Azure DevOps 4 levels structure migration to Jira 3 levels structure.

vittorio bini April 11, 2023

I have been tasked to explore moving from Azure DevOps to Jira. 

the first issue I'm encountering is that currently Azure DevOps is structured on 4 levels: Epic>Feature>Product Backlog Item> Task while Jira is structured on a 3 levels hierarchy: Epic>Story (or Task or Bug)> Subtask. Migration would then be quite tricky.

Our Standard version of Jira does not allow (to my knowledge) to replicate the Azure DevOps 4 levels unless we move to Jira Software Premium package.

Does the collective mind know of another way? is there any alternative?

 

thanks

V

5 answers

2 accepted

1 vote
Answer accepted
Trudy Claspill
Community Leader
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April 11, 2023

Hello @vittorio bini 

Welcome to the Atlassian community!

You can create an "artificial" hierarchy using the generic issue linking functionality within Jira.

You could create an issue link type called (for example) "Parent-Child" with the descriptions "is parent of" and "is child of". You can use that issue type to denote artificially a parent/child relationship between any types of issues.

Be advised that Jira will not recognize that as a parent/child relationship for any built in functionality that is based on parent/child issue relationships. The only way to have an interface that would recognize additional levels of issue hierarchy would be to upgrade to Premium or use a third party app that manages that hierarchy and integrates with Jira, like these:

https://marketplace.atlassian.com/search?hosting=cloud&product=jira&query=project%20management

vittorio bini April 12, 2023

Hi @Trudy Claspill

thank you for your exhaustive answer.

Just one clarification, you wrote: "The only way to have an interface that would recognize additional levels of issue hierarchy would be to upgrade to Premium or use a third party app that manages that hierarchy and integrates with Jira"

would the third party app9s) be able to create hierarchies (of 4 levels) without the need to switch to Jira software premium?

 

thanks again

Vittorio

Trudy Claspill
Community Leader
Community Leader
Community Leaders are connectors, ambassadors, and mentors. On the online community, they serve as thought leaders, product experts, and moderators.
April 12, 2023

Hello Vittorio,

I have not actually used the third party apps, but from what I've read I believe that they do allow you to "extend" the issue hierarchy. I don't know the specifics of how that extension appears in Jira; they might leverage the generic issue linking also. And you may have to use the third party app's interface to see the hierarchy structure.

vittorio bini April 13, 2023

Hi Trudy, thanks so much.

1 vote
Answer accepted
jennifer_dempsey_Appfire
Marketplace Partner
Marketplace Partners provide apps and integrations available on the Atlassian Marketplace that extend the power of Atlassian products.
April 11, 2023

Hi @vittorio bini

You may want to consider evaluating a tool like TSF4JIRA Azure Ops Integration to help you achieve your goal. Whether you want to migrate your data once from AzureDevOps to Jira or enable bi-directional synchronization of data from one platform to the other, it will help you do so safely and efficiently.

You can schedule a demo here.

Or, you can email me at Jennifer.dempsey@appfire.com and I can put in contact with our PM to further discuss your needs and answer any questions you might have about matching hierarchies, etc.

We'd be happy to help you any time.

Warmly,

Jennifer Dempsey, Product Marketing Manager, Appfire

1 vote
Syed Majid Hassan -Exalate-
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May 12, 2023

Hi @vittorio bini ,

This is Majid @ Exalate. 

We have encountered this before and most clients have ended up using issueLinks in Jira to handle this situation (that has no limit of course). If you decide to go down this path, an integration solution such as Exalate can allow you to them create the mappings. 

Hope it helps. 

Thanks

Majid

1 vote
Brad Peterson April 28, 2023

Hi @vittorio bini

There are multiple ways to resolve the issues mentioned above:

1) You can merge two levels into one, when migrating from ADO to Jira, e.g., migrate Feature as Epic or Story (with custom field, where one can set sub-issue-type)

2) As suggested in one of the previous answers, create an artificial hierarchy in Jira by using generic issue linking functionality.

But hierarchies are just the tip of the iceberg. In addition, you should consider the following points before undertaking ADO to Jira migration:

1. Rich-text Format Retention: Azure DevOps (ADO) and Jira use different rich text formatting standards which are similar but not equivalent. ADO uses HTML text formatting while Jira uses Wiki markup text formatting. You will have to validate such format transformation strategies [i.e., how to convert HTML format to the wiki for the data being migrated]

2. Two-step Sprint Migration: Jira does not let you schedule an issue in a closed Sprint. If Sprints are being migrated, those need to be migrated with Open State until all other issue types are migrated. Finally, Sprint’s status needs to be migrated from ADO to Jira.

3. History Migration: Consider how work item history will be migrated from ADO to Jira.

4. Non-disruptive Migration: Migration can cause massive disruptions to operations as migration tools often require downtime. Usually, the cost of disruption can dominate all other explicit and hidden costs. Bias towards solutions that minimize disruption to all aspects of current operations.

5. High-fidelity Migration: In addition to comments and history, understand how a solution will migrate attachments, inline images, user mentions, relationships, and Iterations. Often migration tools have embedded URLs pointing to ADO from Jira data, even after migration.

 OpsHub, an Atlassian partner, has rich experience in undertaking complex migration projects and can help you ease your agile migration journey. We are happy to help in your migration planning process.

 

Thanks,

Brad 

0 votes
vittorio bini April 11, 2023

thanks @jennifer_dempsey_Appfire I will consider. the issue though is not the synchronisation but rather the replication of the hierarchies.

Thanks again

V

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