are made, they cannot be undone.

Michael Yaroshefsky - Visor for Jira · Answer

Hi @Mike Hadaway it's possible that adding the initiative level could affect the lower levels in that hierarchy and their relationships, particularly if you have issue links between any of the current issue types.

It's possible you can add initiatives and there would be no impact, but it's better to be safe than sorry, are you able to test the impact in a sandbox environment (do you have a Premium Plan or not)?

Hope that helps - if you're unable to test the impact in a sandbox environment, reply here and I'll see if we can come up with another way to test the impact so you can implement initiatives without anxiety!

shib saha · Answer

Hi @Mike Hadaway , The default hierarchy will remain as it is (Epic->Story->Sub-task), any additional issue type to the hierarchy will be added to the hierarchy and will not disturb the existing default hierarchy(Initiative->Epic->Story->Sub-task).

I hope this clears your doubt, please let me know if you have any query. Thanks