Define work types for company-managed projects with schemes
By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to:
- Configure the work type hierarchy
- Create a work type
- Create a work type scheme
Configure work type hierarchy
You can only add levels higher than the Epic level of the hierarchy. You can’t add levels between the defaults or below them.
Whenever you modify the work type hierarchy, it can break the existing parent-child relationships across your site. Do so carefully.
- In the upper-right corner of Jira, select the Settings icon (represented by a gear).
- Under Jira admin settings, select Work items.
- In the sidebar, under Work types, select Work type hierarchy.
- To add a level to the hierarchy, select Create level.
- This level will be above your existing hierarchy. If you have multiple custom levels, you can name them descriptively.
- In the Jira Work Types column, select one or multiple work types from the menu.
- If you want to remove a level, select Remove.
If you add a standard work type to the Epic level or a custom level above Epic, it won’t be part of the Story level (level zero).
Create work types
You can’t create Epic work types, but you can use the work type hierarchy to add work types to the Epic level or above it.
- In the upper-right corner of Jira, select the Settings icon (represented by a gear).
- Under Jira admin settings, select Work items.
- In the sidebar, under Work types, select Work types.
- Select Add work type.
- Enter an intuitive name and detailed description so users understand each work type’s purpose.
- Select either Standard Work Type (Level 0) or Sub-Task Work Type (Level -1).
- Select Add.
- If you want to change the avatar for that work type, find it in the list. Next to the work type, select More actions (represented by ···), then Edit.
- You can select an avatar from the library or upload your own, then select Close.
- Select Update to save your changes.
We recommend you limit the number of custom work types to keep your site configuration clean and straightforward. We also recommend you don’t delete default work types as you can’t ever get them back.
Configure a work type scheme
Create a work type scheme
- In the upper-right corner of Jira, select the Settings icon (represented by a gear).
- Under Jira admin settings, select Work items.
- In the sidebar, under Work types, select Work type schemes.
- Select Add work type scheme.
- Name your scheme and add a detailed description so Jira admins know when to use it.
- Drag and drop work types from the Available work types section to the Work types for current scheme section.
- For the Default work type, you can leave it as None, or you can select any work type that is in the Work types for current scheme section.
- Select Save.
Associate your scheme with a project
- Open the project in Jira.
- In the sidebar, next to the project name, select More actions (represented by ···), then Project settings.
- In the project settings sidebar, select Work types.
- In the upper-right, select Actions, then select Use a different scheme.
- Select your scheme, then select OK.
Modify the work type scheme
- Use the Bulk Move operation to efficiently move work items.
- Map the status for work to statuses associated with the new work types.
- Set values for required fields on the new work types.
- Ensure that you save or add any necessary field data from the original work type to the new work items, as new work items may not use all fields from the original work type.
Let’s explore an example
- Create two new work types: Internal Request and External Request.
- Add the work types to the projects' work type scheme. Enzo first validates that only the software teams that want these work types use this scheme. Otherwise, he should create a new work type scheme for just these projects.
- Bulk move existing work with the Request work type to the Internal Request and External Request work types. Enzo asks for the teams' help to identify which work items are internal and external.
- Remove the Request work type from the work type scheme. Because only the software teams' projects use this scheme, this won’t break any other project’s configurations.
- Modify other project configurations for this work type, like the workflow scheme, screen scheme, work type screen scheme, layout for work items, and field configuration scheme. Enzo works with the software teams to understand their requirements. He also ensures that no other projects use the schemes he changes.
Enzo could consider renaming the existing Request work type to Internal Request, then only creating one additional work type. But, if other projects, schemes, and filters use the Request work type, they will now see the renamed version. This may not be what they want.
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next lesson
Define how users see work in company-managed projects with screen schemes
- Create a screen
- Create a screen scheme
- Create a work type screen scheme
- Associate a work type screen scheme with a project
- Let’s explore an example!