Epic/Parent Link Change Discussion

[MollyJo Tighe]

Atlassian seems to have not allowed comments on any of the articles about this change, so I'm starting this discussion thread! 

Upcoming changes: Epic link data above the epic level 

I am failing to see how removing parent links above the Epic level is a positive change. We all know projects long ago grew in most organizations to need more hierarchy than just Epic/Story, and this will now remove our ability to add in our own hierarchies and tracking in a way that's easily traceable. 

This in my case breaks all our reporting, and also all my automation around Epics and their parent ticket type (since using "relates to" is NOT a solution that I can rely on for automation rules.)

I am strongly against this change, and I cannot be the only one.

[John Funk]

Hi MollyJo,

Can you include a link to the article to which you are referring? 

[MollyJo Tighe]

Edited to include!

[John Funk]

I don't see anything in the article that says you won't be able to create a hierarchy above the Epic. You just won't be able to do that with the Epic Link field. You will still be able to have Initiatives, Themes, etc. 

[MollyJo Tighe]

@John Funk Are Initiatives available to non-Portfolio folks? I don't seem to have these on my instance. 

[John Funk]

They are created as regular issue types. But then connected based on the hierarchy with Advanced Roadmaps. 

[MollyJo Tighe]

I do have a secondary higher-than Epic level setup right now, does the "initiative" system you're talking about have it's own field/relationship that I can build automation off of?

[Danno]

@MollyJo Tigheare you on the Standard or Premium subscription Plan? I don't think this change will affect your system if you set up the hierarchy correctly. As I read it it is replacing the epic link with parent. This is already the case if you have a hierarchy that includes an issue type like Initiative. If you place the field Parent in your Epic fields, then you can "link" them to an Initiative if you've made that issue and set it higher than Epic. See my screenshot:

That said I have noticed an issue with where we are in the process. You can't use both fields at the same time and if you change an existing child issue in an Epic to use the "parent link" field (not parent yet) instead of the Epic link it no longer shows up in the child issue list.

[MollyJo Tighe]

@Danno I'm on Premium and also this is the comment to rule them all. Thank you, this clarified for me and I can totally make the change to Parent and have automation run through that connection.

You're a hero and a saint!

[John Funk]

Sorry, just now getting back to this. Thanks @Danno for jumping in! Yes, for Premium, those connects are made through setting up the hierarchy. Here's more information on it.

https://confluence.atlassian.com/advancedroadmapsserver0329/configuring-initiatives-and-other-hierarchy-levels-1021218664.html

[Danno]

You're welcome @MollyJo Tighe. Have you been using the Advanced Roadmaps planning tool? There is where you'll visually see it the best. If you need an example let me know.

I'm not exactly sure how the child issue part of this is going to work. I would be a bit disappointed if the issue layout as it is in Epics now goes away and is replaced by straight issue linking but then again it's always a love-hate relationship here for me w/o having mad scripting skills and an unlimited add-on budget.

To comment on something else you said it is my understanding that the premium subscription is now the replacement for what was Portfolio before. I thought there was a webinar about this but I don't know if I can find the link to it.

@John FunkI wasn't sure if you could create the hierarchy with a parent link for Epics to roll up to in the standard plan. I've been on the Premium plan for some time now so it is second nature for me to use it that way. I am just now getting other team members to use the planning tool so hopefully, it takes off for us.

[Sarah Wright]

@Danno @John Funk Given a user must currently have edit rights to an epic to add that epic link to a standard issue, when the change to parent is implemented, will edit rights to the parent issue still be required? Hoping this works like the existing Parent Link and edit rights are NOT required on the issue that is becoming the parent.

Current: 

Initiatives live in project I. 

Epics live in project E.

Stories live in project S.

Users must have edit rights in E and S in order to use the epic Link and link a story to an Epic.

User do not have edit rights in project I and can use the parent link to select an initiative. Ideally this is how the Parent Link will work for epics in the future. 

[Danno]

Good morning @Sarah Wright, the needed permissions won't change. There was a recent update sent out about the migration which I'll need to find for all the latest info. on how long Epic links will remain, etc.

[Sarah Wright]

Thanks for the reply!

To restate you are saying a user would still need edit rights on an epic in order to add that epic as a parent issue.

That's a bummer. 

[Danno]

@Sarah Wright I guess I didn't understand the question. I was referring to the fact that the user would need to have edit permission in the project to edit the Epic or Task or whatever issue type you have in that project. That said I believe that one of your users in Project S would be able to link a story to an Epic in Project E just with the edit permission in project S. I have not verified this yet since it was never an issue for my company.

We usually have an Epic and add child issues to it within the Epic itself so that it is automatically linked no matter the project.

Also, to better explain the change if you have issue types like an Initiative it likely will contain multiple Epics which is where the Parent field has lived. This new setup just makes this the standard within the hierarchy. It also removes the need for an Epic Name that is separate from the summary, The parent field will use the summary to make this connection going forward.

I hope this does a better job of explaining it.