Aha! Roadmaps | Integrate with Jira when parent-child links cross Jira projects

Usually, the standard configuration for a Jira integration works perfectly. Between integration templates and custom field mapping, you can join product and engineering teams in realtime collaboration and continue to deliver against your product roadmap.

Some Jira project structures require additional guidance, however. In this article, we will walk through how you can integrate a single Aha! Roadmaps workspace with multiple Jira projects —when one project contains a parent issue type (such as an epic) and another Jira project contains the child issue type (such as a feature).

Click any of the following links to skip ahead:

• When to use it

• Benefits and detriments

• How to integrate with Aha! Roadmaps

When to use it

Some organizations want to structure their Atlassian accounts so that high-level issue types live in high-level Jira projects. In this system, all epics would live in one project, and all stories, bugs, and tasks would live in another. Then account administrators can configure the Jira projects so that only one record type can be created in each project.

The parent/child relationship link will be retained only for situations where epics are managed in one project and child features are managed in another.

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Benefits and detriments

In Jira, this structure works — issues can still have parent-child relationships between projects, and through user permissions and project configurations, Jira administrators can ensure that only authorized users can create strategic issue types, and can only create them in the appropriate project.

When you try to integrate these Jira projects with Aha! Roadmaps workspaces, you run into trouble. Unless you use an integration template, your Aha! account will treat each Jira integration separately and import duplicate records unless it can see a clear parent-child relationship.

Cross-linking between Jira projects does not support or maintain parent/child relationships for releases and their child records.

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How to integrate with Aha! Roadmaps

Your Aha! account can handle multiple Jira integrations in the same Aha! workspace, so it is still possible to use this Jira project structure. However, you must also configure your accounts this way:

In your Aha! account:

• You must use an integration template for the two Jira integrations. The integration template will standardize the record type and field mapping, and help Aha! Roadmaps discover parent-child links between the Jira issues if configured correctly.

• As an example, let's say that you have mapped Jira epics in one project and stories in another. You want to integrate both projects with the same Aha! Roadmaps workspace, and retain the parent-child links.

  • Set up the first integration mapping both epics and stories to Aha! Roadmaps with the links to relationship configured. Set this to be integrated to either of your two Jira projects.

  • Create an integration template from this first integration.

  • Set up the second integration using your new template. Keep the same mappings, but make sure this integration is connected to the second Jira project.

In Jira:

• Since Aha! integration templates require that the same issue types are mapped to each other, each project must support more than one issue type. This shows Aha! Roadmaps that, for example, epics are linked to stories.

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