Advanced Roadmap Issue Hierarchy configuration - adding an issue type between Epic and Story
Asked by Amanda Chapman:

Hi! I am having trouble figuring out **how to add a level between Epic and Story/Tasks.** It looks like I can only add levels above Epic. Thank you for any advice.

I would like to setup and to be able to report using the below hierarchy.

The project was defined around "use cases" but we are following Agile and now want to define user stories for development. The Use Cases need to be broken into smaller pieces of work that can be completed in one sprint.

Each level is 1 to many relationship.

1. Release
   1. Epic
      1. Use Case (linked requirements, tests)
         1. Story
            1. Tasks (development tasks)

I've tried changing the Epic Level to something else but I can unselect "epic". I can only rename it.

Additional information:

I'm not starting from scratch and we were using Aha! integration to produce the RTM. This has been difficult to maintain so hoping to put everything in Jira and produce an RTM.

We have have Jira Premium and want to use Advanced Roadmap and setup a plan with different views.

We would like to import and link requirements to "use cases" then tie those to Stories in Jira. We have defined Epics with Use Cases which are tied to requirements. We need to be able to generate a Requirements Traceability Matric (RTM) for each release.

![issue type hierarchy.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/239797i357ED0FF795681E4/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "issue type hierarchy.png")Thank you!

Amanda


Answers:
author: Dave Mathijs
body: Hi [@Amanda Chapman](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5143586) welcome to the Atlassian Community!

You cannot add a level between Epic and Story, only above Epic.

comments: author: Amanda Chapman
body: That is what I was afraid of. Do you have any suggestions on how to show the relationship in Advanced Roadmaps if I cannot do it with the hierarchy?

Sounds like I could still use the issue type "Use Case" then use linking to link the Use Cases to the Stories. I'm thinking I would have to use filtering to show Epic with Use Cases as one Roadmap view then another view with Epics with Stories to show status of development.

Or I was thinking maybe adding Use Cases above Epics somehow. Currently we have Use Case is only assigned to one Epic.


author: Curt Holley
body: Hi [@Amanda Chapman](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5143586)   

I would leave your "Use case" issue type as a standard issue type and as you have suggested link to the relevant Stories. Possibly even with a custom link type that would make for easier filtering options and could be added into the Dependencies section of Advanced roadmaps for filtering and other visualisations of the linkage.

<br />

I would also still make the Use case issue types children of the relevant Epic, again for completeness and more options in Advanced roadmaps.

Then you will have a structure like:

* Release
  * Epic
    * Story \> Use Case\> (All standard level types)  
      * Sub-Tasks (All sub-task types)

comments: author: Joseph Chung Yin
body: [@Curt Holley](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/3527535) -

Hi Curt:

Correct me if I am wrong that in AR for Jira plan, they currently don't support linked issues to be included in the plan.

This was my understanding while working with AR for Jira plan for a while now.

Your input is greatly appreciated.

Best, Joseph


author: Curt Holley
body: Hi [@Joseph Chung Yin](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/396739)   

Linked issues certainly are supported in AR and have some great visualisations.  
See below, the "lines" view of them, where you can even click on the line to see details or remove the linkage.  
![2023-02-15 10_55_42-Sample Plan A.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/240189i3B57EBC00C044888/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "2023-02-15 10_55_42-Sample Plan A.png")

The thing is, they do need to be configured and that is done in Settings/Dependency settings. The configuration impacts all Plans in the instance. But you can add as many or as few as you like.  
![2023-02-15 11_00_44-Dependency Settings.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/240191iC66E5887DAEA8897/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "2023-02-15 11_00_44-Dependency Settings.png")  

On top of that, there is the Dependencies report, while you can see just the issues that are linked and even group them by team, making it easy to see inter-team dependencies.  
![2023-02-15 11_03_49-Sample Plan AD.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/240193i1CC813D29A38F8CA/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "2023-02-15 11_03_49-Sample Plan AD.png")


author: Joseph Chung Yin
body: [@Curt Holley](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/3527535) -

Hi Curt:

Got confused last night. If the issue source setup already have issue linked into the plan, then it will not show up originally.

Example - Original Input  

Epic 1

\>\> Story 123

\>\>\> Task 1 and Task 2 are issue linked to the Story 123 and not roll-up to Epic 1

Then, the plan will not going to display Task 1 and Task 2.

However, if the issues are already in the plan where one uses what you mentioned (using dependency), then it will create the issue linked. This functionality I fully understand and currently are using it just as you described.

Hope this makes sense. Thanks for your further information.

Best, Joseph


author: Joseph Chung Yin
body: [@Amanda Chapman](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5143586) -

Welcome to the community. I agreed with what [@Dave Mathijs](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/2662590) stated. In Jira, there are two types of issue types (Standard and Sub-task categories). Any standard category issue type can roll up to an Epic (special issue type). This is why you cannot add an issue type between Epic and Story because any other standard category issue type (i.e. Task etc..) are all at the same level as Story.

Hope this also helps you.

Best, Joseph Chung Yin

Jira/JSM Functional Lead, Global Technology Applications Team

Viasat Inc.

comments: author: Amanda Chapman
body: Do you have any suggestions on how to show the relationship in Advanced Roadmaps if I cannot do it with the hierarchy?

Sounds like I could still use the issue type "Use Case" we created then use linking to link the Use Cases to the Stories. I'm thinking I would have to use filtering to show Epic with Use Cases as one Roadmap view then another view with Epics with Stories to show status of development.

Or I was thinking maybe adding Use Cases above Epics somehow. Currently we have Use Case is only assigned to one Epic.


author: Amanda Chapman
body: If I add "use case" above Epic how is the "parent link" used? Does the Parent link always have to be an Epic?


author: Curt Holley
body: Hi [@Amanda Chapman](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5143586) If you add Use Case above Epic, then it will be the parent link field that you use to hieratically link up from the Epic to the user case.  
The parent link field is what is used for all levels above the Epic (level1)  

So to answer your question Does the Parent link always have to be an Epic?  
No, in your case, the parent link would always come from an Epic.


author: Joseph Chung Yin
body: [@Amanda Chapman](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5143586) -

In Issue Hierarchy, the concept would only allow an issue to roll-up to the direct parent issue above, and the issue cannot directly roll-up to the parent of the its direct parent issue type via parent link.

Example -

Initiative

\>\>Use Case

\>\>\>\> Epic

So Epic issue type's parent is Use Case, and Use Case parent is Initiative

I agreed with what [@Curt Holley](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/3527535) stated.

Best, Joseph


author: Amanda Chapman
body: thanks for your feedback. I'm going to be focusing on getting the use case setup and figuring out how to link the stories so we can utilize the roadmap to view the Epics - Use Case in one view and the Epic - Stories in another view. I'm thinking I should be able to filter based on the issue type. Then use the dependency view to see the relationship.

I'm sure I'll have more questions :)


Tags: advanced-roadmaps

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hierarchy

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