Avoiding Duplicate Issues in Structure?

Laci
Contributor
June 18, 2019

Hi there! I'll try to be as specific as I can.

My Project flows like this: Epic - Feature - User Story - Subtask. We just got Structure, so without it, we have just been linking our Features (parent) to User Stories (child).

Now... When I try to pull my issues into Structure, I have my initial JQL, then I add issues belonging to Epics and then I have Add issues linked by derivation: parent derivation is children. This causes me duplicates of ALL of my User Stories because my User Stories and Features are both linked to Epics...

How do I avoid this? I have tried using the Remove Inserter/Extender Duplicates Automation and it does nothing...

2 answers

1 accepted

1 vote
Answer accepted
David Niro
Atlassian Partner
February 3, 2022

Hello @Roman P & @Laci ,

David from ALM Works here.  Apologies for the delay!

We are going to need to use a Filter Generator of the JQL variety here. Roman,  I am not sure if yours is the same exact scenario as Laci's, but this will at least serve as a starting point.

From the Hierarchy shared, we can see that under an Epic we should have a Feature or a Story, so long as that story does not link to a Feature.

We need to get rid of Stories with a link to a Feature on level 2 of the hierarchy.

To do this, we can use this Filter Generator set to Level 2

issuetype = "Feature" OR (issuetype != "Feature" AND (issueLinkType != your_feature_to_story_link_direction AND issueLinkType != EMPTY))

What this should do is ensure all Features appear below your Epic.  It should also show Stories that are linked to your Epic but not to a Feature. 

You will need to update the link direction and also adjust the level the filter runs on to avoid removing the wrong issues.

Please give it a try and let me know if it helps!  You can also reach out to our support team directly for additional assistance via email support@almworks.com or customer portal support.almworks.com.

I look forward to hearing from you! 

Best Regards,
David Niro
www.almworks.com

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Vlad Lessage
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June 24, 2019

Hi Laci,

Thanks for posting.

Ideally, you'd want to remove the unneeded Epic Links, but I understand that it can be tedious to do so. With that said, the Inserter/Extender Duplicates Filter only removes the top level instance of issues that were inserted and then extended. In your case, you are simply adding these issues with 2 different Extenders, which falls outside of that Filter's scope.

You should be able to remove the duplicate issues (Stories linked to Epics by Epic Link) by filtering them with the following S-JQL:

child of [type = epic] and [type in("subtask","feature")]

Please note that here, "subtask" refers to the level under your Stories, not the Jira Issue Type that's created within issues. Please let me know if this helps or if you need further assistance.

Best Regards,

Vlad 

Laci
Contributor
June 25, 2019

Hi Vlad!

Thanks for the response... so this sort of works...

First problem, is that with this S-JQL is that the "subtask" portion cannot be completed in Structure. It gives me an error (The value 'subtask' does not exist for the field 'type'), but it works if I put "feature". I mean, it doesn't do what I want it to do, but it does get rid of issues.

So the second issue is that it removes ALL the stories under my epics or stories that don't have an epic. I only need the stories that are linked to a feature removed from the structure so that they don't appear twice. I want them to remain under their "parent" feature level - not under the Epic level.

I'm sorry - I know this is difficult to explain without being able to see it. I appreciate any assistance you're able to provide.

Vlad Lessage
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June 28, 2019

Hi Laci,

"subtask" can be replaced by whichever issuetype you have under your Stories. However, to ensure that I'm fully understanding your use case, do you mind opening a ticket at support.almworks.com please? You can also email support@almworks.com. Please include a screenshot of your current hierarchy.

Best Regards,

Vlad

Laci
Contributor
July 2, 2019

Hi Vlad, thank you for the guidance. I unfortunately am not able to provide screenshots with my current instance of Jira. I will most likely have to live with the redundancy at this point. I appreciate your help though!

 

Everything would be great if I had the ability to use the Remove Inserter/Extender Duplicates option at every level rather than just the top level.

Vlad Lessage
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July 2, 2019

Hi Laci,

I'm sorry to hear that. Please let me know if anything changes. I'll be more than happy to further assist you. I imagine since you can't send screenshots you can't do a screen share session either?

Let me know if that is an option.

Best Regards,

Vlad

Laci
Contributor
July 3, 2019

That would be correct. Let me see if I can do this a little better on here.

I have the following hierarchy in place:

Epic -

     Feature -

          Story - 

               Subtask -

 

So, my issue is that since Jira doesn't include a "Feature" out of the box in their hierarchy, we added that issue type. Most of my Stories are linked to a feature by "Story-xxx is derived from Feature-xxx". My user stories are also linked to their respective Epics.

This is what causes my issue with the Automation on Structure. I pull in the Epics from the Agile Board, then the issues under Epics, then Add Issues linked by derivation: Parent derivation is children. That then gives me all the duplicates of the Stories. So I see Stories under their respective Feature as well as just being under the Epic.

I'd really like to get rid of the Stories that stand alone under the Epic... the only issue is in trying to do that, it eliminates all the Stories and I need the Stories that are not linked to a Feature to remain there. To give you an idea of what I see:

 

EPIC-XXX

     Feature-XXX

          Story-XXX

                Subtask-XXX

          Story-123

                Subtask-123

     Story-XXX

           Subtask-XXX

     Story-123

           Subtask-123

     Story-YYY

     Story-ZZZ

 

The bold text are the duplicates that I'd like to get rid of, you can see that it falls under the Feature as well as under the Epic directly. But I need Story-YYY and Story-ZZZ to remain since they are not linked to the Feature. Removing the Epic links is not an option based on my developers.

 

Let me know if this clarifies things for you at all. Thank you SO much!

Roman P
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February 1, 2022

@Laci Have you found a solution? I have a very similar problem. If you have found a way, please share it with me! 

Dan O_Brien
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January 13, 2023

Bumping this same issue

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Dave Rosenlund _Trundl_
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January 13, 2023

Welcome to the community, @Dan O_Brien. The "Accepted Answer" above is one answer.  But your answer could be different.  It depends on things like whether you are using Jira Cloud or Jira Data Center.  And, how you are adding issues to your structure (which could be different than the way Laci was doing it). 

Let's do this.  Please start a new post that identifies whether you are on Cloud or Data Center (if Data Center please specify which version of Jira and which version of Structure).  Hint: If you're not sure, look at your Jira URL.  If you're Jira URL looks like <something>.atlassian.net you are on Jira cloud.

Then, tell us how you are adding Jira issues to your structure.  A screenshot will be a big help here.

Alternatively, you can reach out to the Structure support team via email.

Best,

-dave

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