Custom hierarchy levels: WTF?

[Scott Beeson]

Pretty straight forward... I want the following:

Initiative > Epic > Story > Task > Sub-Task

But based on the idiotic UX here I don't seem to be able to accomplish this.  It appears I can only rearrange the levels I create. What am I missing?

It's worth noting, I literally doubled our subscription cost just for this capability. To find out it's not fully customizable is a slap in the face.

[Rahul_RVS]

Hi,

You can use issue links to create your own hierarchy above and below Epics or infact at any level.

To visualize the hierarchy based on the issue links, we have created an app to track the progress at each level,

Agile Tools - Epic Tree, Links Tree and Time in Status 

Key features of Links Hierarchy:

• Hierarchy upto 10 levels deep
• Progress % on "remaining estimate" or "original estimates"
• Edit Issue summary, time estimates, story points and assignee on the tree with real time updates in the progress
• Rolled up percentage completion at all levels
• Ability to add/remove the columns on the report

[Chris Buzon]

Here's our setup.  Initiative level is "special" in that we only use these issue types to track large scale work.  Epics are treated as default epics (deliverables, and fairly large - but doable within' a sprint or two), and then all regular issue types below it.   This means you can add stories/tasks/bugs/etc inside the epics, but Epics are linked to the level above through the "Parent Link" field.

[Scott Beeson]

I currently have mine set up like yours. Initiative above epic. I added an "Initiative" issue type to a test project.  But for some reason initiatives can only be added as children of epics... totally backwards.  Where is the "Parent Link" field you are talking about?

[Chris Buzon]

You'll have to add/expose it on the Edit and View 'screens' (and create screens if you want) on a per-project basis.  Once it's exposed you can then use the hierarchy to indicate when you have a ticket that sits 'above' epics - right now you pretty much can't.

I'm referring to the 'Screens' Setting in the project settings.  You can also get there by selecting Configuration (far bottom-left area of any ticket has that available if you're an admin), then selecting the blue hyperlink at the top of the page it brings you to.

[Chris Buzon]

[Chris Buzon]

You add different issue types to each of these levels.  For example we have ~5 at the initiative level (They live in an enterprise tracking project), then under that we have Epics, below that we have (stories, tasks, bugs).

What you have here currently means stories are 'above' Epics, which means you would have issues placing stories into epics - which I think is the common use case.   It might work, but I suspect it would give you troubles.  


I'd "remove" story, then re-add it to the same level as tasks (it would be added by default, it's part of 'all other standard issue types')

[Scott Beeson]

BUT HOW?!  That's the WHOLE PROBLEM.  It's why I posted this topic.

[Scott Beeson]

And I thought I'd just get creative and assign Story to the EPIC level and unassign the Epic type, but YOU CAN'T

[Scott Beeson]

Essentially you can add as many levels as you want, but ONLY ABOVE EPIC.

[Chris Buzon]

Yah, that is correct. 

This app doesn't add new levels below Epic.  What it's showing you here in your screenshot is that "All other standard Issue Types" are already at the task level - which is why they can be inside an Epic.

Sub-tasks (a different thing) live below that, and are always attached to a Parent Ticket (different than Parent Link)