Same issue type across hierarchy levels

[Senthil Kumaran]

So, I have been using Jira Premium and Advanced roadmap feature. For this, I have setup the issue type hierarchy as well.

The basic hierarchy is Initiative -> Epic -> Tickets -> Bugs . But our process is such that epics can have sub epics. But since Jira does not allow same issue type to be in 2 different levels of hierarchy, I have to resort to this workaround  -

Hierarchy - Initiative -> Epic -> Sub epic/Ticket -> Ticket1/Bug -> Bug1

I have to create Ticket and Ticket1 issue types so that both epics and sub epics can be broken into tickets respectively. Is there any better way to solve this?

Assuming the process to create sub epics cannot be changed? Or is that the only way?

[John Funk · Accepted solution]

Hi Senthil - Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

What are Sub-Epics? And why would you do that? Why not just give them a different name/issue type, and put them in the hierarchy? 

[John Funk]

@Senthil Kumaran  - Any update? 

[Senthil Kumaran]

@John Funk As part of internal process, we wanted to break epics into smaller epics too. But we have scratched that idea and removed sub-epics.

[John Funk]

Good. So everything is good now with your hierarchy? 

[Senthil Kumaran]

Yes all good now. Thanks for your inputs!

[John Funk]

If you would be kind enough to click the accept answer button above, we can close this one out. Thanks!

[Wilson Sheng]

Hi @Senthil Kumaran While creating separate ticket types (Ticket & Ticket1) is a workaround, it can be cumbersome. Here are a few alternative approaches you can consider, assuming creating sub-epics is non-negotiable:

1. Leverage Labels and Components:

- Try using labels like "Epic Ticket" and "Sub-Epic Ticket." You can then use these labels to differentiate between tickets within Epics and Sub-Epics.

- Additionally, explore using Components to categorize tickets further. Create components like "Epic A," "Epic B," etc., to group related tickets under specific Epics. This provides structure without needing extra issue types.

2. Consider Hierarchy for Jira App (For Advanced Hierarchy Needs):

If you need to create a more complex custom hierarchies, feel free to explore the "Hierarchy for Jira" app available on the Atlassian Marketplace. You can built custom issue levels by simply linking issues together.

For your case, you can have [ Initiative -> Epic -> Sub epic/Ticket -> Ticket1/Bug -> Bug1 ] presented in a single tree view with Hierarchy. 

[Hannes Obweger - JXL for Jira]

Hi @Senthil Kumaran

there's two things about your hierarchy:

• Jira Premium's built-in hierarchy model only allows for additional levels to be added on top of the default Epic/Base-issue/sub-task hierarchy, and
• it requires every issue type to be mapped to exactly one hierarchy level, meaning that you can't have Epics on two levels.

It is also important to understand that there are certain semantics associated with the default Epic/Base-issue/sub-task hierarchy, e.g. in how it is used in Jira Software boards, so it's generally a good idea to keep it as it is, and only add additional levels on top.

So if you want to use Advanced Roadmaps, I'd recommend to change your hierarchy to

Initiative - "Uber-Epic" (you probably want to find a different name for it) - Epic - Base issue - Sub-task

... or something like this.

Alternatively, you can always use issue links to establish relationships between issues. The problem is that Jira doesn't really understand issue links as parent/child relationships, so you'll miss out on a lot of hierarchy-related capabilities. This being said, if you're open to solutions from the Atlassian Marketplace, there are a number of hierarchy-focused apps available that can help with this. I'll provide more information below.

Hope this helps,

Best,

Hannes 

[Hannes Obweger - JXL for Jira]

... and just to expand on the last point, this is how your hierarchy could look like in the app that my team and I are working on, JXL for Jira:

(Note how there are epics within epics; WORK-146 and WORK-148 are connected to WORK-431 via an issue link.)

For context, JXL is a full-fledged spreadsheet/table view for your issues that allows viewing, inline-editing, sorting, and filtering by all your issue fields, much like you’d do in e.g. Excel or Google Sheets. It also comes with a long list of advanced features, including support for (configurable) issue hierarchies. These issue hierarchies can be configured based on Jira's built-in parent/child relationships (like epic/story, or story/sub-task), and/or based on issue links of configurable issue link types. You can have as many of these hierarchies as you want and freely switch between them. As mentioned above, these hierarchies are specific to JXL, so you won't be able to use them in Advanced Roadmaps (you can, however, use your Advanced Roadmaps hierarchy in JXL).

Any questions just let me know.