Project Board Ticket Names

Question

Hello!

For sake of discussion, let's assume my company uses one board called "Software Development"

By default, each ticket created would be SD-1, SD-2, SD-3, etc.....

I have set up custom work types to represent the various products we use such as Database, Back Office, Middle Office, etc.

Is it possible to create the ticket Database - 1 under the Software Development board so it both registers on this board and on the board of the Database PO? Or will we have to use labels in order to link the SD-1 ticket back to the Database board.

I would like this to be a company wide change and yes I am an admin, just sort of a new one.

Thank you!!

Trudy P Claspill · Answer

So if it is company managed, instead of creating tickets like SDLC-1, SDLC-2 can I instead create tickets based on the product? So if I have a project called ACME inc, I don't want tickets to be ACME-1, ACME-2....I'd rather them say SQL-1 or INFRA-2 reflecting the type of work needed on that ticket

The short answer is no, not quite.

When you create a project in Jira you give it a name (i.e. "Software Development") and the project gets a Key assigned (i.e. "SD").

Work items (aka "issues") are created within Jira Projects. A work item exists in only one Jira Project at a time. It can be moved to another Jira Project, but it exists in only one project at a time.

When you create a work item in the project it is assigned an identifier based on the Project Key and a number; i.e. SD-1, SD-2, SD-3.

You cannot have work items within a single project that have different Project Key prefixes in their identifiers since a project has only one Project Key.

Here is where the "not quite" part comes in.

You could create a project for each type of work (i.e. INFRA, SQL) to get the project keys you desire. You can create work items in each of these different projects. You can then create a Filter to get the work items from different projects, and create a board that uses that filter to display the issues from the different projects.

Will I only be able to use labels to do such a thing? So in the above example, I would have tickets that say ACME-1, ACME-2 and I could add a lable to 1 that says SQL and a label to 2 that says INFRA so it is both reflected within the project ACME but the PO for SQL can ensure their filter is set to include the ACME tickets going forward?

There are a variety of ways that you can "label" the work items within a Jira Project to identify the "product" that it concerns.

* Use the native "Labels" field. The Labels field is a field where any user can create a label to add to a work item, simply by typing it into the field. The Labels field can contain multiple label values. Values in the Labels field are available across all Jira Projects and Work Item Types in your Jira instance; they are neither Jira Project specific nor Work Item Type specific. Note that the Labels field allows selecting multiple values, so the field could say both "Infrastructure" and "SQL".
* Use the "Components" field. This field is available only for Company Managed Software projects. The field supports selection of multiple values. The people allocated the Administer Projects permission for the project have the ability to modify the list of values available in the Components field. These values have to be defined for each project; they are not available globally across all projects like Labels are. Note that the Components field allows selecting multiple values, so the field could say both "Infrastructure" and "SQL".
* Use a custom field. As a Jira Admin you could create a custom field where only Jira Admins are able to defined the values that are available. You could make the field available to as many or as few projects as you wish. You can define "contexts" for the field so that different projects could have different lists of available values, or use a Global contexts so that all projects get the same list of values. With custom fields you can specify if the user is allowed to select only one or multiple values.

I'm not sure how it [Database PO board] was set up but I can tell you that it probably isn't formally associated with another project.  Its mostly "stand alone" with the occasional ticket having a dependency or a roadblock

To be able to address whether or not the items in your Company Managed project could be displayed in the Database PO board we have to understand the configuration of the board. We need to know if it is the native board of a Team Managed project, the native board of a Business type of project, or a board based on a saved filter - either a custom field or the default filter for a Company Managed project.

Can you provide a full screen image of that board? Obscure confidential data of the items in the board. How the board is displayed can help use zero in a bit on its configuration.

On a side note, if you are new to Jira or Jira Administration you may want to take advantage of free, on-demand training available from Atlassian through the Learning link at the top of all the Community pages.

Stankus, Maura · Answer

Apologies for the delayed response.  I'm taking on this Jira role a bit on the side so my proverbial day-job got in the way.

Project Type: Company-managed software.  I do have some leniency on how I can set this up in the future though so if there is a better way, please let me know.

I'm not sure how it was set up but I can tell you that it probably isn't formally associated with another project.  Its mostly "stand alone" with the occasional ticket having a dependency or a roadblock

So if it is company managed, instead of creating tickets like SDLC-1, SDLC-2 can I instead create tickets based on the product? So if I have a project called ACME inc, I don't want tickets to be ACME-1, ACME-2....I'd rather them say SQL-1 or INFRA-2 reflecting the type of work needed on that ticket

OR

Will I only be able to use labels to do such a thing? So in the above example, I would have tickets that say ACME-1, ACME-2 and I could add a lable to 1 that says SQL and a label to 2 that says INFRA so it is both reflected within the project ACME but the PO for SQL can ensure their filter is set to include the ACME tickets going forward?

Stankus, Maura · Answer

Thank you so much for this detailed answer.  I'm going to look these things up and see what I can do.  I'll follow-up!