Creating a EPIC template

[Alex Wrobel]

I am trying to manage a civil engineering project with the JIRA software, the project consists in the construction of 338 houses that are exactly the same, and the houses are divided by blocks of 28, 30 or 32 houses. My idea is that each house is an EPIC, the VERSION will be the block and the items will be the big packages of deliveries like FOUNDATION, BRICK WALL, ELECTRICITY, WATER, ETC and inside of every big package of deliveries there will be subtasks (FOUNDATION: sub-task 1 FORMWORK AND STEEL; sub-task 2 CONCRETE, etc.). My first idea was to create 1 EPIC and DEEP CLONE it with the DEEP CLONING TOOL, but I have been told that there is others ways to accomplish what I want that will be much easier, like creating an epic template and using Automation to trigger it manually or using the JMWE tool to create an event that creates the EPIC and all the items and sub-tasks. Can anybody walk me through the process of creating the template? If someone has a better idea I would love to hear it.

[David Leal · Accepted solution]

Yes, you can use the Automation tool for that. For example this is the workflow for creating a new epic based on a given template. The description field gets populated according to this workflow:

and in the description field you can customize the content, for example:

h3. Business Value

_<Summarize the Epic from the Product Owner’s perspective and capture>_

[Capability] is intended for the [persona] who needs [problem to solve] that will allow [value, benefit], and will provide [further benefit].

h3. Personas

_<Describe the persona(s) for whom this Epic will benefit.>_

* The personas who will benefit from the Initiative’s implementation.

* The motivation of the personas.

h3. Scope

_<Scope describes in more detail the business value to be delivered with the Initiative and the proposed future state. It is not recommended that out of scope items be included. Rather, document those items in their own Initiatives or Epics.>_

h3. Assumptions and Dependencies

_<List assumptions or dependencies that have been made going into the Epic elaboration. Specify any assumptions that may or may not plan out as true and what mitigation may be needed if so.>_

h3. Success Criteria

_<Include the measures of success from the product owner’s perspective understanding that these are intended to guide requirements decomposition. It is not expected that these criteria be as detailed or even as testable as the acceptance criteria at the user story level.>_

h3. Triggers*

_<Define what activity or action would prompt the need for the functionality to be delivered as part of this epic.>_
*Triggers are not always part of an epic benefit; optional for some.

h3. Inputs*

_<Define the inputs, if there are any, for the functionality to be delivered as part of this epic. This can take a variety of forms including but not limited to:
* Specific data points to be collected or consumed,
* Images or other supporting documentation to be collected,
* Time series data to be collected or consumed.>_

*Inputs are not always part of an epic benefit; optional for some.

h3. Outputs*

_<Define the expected outputs, if there are any, for the functionality to be delivered as part of this epic. This can take a variety of forms including but not limited to:
* Business knowledge the client anticipates being available,
* User interface components,
* Reports (either in electronic or paper format).
Refrain from repeating details covered in either of the requirements sections below. >_

*Outputs are not always part of an epic benefit; optional for some.

h3. Functional Requirements
_<Define the high level observable abilities, preferably bulleted.>_

h3. Non-Functional Requirements
_<Define the high level unobservable components, preferably bulleted. Avoid referencing a contract or statement of work unless that document is linked. NFRs may include, but are not limited to, the following:
* Security requirements,
* Operations,
* supportability requirements.
* Deployment requirements,
* Data requirements,
* Reliability requirements,
* Performance requirements, and
* Technical writing deliverables.>_

h3. References

_<List any source material or supporting documentation with links to those artifacts in Confluence. This may include, but is not limited to:
* Wireframes,
* Data models or data dictionaries,
* Documents or images describing overarching business rules,
* Architecture diagrams, or
* Source material provided by the product owner.

Refrain from including outdated artifacts even those provided by the product owner unless there is a specific reason to do so. If any artifacts are in progress but not yet available, note that. If the business analyst determines an artifact is needed but has not been created, note that as well.>_

h3. Technical Risks & Mitigation Plans

_<List any known technical risks that may impact the sizing of the epic or its stories as well as any potential mitigations. Most risks and mitigations will be identified through technical reviews. Epic should be edited in real-time during technical sessions, to ensure proper mitigation plans are identified. Assess security risks. Collaborate with the Architecture Team to determine if the Epic requires the product to be re-scored for security level and security category. Update the epic in the SDLC tool.>_

Similarly, you can create other actions such as creating stories or sub-tasks, just to follow the same idea.

I hope it helps,

[Alex Wrobel]

Hi David, thanks for your reply! I am not sure if that is what I am looking for, or if I fully understand what you are trying to teach me, could you explain what I will accomplish with what you are saying to me? I have just begun using JIRA and I am not familiarized with most of the features.

As i said before, every time I create an EPIC (house 1, house 2, house 3, etc.) I need to create more than 20 ITEMS (Tasks or Histories) like FOUNDATION, BRICK WALL, ELECTRICITY, etc. with criteria of approval that will allow me to control the quality of each task. In each one of those ITEMS I need to create the sub-tasks that are exclusive to each one of them (Foundation has 2 sub-tasks (formwork and concrete), brick wall has 2 sub-tasks (doing the brick wall with bricks and cement and then covering it with cement), Electricity has 2 sub-tasks, Painting has 4 sub-tasks, etc.) The Deep Cloning tool works for me but it takes a long time to clone the epic 338 times, so I was wondering if it was possible to automate that. The automation would go like this: Every time I create an epic, than create an item, than create the sub-tasks of that item, than create another item, than create sub-tasks for that item, and on and on and on. I get stuck on the creations of the sub-tasks because I want them to be sub-tasks of the ITEM that is inside the EPIC, not sub-tasks from the epic itself. My other option would be to create only ITEMS and not sub-tasks, that way I would have sprints of every single task that must be done to complete the construction of 1 house. I really want to be able to create sub-tasks inside some of the items, like for example wood coatings, I have 3 or 4 types of wood coatings inside the house and I do not want to sprint every single one of them, what it matters to me is to sprint the wood coatings item and see how many houses have been completed in 1 week. Can you please walk me through the process of each one of them if they are both possible? 

My main goal is to be able to tell the owner of the project (my boss) how everything is going with the advance of the project in terms of how many foundations are ready, how many brick walls have been built so far, how many houses have the electricity complete, etc. Every Week I will check every house that is been built with a check list of items, the same items of the JIRA software. My second most important task will be evaluate the time and the man hours necessary to do the items in the check list, for example, x number of workers can concrete x number of foundations in 1 week, or 1 electrician can completely install the electricity of x number of houses in 1 week, etc. Let’s say I will not be planning this construction from the beginning, I will mostly be gathering information so I can start planning after a few months of construction, than I will star using weekly sprints with all the tasks planned for the week.

[David Leal]

Hi @Alex Wrobel I just showed how you can create a specific template for every epic, but the same rule should apply for adding sub-tasks/stories, but it all depends on how you would like to approach it. For example, for every epic, you can create a certain number of stories related to specific activities and use for example components for FOUNDATION, BRICK WALL, etc. so you can then search by component to see the status of all of them across all your houses and to generate dashboard based on components too. 

I would approach it like this: 

1. A template for epics, so all epics should follow the same content
2. A template for stories so all stories should follow the same content
3. Define components for your project, you can use a label instead, but I would say it is better to use components
4. For each story and component type you need to create specific sub-tasks, based on the component type you need to create specific sub-tasks for such component and should not be the same

Then, when a new Epic is created you need to assign a component, and based on the component it triggers the creation of several user stories and every user story based on the component will trigger the creation of a certain sub-task.

Probably you would need to create several automations based on different trigger conditions.

I would consider as part of the sub-tasks list a general sub-task for considering the validation process, for example, the validation sub-task, this could be general for all types of components because you always need to validate the work. So once the validation work is completed then the Product Owner can review the work to move it to DONE the story.

Usually, I have two types of rules:

1. Based on triggers when a new issue (epic/story) is created, so the issue is created properly
2. Based on schedule, check every hour for example, for clean-up stories/epics created previously (before the trigger was created) and because there is no trigger action for them, just to check the information is as expected, for example in your case checking that all corresponding sub-tasks are created based on your specific components rules. Once you have all the clean-up process completed you can deactivate the rule because all you need is to ensure the new issues created to follow your rules and it is based on trigger actions: for example when a new story/epic is created

Please play with the automation module in Jira it is very easy to understand, I just started using it a couple of weeks ago and it is well documented. Check the Audit log it provides information about the result of the automation running process so you can see when and where the rules were applied or if they failed, etc.

Note: The other approach is to create bulk import using CSV files, but this is more manual y more prompt to errors

In the following example we create a template for a bug and when the bug is created it automatically creates three sub-tasks. You can follow a similar idea for your case:

[Alex Wrobel]

Thanks again @David Leal , your advices are being of great help. I actually thought about components but I was not sure how to use them. If I understood correctly I need to create the FOUNDATION component, for example, and then create a history template (I will actually create TASKS Templates) for each one of the things that I need to do to finish the component, for example a template for formwork and a template for concrete, that way, when I visualize the components dashboard I will be able to see how many foundations have been “formworked” and are ready for concreting, and how many have been already concreted and are ready to receive the brick wall, that will be awesome and I don-t think the sub-tasks will be necessary. That will be done for everything, Tasks templates for the tasks of the component BRICK WALL, tasks templates for the tasks of the component ELECTRICITY, tasks templates for the tasks of the component WOOD COATINGS, etc, etc, etc. What I don´t know is how to automate all that, in a way that I will only have to create the epic In order to create all the TASKS (histories) with each one of the components. Can you send me a SCREENSHOT of how the creation of one of the TASKS templates goes, with the component, sub-tasks and everything, and then send me the SCREENSHOT of how the automation of the EPIC goes regarding triggering the creation of the Histories (Tasks)? Again, thank you so much for your help!  

[David Leal]

@Alex Wrobel I provide you with some guidelines on how to do it, this page is for helping people to solve specific questions your ask is more like consulting work, :-). I would suggest you try to follow the guidelines I provided and then try to implement them to your specific problem by trying to build an automation rule and if you find some problem then post a specific question. You can create a rule that triggers other rules in case you don't want to have everything in just one rule. For example, you can create an epic template (representing the house) and then create the corresponding tasks for all the components required. The last screenshot shows how to create a template that creates several sub-tasks similarly you need to create TASKS for your epics and based on the TASK component the corresponding sub-task. It will trigger together. You can have only one rule or one master rule that triggers other lower-level structures. Please try to work on that and if you have any problems then post your specific question. It is just a trial and test exercise until you get what you want.

[Alex Wrobel]

Got it @David Leal! Thank you so much for your help, it really opened my mind! I just have one las question regarding the firs SCREENSHOT you sent... what is the function of the condition “Linked Issues not present; Types: Clones” and why is it necessary for the template?

[David Leal]

@Alex Wrobel this is just to prevent to use of the template when an epic is created as a result of cloning an existing Epic, which makes sense, so the rule will apply ONLY when we are going to create an epic from scratch.

[G subramanyam · Accepted solution]

Hi @Alex Wrobel welcome to the Atlassian community.

You got a nice use case and quite interested with your post.

In order to create your own template, I suggest to discuss with an IT developer to build an Atlassian marketplace plugin and start developing templates as per the requirements. In case of Confluence, you can utilize "blueprint" for templates but in Jira software as far as I know you need to reach out to the Marketplace vendor.

[Marlene Kegel - codefortynine · Accepted solution]

Hi Alex,

I am Marlene from codefortynine.

I agree with @G subramanyam that your use case is really interesting. It always amazes me how flexible you can use Jira.

It's great to hear that you already considered Deep Clone for Jira. And your use case would be indeed possible with our Marketplace app.

In case you should change your mind and give our app a try: Deep Clone for Jira is really easy to use and build for every Jira user, not only admins. You can watch a demo video of a Bulk Clone here or a demo video of an Epic/Tree Clone here.

If you have questions or feedback about our app, don't hesitate to reach out to us.

[Alex Wrobel]

Hi @Marlene Kegel - codefortynine

The bulk clone video is not available. I am interested in the app, the only thing is that I need to clone the EPIC 338 times, that´s already complicated, but the main problem is that, every time I clone the EPIC (house 1, for example) it has the same name as the original, and, once I change the name of the epic (house 2, for example) all the items stay connected to the name house 1, and I have to drag them all to the epic house 2 in order to change it. Is there a way to solve this issue? If it was possible to clone the original epic multiple times at once it would be great! One more question... what´s the cost of the Deep Clone app once the free trial is over?

[Marlene Kegel - codefortynine]

Hi @Alex Wrobel,

Thank you very much for the hint about the broken link. I fixed it.

If you perform an Epic Clone  with Deep Clone it should link the cloned child issues to the cloned epic. In our documentation you can find more detailed instructions on how to clone an epic and all its issues. If that doesn't work for you, please reach out to us. I am sure our support can help to solve the issue.

It is possible to edit the summary while cloning the epic with the Clone and Edit feature. Please note that it will change the description of all issues, not only the epics. 

Update 2022-12-05: @Alex Wrobel Good news! We released a Deep Clone for Jira update that enables you to perform Bulk and Epic/Tree Clones multiple times. You can read more about that feature in our documentation. 

You can clone singe issues multiple times with Deep Clone, but this feature is not available for Epic or Bulk Clones at the moment. I added a ticket about your feature request to our backlog and will update this community post, if we make any progress on it.

Anybody who reads this and is also interested in cloning epics multiple times, please reach out to us. This helps us a lot to prioritize it with other features. 

[Marlene Kegel - codefortynine]

Sorry, I forgot to answer your last question: Jira Cloud apps (like Deep Clone for Jira) are priced based on the maximum users of the Jira products on your instance. For example, if you have Jira Software (50 users) and Jira Service Management (10 agents) on the same instance, you pay the 50-user price for apps.

You can read more about that topic in our documentation.