Display Epic Link on a subtask

[Yuliia Zhyliaieva]

Hi! I would like the subtasks to display Epic link.

Say a lot of discussions about that, still need to do that. I have stories with three subtasks assigned to different developers. I want to look at the board and see exactly who is working on which epic, it is not so clear from stories.

I am configuring the issue screen view, there is Epic link field, but it is not visible, and I cannot therefore fill it. 

I know that JIRA automatically does not assign a subtask to an epic, understanding that it is part of a user story and a user story is part of an epic. Still I would llike to create an automation rule and copy the epic link from a story to its subtasks.

Is there a workaround for me to be able to see the epic link on a subtask?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Accepted solution]

This one is a pain - whilst I know we can, and should, infer data from parent issues, I do not like that we can't derive it automatically in Jira.

Yep, it's fine that a sub-task is clearly part of an Epic because its parent is, and it should be in the same version(s) as its parent, the same sprint, and so-on, it's pretty dumb that we can't report on that clearly.

I have to admit that for Server, I wrote an app that created derived fields that solved this (and the summary/key/sort issues that are similar).  Nowadays, as an Adaptavist, of course, I do it with Scriptrunner.  SR for Cloud can also do scripted fields that might work for you.

But I think you can do it with Automation too - have a text field for "global-epic-link" that copies the content of Epic Link on to every issue using it (don't just do it for sub-tasks, it's a lot more useful if you can use JQL like "global-epic-link = 'my epic'" and get all levels of issue)

[Alex Gavrysh]

Hello! May you share s script for Scriptrunner to add Epic Link on a subtask?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

You can't add an epic-link to a sub-task, the best you can do is a text or url field that shows the link from the parent.

[Alex Gavrysh]

Yep! Exactly this one I would like to do: a text or url field that shows the link from the parent.

I found examples for Jira On-Premise. But I have Jira Cloud. And there I can make REST requests only...

[Deleted user]

Hi,

This works with Automation 

I have did this and worked (jira cloud version). Here are the steps...

1. Created new text field "Parent Epic Name" to Story and Sub-Task screens.
2. For Story, Copy Epic Link from Epic Issue to Story's "Parent Epic Name" field.
3. For Sub-task, Copy "Parent Epic Name" from Parent Issue to Sub-task's "Parent Epic Name" field.

Thank you,

Seema

[Robert Horan]

What is the trigger event for this?  What happens if the parent issue changes epics?

[Yulia Zhyliaieva]

Thank you, Seema! Could you please specify how you copied Epic Link from Epic Issue to Story's Parent epic name? 

[Deleted user]

@Robert Horan , I used the When Scheduled trigger, and check if this field is empty. I have not yet added check for when the Parent issue's epic changes but I believe this can be done with When: Issue Updated.

@Yulia Zhyliaieva , There are two separate rules I set:-

1. For Bugs/Stories

When: Issue Created

If: matches

project = <projectname> and Issuetype in (Bug, Story)

Then: Edit issue fields

Parent Epic Name

- Copy Epic Name from Epic issue

2. For Sub-Tasks

When: Scheduled

project = <projectname> and issuetype = Sub-task and CreatedDate > -2d and "Parent Epic Name[Short text]" is empty.

Then: Edit issue fields

Parent Epic Name. 

- Copy Parent Epic Name from Parent Issue

[Jakob Flock]

@[deleted] 

Hi, I can't seem to get this working. My rule executes well, it's just not handling the Epic Name.

If I choose "Copy Summary from Parent issue" it will do so without any problems.

But if I choose "Copy Epic Name from Parent issue" the rule has no effect. Do you have an idea what might be the cause of this?

Thanks

Jake

[Deleted user]

Hello @Jakob Flock ,
first the "Epic Name" field of parent issue must have value, probably that is the reason for no effect (see step 1 I mentioned in my last comment).

[Pablo Serra]

Hi @Yuliia Zhyliaieva

Have you sorted this out using Automation? I'm very interested in your approach to this. 

Thanks! Pablo

[Krister Broman _Advania_]

You would get multiple issues from reporting to the actual issue if you were to achieve that. As you have already said, an epic has multiple linked issues, and those issues can have multiple sub-tasks reports and other functionality is based on these links working in this specific way. 

If you have a board sorted by epic with issues that have sub-tasks then those sub-tasks should also be shown as separate issues and there should not be an issue to see which dev that you have assigned 

[Nic Price]

Hi, I think you missed where this problem occurs. It's not the on the kanban/scrum boards, it's the issue view (eg if you share a link to a sub-task).

In my project each epic (product) has, more or less, identical stories (ie there's a standard set of tasks for a product). When viewing a subtask directly, my team have to hover on the breadcrumb to even see which story but it still is not obvious which product they relate to without navigating away.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Yep, that's why I add a scripted field for displaying it!

[Robert Horan]

That scripted field is $$$ for people without SR

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

@Robert Horan 

As an Adaptavist, I agree with you, the best way to fix the problem is to get Scriptrunner, but it does cost.

As someone remembering their non-Adaptavist days, I agree with you, this is something that should be built-in.  When a sub-task takes its values from its parents, it should show them.

[Robert Horan]

So let's say someone does get SR to do this, is there an out-of-the-box script they can adapt easily without knowing Groovy? 

This is more than theoretical, I might need to provide this as a solution :)

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

https://library.adaptavist.com/entity/calculate-the-sum-of-all-values-of-a-custom-field-in-linked-issues

might be the closest?

[ynmehel]

This doesn't directly answer your question and it's been 3.5 years already; but in case it helps anyone else:

In my case I wanted to see the our initiatives in prio order, thus made the swimlanes based on our epics. That maps the subtasks to their parent task's epic by default and you see the subtask -> epic mapping on the board. 

Same thing can be accomplished by a query-based swimlane with a specific query to place subtasks correctly under each lane, q&a here.

As a bonus, these two options don't include any automation or script runner but solely vanilla jira configurations. 

[ankit gulati]

​Now if we have to change the epic of user stories and subtask , Jira allow only the change of epic for user stories whereas for sub tasks don't allow to change the epic.

How to handle such cases ? Please suggest 

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

If sub-tasks had an Epic link, you should not be editing them.  The Epic a sub-task is in is always the Epic link of the parent issue.

[Rob Horan]

But its not searchable.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Exactly why I script a copy-down!

[Rob Horan]

And that would be great if that was out of the box, didn't require another custom field to manage, and didn't require scripting knowledge :) 

This workaround is great - for people who do have ScriptRunner, but not everyone does, and given the pricing, not everyone will. 

Cloud users can at least make some creative use of parentEpic in ()  to find what they want but Server and DC users are out of luck.

[Kon Galanis]

Hi Yuliia,

Not sure if you have solved your problem, but a recent example was brought to my attention, where the Epic link was missing, but the Parent Epic was visible. 

What JIRA was applying the Parent Epic as the child is linked up to the EPIC through the Parent (the Story) ie bottom upwards looking, however when I looked at the parent the subtask was not linked to the child, ie top to bottom looking. 

When the later was applied, the link was visible. A little work around, but it worked.

Hope this helps

[dmullor73 gmail]

Hello,

Regarding point 2, how did you do it? Using a Script ?. If it is correct, can you pass me the template or tell me where I can get it?

Thanks in advance

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Seema is trying to do it with Automation, not scripts, there's nothing to pass over, you just need to run through adding the automation flow to do it.

Robert has pointed out that it is a little bit more complex than just a single simple automation though.

[dmullor73 gmail]

Hello Nic Brough

I have Jira 8.8, does the automation bring it by default or do I have to install it? ... It's free?

Thanks in advance

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

You will need to add it from the marketplace (manage apps)