How to keep track of multiple identical Stories?

[Gene Harriman]

I need to have multiple Epics link to a single Story; however, I understand that isn't possible.  I've read that the best solution would be to generate multiple identical Stories for each of the Epics.

If I do that, how do I maintain all the identical Story entries?  Is there a way to link or connect them in some way so that if one changes that can be reflected in the other instances of the Story?

I know this is a bit unconventional, we're trying to use JIRA in a different way than just a software development tool.

Example:  Building PC 1 (Epix A) and Building PC 2 (Epix B) both require the same software image to be generated (Story A).  As stated above, the solution will require the same Story to be generated twice.

[John Funk · Accepted solution]

Hi Gene - Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

That is definitely a strange way to go about it in my opinion. Have you considered linking the Stories as dependent on each other? Or try to do a link between the Story and the second Epic (using Linked issues). 

[Gene Harriman]

Thanks for the input, that's what I was hoping to find out.

Yah, I know this is a bit strange.  My example was as simple as I could put it so that the details of what we're trying to do with Jira would "muddy the waters".

I'm new to Jira and my company is trying to use Jira to track business strategies and roadmap priorities.  It's clearly something that Jira is not designed for, but none-the-less I been tasked to map out how this process would flow.

For example, we have initiatives (or business directives) which some will require the same story.  Since we can't map multiple initiatives to a single story, we need to generate duplicate stories.  Having duplicate stories will be a nightmare to manage as priorities and strategies shift without some way of linking them together.  That way if a budget or timeline shifts for one initiative, the user will have some way to know that the other initiatives need to be reviewed for impact.

Thanks a bunch!

Gene

[John Funk]

You might take a serious look at Portfolio for Jira then - it has the ability to link to initiatives which out of the box Jira does not.