Once a Project Admin adds Components to a Project how is the Component added as a field to an issue?

[David DeSantis]

The Jira help section for Components explicitly states that Components are a great way to break down a Project into smaller manageable parts.  With Admin privileges to a Project it is easy to add Components.  It is also easy, from the List View to add a column for Components.  But where does the Component value (i.e. Component Name) get added by the user when the user actually creates an Issue as part of the Workflow of that Issue Type when their is NO field for "Component".  Can the field be added to one of the Workflow elements?  For example, Users select the Create button to launch the GUI/dialog to populate all the fields for the Issue Type.  If the intent is use Components to provide an additional level of granularity for categorizing Issues then how/who/when is the Component value entered (via data entry).  Does an Admin have to do it?  There should be no need to modify the Workflow for the Issue as Component is (as I understand it) just a new field added to the Issue.  For the Issue type we are using the first tab of the Create Issue process is a Summary tab.  The Summary tab includes many fields:  Description, Priority, Urgency, Functional Category, Story Points, Epic, etc.  How can a Component be of use if there is no way for the user to enter the value for the Component?  Again, how is a field for a Component added to the Issue?

[Brant Schroeder · Accepted solution]

David - The component field needs to be on the screen in which you would like to edit it.  Even if the field is on that screen it still has to have values associated to it in order to be visible.   I would suggest adding values to the components section of the project and seeing if you get the functionality that you need.  If you don't you will need to talk to your Jira admin to ensure it is on the proper screens for that project.

[David DeSantis]

Brant, yep tired that.  Created four components (again, I have Project admin privileges) and then tried to create a new issue and looked to see where in the various stages/tables of the Issue Workflow the Component field was and it was not in any of the GUIs.  This did not surprise me as software is generally not sophisticated enough to allow a user, even with admin privileges, to add a new capability and then insert the field for that capability in the workflow.  The issue I have with the Jira Help page for Components is tht it does not state that Component is even a field or that the field needs exist in a given Issue Workflow for an Admin to add new Components.  But more to the point:  From what I see there is no field for values for a Component.   All a Component consists of is a "Component Name", "Lead", "Description" and "Default Assignee".  How do you add a value to a Component. 

[Mikael Sandberg · Accepted solution]

The component field has to be on the screen in order to give it a value. Based on your information it sounds like your Jira Admin removed the field from the screen for some reason. Once it has been added back the values available are based on the components that the project admin adds to the project.

[David DeSantis]

Mikael, makes sense.  Why would the Jira developers include an element that has a relatively prominent positon in the left-hand side of the Issues view - its got it's own button and that button launches functionality to add new Components with a Name, Description, Assignee, etc.  Does this have to be done by a level above the Project Admin?  That is, is there a hierarchy of admin privileges from Project Admin to Jira Admin and beyond?  I do have a contact in my organization that has administrative privileges that I am sure I do not.  So you are implying that she/he can add a Component field back into an element of the Workflow of an Issue?  Is that correct?

[Mikael Sandberg]

David, yes as long as she/he has the right permissions the field can be added to the screen/s (has nothing to do with the workflow), and once that is done it can be populated with values.

[Mikael Sandberg]

Project screens, schemes and fields shows how it all connects.

[David DeSantis]

OK.  That explains why another member of the community indicated that values can be added to Components.  The Component field has to be added back before it can be assigned values.  Correct?

[Mikael Sandberg]

Correct.

[David DeSantis]

The hyperlink to Project screens, schemes and fields is helpful.  Now I just need to dig into the details.  Thanks for the help, clarification and additional resource.