Need Help Structuring Plan / Project
Asked by Akshay Suggula:

Hi,

I want to create a plan or project with the hierarchy as follows:  
1. Initiative  
2. Epic / Milestone / Goal  
3. Tasks  
4. Subtasks  

I want to be able to see a "God's eye" view on all the initiatives in place (we have 4 different workstreams), the epics and the tasks. Ultimately I want to be able to see a "progress bar" at each hierarchy level I care about.   

What is the best way to structure this? I'm new to Jira so looking for some best practices on this type of structure. I'm also not sure if "Plan" or "Project" is the right top level entity I should be using.  

Thanks,


Answers:
author: Becky Brooks - Visor for Jira
body: Hi [@Akshay Suggula](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5584493) ,

Do you have a Jira Premium or Enterprise subscription? Or are you on a Standard or free plan?

[@Samuel Gatica](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/753028) is 100% right that what you're wanting to achieve is do-able with Advanced Roadmaps. However, Advanced Roadmaps is not in the free or Standard plan. (Only the Timeline roadmap is.) If you want to bring in multiple Jira projects AND drill down to the subtask level, you'll need to make sure that you're on a Jira Premium plan to access Jira's Advanced Roadmap. If you do indeed have the Premium plan, then I highly recommend watching Apetech's YouTube tutorial on Advanced Roadmaps. It's super helpful and will help you get a handle on how to configure the roadmap to your liking.

If you're not on a Premium Jira subscription yet, then there are add-ons and apps in the Marketplace you can use. One such app is Visor (where I work), we offer the ability to bring in multiple Jira projects using JQL to create that epic roadmap you talk about. And then can also drill down to the subtask level. Both of these features aren't available on the free Jira Timeline option. This is Visor: [https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1226209/visor-flexible-spreadsheet-for-jira-roadmapping-bulk-edits?hosting=cloud\&tab=overview](https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1226209/visor-flexible-spreadsheet-for-jira-roadmapping-bulk-edits?hosting=cloud&tab=overview)

I hope that helps! Advanced Roadmaps are powerful once you invest time in learning then. But, again, you do need that Jira Premium or Enterprise plan to access them.

Best wishes,

Becky


author: Samuel Gatica
body: Hi [@Akshay Suggula](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5584493)

Welcome to the community!

To achieve the structure and visibility you're looking for in Jira, you can use [Advanced Roadmaps for Jira](https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/guides/advanced-roadmaps/overview#what-is-advanced-planning)

In Jira, a "Plan" within Advanced Roadmaps is ideal for providing a "God's eye" view. This tool allows you to visualize and manage your work across multiple teams and projects with a clear hierarchy.

[Create initiatives](https://confluence.atlassian.com/advancedroadmapsserver0329/configuring-initiatives-and-other-hierarchy-levels-1021218664.html) at the highest level of your plan. Initiatives can span across multiple Epics or Milestones.  
Epic/Milestone/Goal: Use Epics for major deliverables or milestones. In Jira, Epics can be tracked under Initiatives.  
Tasks and Subtasks: Break down Epics into Tasks (Stories, Bugs, etc.), and further into Subtasks as needed.

In Advanced Roadmaps,[configure the hierarchy](https://support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/configure-custom-hierarchy-levels-in-advanced-roadmaps/) to include Initiatives at the top, followed by Initiatives, Epics, then Tasks, and Subtasks.

Link Epics to Initiatives: Use the issue linking feature to associate Epics with their parent Initiatives. This is crucial for roll-up reporting and progress tracking.

Progress Bars: [Advanced Roadmaps automatically provide progress bars](https://support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/track-progress-using-issue-count-in-advanced-roadmaps/) at each level of your hierarchy (Initiative, Epic, Task) based on the completion of child issues.  
Use Fields like "Story Points" or "Time Estimate": Ensure that you are using fields like Story Points or Time Estimates to track progress, as these are often used to calculate the progress bars.

Hope this helps!

Best regards

Sam


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