Displaying a parent of parent on structure board

[Deepak Gupta]

I have following hierarchy - Initaitive --> Capability --> EPIC

Now, I am trying to create a structure board for epics for planning purpose with columns as 

EPIC # - Parent Link (Capability ID) - Initiative (dont know how to get this)

I tried using parent#level = -2{key} but it wont work. 

Not sure if there is any other alternate. 

[Stepan Kholodov _Tempo_]

Hello @Deepak Gupta 

If you only have Epics in the structure, you can only display values of their direct parents in columns. So, if you want to see both keys of parent Capabilities and keys of parent Initiatives, then you need to at least have both Epics & Capabilities in the structure.

Alternatively, you can just visualize the whole hierarchy in the structure and work with the data of all 3 levels freely. You can do this by either:
- adding Capabilities to the structure first with an Insert generator, and then adding all child issues with the Child Items extender;
- or by adding the Epics first, and then pulling their parents in the structure using the Group by Parent field generator. You would need to add two such generators - one for pulling each parent level. The second grouper should have the 'Consider other groups' option enabled in it, otherwise it won't be able to add the Initiatives. You might also need to flip the order of both groupers (move one above the other in the structure after they are added) to get the right display.

I hope this helps. If you have more questions about Structure, please reach out to us directly at our support portal.

Best regards,
Stepan
Tempo (the Structure app vendor)

[Deepak Gupta]

Thanks @Stepan Kholodov _Tempo_ 

I have Epics on column 1. Parent Link on Column 2 which is the immediate parent (capabilty Id). I need Initiative Id as column 3 which is grandparent of epic in column 1. 

I am trying to use this for planning purposes were initiatives have a lot of planning fields like which mission they belong to and which sprint would they be ideated or build is targetted for and this is what i intend to use to plan my epics. 

Your alternative approach is something i already have created a board for but it becomes clumsy when you have to list down list of epics directly to a explore or build sprint etc.

[Stepan Kholodov _Tempo_]

It's not possible to display the Initiative in another column when you only have Epics in the structure - Structure can only extract values from issues that are linked directly to those that are present in the structure. To get what you need, you either need to have more issues added to the structure, or you can implement a custom field in Epics that display their grandparent Initiatives, and add a column for this field in the structure next to the Parent column.

If you still have questions about this, please reach out to us via our portal.

Best regards,
Stepan

[Deepak Gupta]

what about parent#level = -2{key}?

I found this on jira documentation. Tried using it and it didnt work with -2. when i changed to parent#level = 1{key} - it gives me the id of the current level which is epic. but with -1 and -2, though it says formula is correct, it wont show any values.

[Stepan Kholodov _Tempo_]

@Deepak Gupta the level modifier works with issues that are present in the structure. If you only have one hierarchy level, then changing the level parameter will not provide any results. 

E.g. If you have the hierarchy added to the structure: Initiative -> Epic -> Story, then you can the parent#level=-1{key} formula will show the key of the Epic to the Story (-1 level up from the Story's own level), and parent#level=-2{key} will show the key of the Initiative to the Story.

Best regards,
Stepan

[Alexander Hohmann]

You could configure the cards to add the parent link. That may be a quick, albeit not entirely fulfilling fix.

Or might what you need not be better represented by a hierarchical List view, where it is a built-in feature, instead of a board?