Sub-epics

[Jethro Waanders]

I like to add sub-epics, so the parent of an epic is another epic. Can't find it in the documentation. Is it possible?

[Walter Buggenhout · Accepted solution]

Hi @Jethro Waanders, 

No, that is not possible. Epics have their own hierarchy level - at best, you can link them, but the relationship is not hierarchical then.

Hope this clarifies!

[Jethro Waanders]

Thanks a lot.

[Hannes Obweger - JXL for Jira]

Hi @Jethro Waanders,

as already suggested, sub-epics aren't really supported in Jira's built-in issue hierarchy.

This being said, since issue links can be established between any pair of issues, you can also establish them between two or more epics. E.g., you could create a new issue link type is parent of / is child of, or something of the like.

The downside is that Jira doesn't "recognise" issue links as parent/child relationships, and won't give you any relevant features. However, if you're open to solutions from the Atlassian Marketplace, you'll find a number of apps available that can help here.

E.g., issue-link-based hierarchies are supported in the app that my team and I are working on, JXL for Jira.

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 number of advanced features, including support for configurable issue hierarchies. These issue hierarchies can be based on Jira's built-in parent/child relationships (like Epic/Story), and/or based on issue links of configurable issue link types.

This is how it looks in action:

In the above hierarchy, "sub-epics" WORK-148 and WORK-146 are connected to their "parent-epic" WORK-431 via issue links.

Issue hierarchies can also be combined with JXL's other advanced features, such as issue grouping by any issue field(s), sum-ups, or conditional formatting.

Any questions just let me know,

Best,

Hannes

[Rahul_RVS]

Hi @Jethro Waanders 

You can use Issue links to create an epic a child of another one. However Jira natively does not support this and you will have to rely on a mktplace app to view this hierarchy. If you are open to try out one, do take a look at

Issue Hierarchy 

The app allows you to create a hierarchy based on standard jira structure (Epic -> Story/Task -> Subtask) or even with your issue links. You can view %complete progress at each parent level. The app has multiple features as below :

- Sum up values to see overall progress for your Issue Hierarchy

- View the full hierarchy of linked issues, Portfolio/Advanced Roadmaps, Epics, and Subtasks

- Apply filters to put the focus on the relevant data only

- Excel like editing for all the values right on the report and see real time progress updates

- Export to a CSV file

- Embedded Epic Hierarchy on Issue Screen

- Dashboard Gadgets

(Disclaimer: I work for RVS, the vendor for this app)