The Jira Align custom field setting for the parent of a Feature (Jira Epic) is syncing the Portfolio Epic's name to Jira instead of Capability's name
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Summary
In the Jira Align environment, where Capability is enabled and the Jira settings > Jira setup is configured to sync the Capability's name to Jira as a Parent of Feature (Jira Epic), Jira Align is instead syncing the name of the Portfolio Epic to Jira.
Environment
Jira Align
Diagnosis
After syncing the work item to Jira, the custom field for the Parent of Feature (Jira Epic) will display the name of the Portfolio Epic.
Cause
There are two Parent custom field settings in Jira settings > Jira setup and the naming convention of these settings can sometimes cause confusion, leading to misconfiguration.
If Capabilities are not enabled the parent of a feature is a Portfolio Epic
If Capabilities are enabled the parent of a feature is a Capability and the parent of a Capability is a Portfolio Epic
See screenshot below:
Solution
To sync the name of a Feature (Jira Epic) with Jira if Capabilities arenot enabled , set the Parent work item custom field on features (read-only text field) to contain the Jira custom field that will hold the names of Jira Align's Portfolio Epics
To sync the name of a Feature (Jira Epic) with Jira if Capabilities are enabled , set:
theParent work item custom field on features (read-only text field) to contain the Jira custom field that will hold the names of Jira Align's Capabilities
the Capability parent custom field (read-only text field) to contain the Jira custom field that will hold the names of Jira Align's Portfolio Epics
⚠️ As these settings are connector wide and are relative not absolute, if there is a mix of Jira Align Features under different Portfolios that both do and don't use Capabilities then some Portfolio Epics will show in the Jira field set for setting 1 and some will show in the Jira field for setting 2. Capabilities will only show in the Jira field for setting 1 .
Workaround suggestions to handle a mix of Features that have either Capabilities or Portfolio Epics as their immediate parent
Consider one of the following:
name the Jira field for setting 1 to something like 'Feature Parent (Cap or Epic)' and the field for setting 2 as 'Capability Parent (Epic)' and educate the Jira users that if the Capability Parent field is empty then the Feature Parent field will show the name of the Portfolio Epic, and if the Capability Field contains a name, that is the Portfolio Epic and the Feature Parent field contains the name of the Capability
as different Jira Align Portfolios will mean different Projects in Jira, only show the field for the immediate parent in the Jira screens, adjusting which of the two fields is included in the screens for projects that do or don't have capabilities involved. The field name (in Jira) for setting 1 will still need an appropriate name that allows it to be either a Capability or an Epic, but the name of the field in setting 2 can be be specific to a Portfolio Epic.
If you intend to enable Capabilities in Jira Align make sure that the features that syncs to Jira are all under Portfolios that have the same setting (so either all with Capabilities enabled or all without Capabilities enabled)
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