Best practices for templates for Epics, tasks and sub-tasks in Jira cloud

Question

Hi There, 👋🏼

What is the best practice according to Atlassian regarding templates for Epics, tasks and sub-tasks in Jira cloud, all with their specific summaries, original estimates, and other standard fields?

We have some standardized product implementation projects in professional services, that have always the same epics, the epics have their child tasks and the tasks have their sub-tasks.

Instead of cloning from an existing project we would like to "generate" the project work items from a kind of a template. Take into account that the Professional Services team would maintain their template. Therefor a hardcoded automation doesn't seem to be a good idea.

What are the best practices here and what direction is this going? Should we create a ROVO Agent that creates the epics, tasks and subtasks based upon a list in a confluence page, or are there any other ideas?

Thank you for your insights! 🙏

Clara Belin-Brosseau_Elevatic · Answer

Hi @Ward Schwillens_ Schwillie

As previously stated in the comments, Atlassian does not provide native hierarchical issue templates.

As an alternative I can suggest trying our app Elements Copy & Sync to create reusable templates of epics/tasks/subtasks.

These would be the steps to follow:

1. Create a dedicated Template project

Create a new Jira project

Create:

Epics = implementation templates

Tasks under each Epic

Sub-tasks under each Task

Fill in any information you'll need:

Summary

Description

Original estimate

Components, labels, custom fields

This project can be owned and maintained by Professional Services.

2. Create an Elements Copy & Sync recipe (one-time setup)

Go to Apps → Elements Copy & Sync → Recipes

Create a new "Copy and synchronize Jira work items" recipe

Define the source project (your template project)

Enable Copy full issue hierarchy

Configure:

Target project selection

Field copy / overwrite behavior (estimates, components, custom fields, etc.)

Save and activate the recipe

Don't hesitate to check the detailed documentation page.

This recipe defines how template hierarchies are generated.

Whenever you need to start a new customer project, you can manually or automatically (post-function or Automation) clone the entire hierarchy of issues: epics, tasks and  subtasks.

The app is for free during 30 days (and it stays free under 10 users).

Luka Hummel - codefortynine · Answer

Hi @Ward Schwillens_ Schwillie 👋🏼

In Jira Cloud, there isn’t a native “generate an Epic → Task → Sub-task hierarchy from a reusable template” feature. The easiest is probably to maintain actual issues as the template and clone them whenever needed.

With our app Deep Clone for Jira, you can do this in a way that’s PS-friendly and doesn’t turn into “automation spaghetti”:

* Create a dedicated “Templates” project (e.g., PS Templates) and model your standard implementation: Epics with child tasks/stories, and their Sub-tasks, including Summary, Description, Original estimate, Components, Versions, links, etc.
* When a new customer implementation starts, create the target project (blank or based on a project copy). If you also want to replicate project configuration, use Project Clone.
* Generate the work items by cloning the hierarchy:* Use Epic/Tree Clone when you want to pick one (or a few) template epics and bring their full tree.
* Use Bulk Clone if you want to clone multiple template hierarchies at once (including full hierarchies) into the target project.

* If you need small per-project tweaks (prefix summaries, set dates, adjust estimates, set assignees, etc.), use the Field Editor feature so the “template” stays clean while each generated project is tailored.

To make this truly self-service for PS, save the clone setup as a Preset: go to Apps > Deep Clone for Jira > Manage Presets. You can even add a preset to the issue actions menu for quick repeatable runs.

About the “ROVO agent reading a Confluence list” idea: 
From my experience, Rovo struggles with filling specific values into specific fields. This might change any second as Rovo gets more powerful all the time, but currently it doesn't seem to be able to do this. Additionally, for standardized professional services deliveries, you’ll usually want something deterministic and auditable. Keeping templates as Jira issues + cloning tends to be simpler to maintain, easier to govern, and more predictable for estimates/fields and hierarchy consistency.

Dorota Popowska - Vilisoft · Answer

Hi @Ward Schwillens_ Schwillie

For this kind of repeatable Epic → Task → Sub-task structure, the approach I usually recommend is creating templates using Jira’s native functionality, exactly as described in this Community article:

https://community.atlassian.com/forums/App-Central-articles/Why-repetitive-work-deserves-better-than-manual-effort/ba/p/3145891

The idea is simple: any regular Jira issue can act as a template.Your Professional Services team can maintain their own set of work items (Epics with children, Tasks with subtasks), update them whenever needed, and keep full control without hardcoded automations.

Once the template items exist, you can replicate them with Clone Expert for Jira. It clones entire hierarchies and lets you adjust everything in a preview table beforehand, so each generated project structure can be fine-tuned before creation.

On top of that, Clone Expert isn’t limited to templates only. You can clone any work items, with or without hierarchy, and customize the details before running the clone. This makes it easy to prepare ready-to-plan work items for any scenario, not just standardized project templates. In practice, you’re getting both template management and a universal cloning tool in one place.

If you’d like, I’m happy to jump on a live demo (book my time here) and walk through how this setup could work for your teams. In the meantime, feel free to explore the documentation or the short overview video on YouTube.

Bye!

Dorota