Configure work types, fields, and layouts in team-managed spaces
10 min
By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to:
- Define work types, request types, and fields
- Add work types and request types to a team-managed space
- Create fields in team-managed spaces
- Describe the different sections fields can appear in
- Configure the layout for work types and request types
Categorize work with work types and request types
Work types indicate what kind of work a work item represents.
👉 For example: The epic work type represents larger bodies of work, like an entire feature or campaign.
Request types categorize different kinds of requests. They function very similarly to work types but have different default configurations.
👉 For example: The incident request type represents reported problems with a tool or service.
Jira provides default types for different space templates.
- Software spaces use the epic, bug, story, task, and sub-task work types.
- Service spaces use the change, IT help, incident, new feature, problem, service request, service request with approval, and support request types.
Work types can have a hierarchical relationship. Some are the “parent” and others are the “child.”
👉 For example: Epics can contain standard work types, like bugs, stories, and tasks. Standard work types can contain sub-tasks.
Configure work types and request types
Your space will have different default work or request types based on the space template you choose.
Work and request types function very similarly. Work types categorize work items for business and software spaces, while request types categorize requests in service spaces.
Scrum spaces come with epic, bug, story, task, and subtask work types.
Kanban spaces come with task and subtask work types.
Service spaces come with email request, ask a question, and submit a request or incident request types.
👇Click the tabs below to explore how you can configure default work and request types.
You can modify the name and description of work types.
👉 For example: Your team wants to call the Story work type “User story” and include a more detailed explanation of when to use it. You can rename the default Story work type and update its description to fit your team’s needs.
Create new work or request types
You can also create work and request types to accommodate your needs.
👉 For example: Your team frequently updates technical documentation and wants a separate work type with different fields to track this. You can create a Document work type to add to your existing work types.
To create a new work type:
- In space settings, in the sidebar, select Work types.
- In the sidebar, select Add work type.
- Select Create work type.
- Enter a name, description, and select an icon, then select Create.
👇Watch the video below to see how to create a new work type in a team-managed space.
To create a new request type:
- In space settings, in the sidebar, select Request management, then Request types.
- In the sidebar, select Add request type. You can create a request type from a template or a blank one.
- Enter a name and description, choose an icon, and select Add.
👇Watch the demonstration below to create a new request type in a team-managed space.
Configure fields
Fields enable users to add and track data about their work or requests.
👉 For example: The description field enables users to explain what that work item represents.
👇 On work and requests, users can see and edit many fields to provide context about an item.
You are provided with an existing set of fields called system fields that should cover most of your needs.
👉 For example: Sara’s service space agents have trouble understanding customers' descriptions of technical problems in IT Help request tickets. When configuring her team’s request types, Sara decides to include an attachments field in the IT Help requests, allowing customers to attach a reference photo of the work item they are experiencing on their screens.
However, you may want to track a specific piece of information. To address your team's requirements, you can create a field.
👉 For example: Your team works on bugs that can come from several different platforms. You want to track this information on bugs, so you create a field called Platform and add it to the Bug work type.
There are different types of fields you can create:
- Short text: enter text without formatting
- Paragraph: enter and format longer text
- Date: choose a date from a calendar
- Number: enter a number value, then use arrows to increase or decrease it
- Time stamp: choose a date and time from a calendar and clock
- Labels: choose a label or create your own
- Dropdown: choose a value from a dropdown list
- Checkbox: click checkboxes next to values
- People: choose a person from your site
- Dependent dropdown: choose a value from a dropdown list, then choose another based on your first selection
- URL: enter a URL
If you click on the information icon for any field type, you can see what it looks like.
👇Watch the demonstration below to create a field in a team-managed space.
Creating many fields can slow down your Jira instance, so be thoughtful when creating new fields.
Configure layouts
For each work or request type you can customize which fields appear and how they’re presented in the layout. There are three areas in the detail view: Description, Context, and Hidden fields.
👇There are three areas of fields you can configure.
For request types, you can also configure the Portal description, Portal instructions, and Customer request form. These fields will appear for customers in the portal, and the Description and Context fields will appear internally for agents and users in your space.
👇This is where you configure customer-facing fields for request types.
You can search for fields in the right sidebar and add them to any section. You can drag and drop the fields to reorder or move them to new sections.
If you drag a field to the hide when empty section, the field won’t appear in the context column unless it has a value. You can still see the field if you click show more on a work item.
The summary and status fields are required for all work and requests in Jira. You can’t move, hide, or delete these fields.