New Issue type hierachy will not add above Epic

[Lisa Paterson]

We recently upgraded to Premuim for the Cloud and want to use advanced roadmaps while introducing Initiatives above the Epic level in Jira.  I have added my new Issue Type 'Initiative', I have added 'Initiative' to the Issue Type Schemes but when I go to add it to the Issue Type Hierarchy I can make it the same level as an Epic or level 2.  It will not allow me to make the 'Initiative' level 1.  I cannot drag it, change the # or use the arrow to change the level.  There is no action available.  

[Mikael Sandberg · Accepted solution]

Hi @Lisa Paterson

Welcome to Atlassian Community!

Ignore the numbering, in order to add the initiative as a parent to the epic you have to add it to the second level. If you add it to the first level it means that the initiative will be parent to stories and tasks instead.

[Mikael Sandberg]

The numbering is based on the default behavior in Jira, epic will aways be level 1, story level 0 and sub-task level -1.

[Lisa Paterson]

When I add it as level 2, I am unable link it to the Epic at all. I also see videos online that show you can add it as level 1. 

I guess I am confused how an intiative is supposed to be higher than and Epic and group them but it is not above the Epic in the scheme? I am told I have to add it using the parent link which also implies higher.   If it is below it seems like the stories and tasks are a part of the initiative and not the epic

I see this as Initiatives are linked to Epics and it looks like this:

        Intiative > Epic > Story > Task

If I add Initiative at level 2 it looks like this to me:

    Epic > Initiative > Story > task

Anyway I am unable link it to the Epic at all at this point:

• Using the Epic to create a new initiative as a child it says: Issue type 10190 cannot have parent but a parent is specified.
• Using the Initiative to link an Epic is not allowed
• I have added Parent Link to my screens and screen schemes but it doesnt show up on any screen.  

I am not by any means a jira expert but I feel these crazy configurations are enough to make you bonkers.  

[Mikael Sandberg]

You cannot create an initiative as a child of the epic if you add it above the epic.

We have a similar hierarchy with initiative - roadmap item/milestone - epic - story - subtask, and the way you link your epic to either one of them is by going to the Parent link field to select the issue the epic is linked to.

[Lisa Paterson]

I know it is not supposed to work that way yet I watched tutorials that showed it happen using the 'Create Issue in epic' button but my screen has 'Create child issue' button in the same place.  So this is WHY I thought this was the thing to do and of course I could not.  The challenge is that I resorted to watching tutorials after reading several Atlassian pages that all had a slightly different take on what was supposed to happen setting this up all with 0 screen shots and I was not getting the results I was expecting.  The documentation is fragmented, overlapping and lacking.  

I now have the parent link showing on epics.  I can add it that way.  The parent link is not showing on stories or tasks - which may be by design but is not ideal.   I now am trying to figure out why my epic shows child issues and the tutorial shows create issues. 

Also - I want to point out I watched 3 seperate online tutorials all that could make the initiative above the epic in level 1 in the Issue type heirarchy.  So this was also very fustrating that I could not when I was not getting the results I thought I should have with the level 1.  

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello @Lisa Paterson 

Can you provide links to the tutorials you watched? The tutorials may have applied to Jira Server/DC. Or the difference in the button labels could be because the videos are older and Atlassian has updated the button labels since then.

Parent Link should not show in the standard level tasks (Story, Tasks, etc). Issues at that level should have an Epic Link field that shows their parent Epic (the Epic in which the Story/Tasks appear in the Child Issues list). 

The Epic Link field itself is being deprecated and replaced with the Parent field. Atlassian is working to simplify the use of "parent" fields.

[Lisa Paterson]

Trudy thank you for this and appreciate the update on the changes.   

All the tutorials I watched are from 3rd parties but 2 were only 1 yr old.  Here is 1:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27rlluqLYZE  I like this guy when I am not finding what I need he explains well.  But several show the exact same thing.  

I look forward to the simplification.  As a smaller team we have no admin and have to figure this all out ourselves and there is a lot when you want to make changes.   

[Mikael Sandberg]

Okay, so using the "Create child issue" does not check the hierarchy that you have configured, it will behave the same way as if you are on a board and click create issue or use the Create button at the top menu and it will show you all available issue types in the project (except sub-tasks). It is only when you click the create button that it will check the hierarchy to see it the issue type can be created.

As I mentioned before, issues that are above epic can only be linked to the child issue by going into it and then add the link in the parent link. The other option is to go to your Advanced plan and create them from there and the plan will automatically link them.

[Mikael Sandberg]

The "Create child issue" button that you see when going to the epic do not check the hierarchy, it behaves the same way as if you would click create issue in a board or use the Create button on the main menu and show you all available issue types (except for sub-tasks) in the project.

The hierarchy check only happens after you click the Create button. The only way to link issues above the epic is to go into the child issue and add the link in the Parent link field. Your other option is to go into your Advanced plan and create the hierarchy there, that will automatically link the issues based on your hierarchy settings.

[Tina Rusnak]

Greetings @Mikael Sandberg  @Trudy Claspill is there anway to add or fake add an additional level of hierarchy? Currently, we are not on premium and we stop at EPIC level, I need one more level above Epic for one project? I've tried somethings, but any suggestions until we get an upgrade? Thanks!

[Mikael Sandberg]

The only workaround would be to use an app like Structure or JXL that would allow you to create your own hierarchy. There are probably other apps in the marketplace that can do this, but these two are the ones I know about that can.

[Trudy Claspill]

If you want to have a recognizable parent/child structure above Epics then you need the Premium subscription or a third party app.

The only other alternative is to use generic issue linking to create the relationship between the Epic and that other level/issue type, but there will not be any built-in recognition that is a parent/child relationship.

[Tina Rusnak]

---

---

thank you @Trudy Claspill @Mikael Sandberg can you direct me where or who I can talk to about the upgrade? Thank you!!

[Trudy Claspill]

Your Organization Administrator can change your subscription to the Premium plan.