Can we use Initiative issue types for Atlas projects?

[Jon Boyles]

Hello,

Setting up Atlas for our company and there are a number of great features we would love to use. However, most of the Jira issues that we would link to an Atlas project are Initiatives, not Epics. Any reason this limitation exists? Are there plans to enable Initiatives as well?

[Amanda Barber · Accepted solution]

In Atlas, when I copy/paste an initiative's Jira link into the Where is the work tracked? field, it links correctly. Do you get a specific error?

[Jon Boyles]

Thanks! In the documentation, it mentions Epics as the only supported issue type. Looks like it works with Initiatives though!

[NAYANA]

That's awesome, it does make sense to limit to a larger body of work. Otherwise it might get too cumbersome too quickly having to show progress in terms of user story level issues for KY or Objective.

[Rachel Lin]

Hi Jon! Thanks for your feedback :) 

You can link any type of issue in the Where is the work tracked? field, however our documentation refers to the Atlas for Jira integration which is triggered from this field, which only works with epics today. 

The integration will link but also sync details between your Atlas project and JSW epic, such as title, dates and tags. You can learn more about it here: https://intercom.help/atlas-by-atlassian/en/articles/6474633-connect-your-atlas-projects-to-jira-epics

We do plan on opening this up to other issue types later but we found the most common mapping between an issue in JSW and the rough size of a project was at the epic level. You may want to consider whether you're initiatives should be broken down further into their own set of projects (i.e. do they have different owners or subteams, different progressive, targeted dates) so you're approaching everything in a more digestible way and outcomes can be celebrated more incrementally.