Release notice: custom issue type hierarchy levels and configurable name for the Epic level

[#1]

Hi Jira Community!

Starting in May 2023 and continuing through August, we'll be rolling out several updates to issue type hierarchy levels in Jira.

These updates will be released incrementally, meaning that some sites may see these changes earlier than others.

Configurable issue type hierarchy level names

You'll soon have the ability to configure the names of your issue type hierarchy levels across Jira. To do this:

1. Select Settings > Issues > Issue type hierarchy.

2. Click the level name that you want to rename.

3. Edit the level name, and select Save changes.

Please note that these updated level names may appear throughout your Jira experience, including:

• the Type column on the Issue Types settings page

• autosuggestions for ‘hierarchyLevel’ JQL searches, and

• REST API endpoints that return hierarchy levels names.

Updated ‘Hierarchy Level’ column in issue types settings

The Type column on the Issue Types settings page will be replaced with the Hierarchy Level column, which will display numerical values of the hierarchy level, e.g. -1, 0).

Rename ‘epics’ in Jira

As announced in our earlier blog post, we’re allowing you to rename epics in your issue type hierarchy settings.

Changes you make to your epic level will be reflected throughout all company-managed projects in your site. For example, if you’ve renamed the epic level to Feature, your backlog will now contain a Feature panel, rather than the existing Epic panel.

Please note that the Epic Link field change described in our previous post is not part of this set of upcoming updates, but will be addressed soon.

Updates to your issue view

If you have issues at hierarchy level 1, you will see an Add a child issue button in the issue view for all such issues, which replaces the Create subtask button.

To identify the impacted issue types, navigate to Settings > Issues > Issue type hierarchy and locate level 1. This change does not affect any other issue types.

The image below shows an example of the Add a child issue button:

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We hope that these updates will enhance your Jira experience and provide more flexibility in managing your projects. Keep an eye out for these changes in the coming months. Thanks!

[Dave Mathijs]

Hi @Konstantin Kulishenkov Will it be possible to create additional epic level custom issue types?

[Konstantin Kulishenkov]

Hi @Dave Mathijs! We've kept the original behavior around additional epic-level custom issue types as is: they can be added via Settings > Issues > Issue type hierarchy, but they will not be treated as epics by Boards, Epic reports, and other epic-specific functionality in Jira.

Issues with these types can still be used as parents for base-level issues.

Thanks,
Konstantin

[Sune Vester Lindhe]

Hi @Konstantin Kulishenkov First of all: This is really a good change, very much looking forward to it. I am wondering: If you set up a SAFe-like hierarchy, Epic -> Feature -> Story, will Epic and Feature both have hierarchy level 1 or will Epic be at level 2? And if so, will they also have a 'Add child' button?

[Konstantin Kulishenkov]

Hi @Sune Vester Lindhe thanks for your feedback!

If you set up a SAFe-like hierarchy, Epic -> Feature -> Story, will Epic and Feature both have hierarchy level 1 or will Epic be at level 2?

You can configure it either way, but to be able to set an Epic as the parent of a Feature, you'll need to rename level 1 (and the default Epic issue type) to "Feature", then add level 2, name it "Epic", then create an issue type named "Epic" (or whatever name you prefer) and add it to level 2.

This way you'll end up with the following hierarchy: Epic (level 2) -> Feature (level 1) -> Story (level 0).

And if so, will they also have a 'Add child' button?

For now, having the "Add child issue" button for issues at levels above 1 is not in the scope of this release, but we will consider adding it at some point, though can't promise it at this stage.

Thanks,
Konstantin