Epic Link field required when creating an Initiative

[Lloyd Phillips]

I've set up a new Issue Type of "Initiative". I wanted to set a hierarchy of Initiative > Epic > Story > Task. I've set up a screen that removed Epic Link and Parent Link, along with a screen schema for the initiative. All looks in order. However, when I go to create an issue of this type I receive an error message below that says Epic Link field must be set. 

I'm new to Jira so only just learned how to set up this custom issue type today. Is there likely to be some sort of required filed set somewhere that Initiative is inheriting from? I believe that when a story is created it requires an epic, so this validation is valid for the story, but naturally I want Initiative to sit above Epic so shouldn't apply. Where do I look to see and change something like this?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Accepted solution]

Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

There's a couple of things here adding up to give you this problem.

The first one is structural.  You have created a new issue type called "Initiative", which is fine, but this issue type is a "base level" issue type.  It is below Epic and above sub-task in the hierarchy, the same level as Story.

The second one is configuration.  You have set up your project so that Epic Link is mandatory for all base-level issues.  You will need to change that so that Epic Link becomes optional for Initiatives.

Then move on to the structural stuff.  How are you implementing the hierarchy?  Advanced plans (roadmaps) enable a hierarchy where you can move Initiatives up above Epics, but if you don't want to go premium to get it, then there are apps like Hierarchy for Jira and Structure that can enable it.

[Lloyd Phillips]

Hi Nic,

Thanks for the response. When I created Initiative I created a Standard type not a Sub Type. How do I change it from "base level" or create a new one that's not "base level"?

For the hierarchy, this is how I have them configured:

I can't change the "#" field. I'm not sure if that's relevant or important. Either way, is this the correct screen for implementing hierarchy?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

No, that the Advanced Planner hierarchy, and it is exactly what you describe you want in your question.

So ignore my third paragraph; you've already done it!

The way AP works, though, is not actually building a hierarchy in a strict structure.  In fact, Jira only has two layers: base issue and sub-tasks. 

Epics are, under the hood, base-level issues, but with a pile of code that pulls them out and makes them look like they're above the others.  That extends to dedicated custom fields to support the hierarchy and lots of Epic functions.

Your initiatives are similar - base-level issues in the database, with a bit of extra functionality that makes them behave at a level above Epic.

So, all you need to do is the second point - remove the mandatory flag from Epic Link in the field configurations for Initiatives.

[Lloyd Phillips]

Found it and fixed. Thanks Nic.

For anyone else who comes across this in the future this page helped me understand how to remove the newly created Initiative from the workflow that had a validator in it that required the story to have an Epic:
https://confluence.atlassian.com/jirakb/how-to-make-epic-link-required-on-jira-software-issue-create-screen-815566675.html