Structure add-on lets you organize issues into hierarchical lists. To get started, we recommend you to get acquainted with a few basic notions we're using throughout this manual and in the Structure add-on itself.
Structure add-on | That's the product! We differentiate between Structure add-on and actual structures by writing plugin name with a capital letter. |
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a structure | A single hierarchical list of issues. |
a structure contains an issue | A structure is initially empty - it does not contain any issues. Issues can be added to a structure manually or automatically with the help of Automation or Synchronizers. A single issue may be present in many structures at the same time, or not be present in any. |
structure widget | The main tool for working with the structure - a grid with columns that shows the hierarchy and allows to work with it. Structure widget is present at several places in JIRA. |
a view | Configuration of columns in the structure widget |
a sub-item is under a parent item | When you place an item under another item in the hierarchy, you can say that it's a sub-item and the other one is its parent item. A sub-item may contain sub-items on its own (and so it's a sub-item and parent item at the same time). An item that's a sub-item in one structure may not be a sub-item in another structure. |
children items | Sometimes we call sub-items "children items", but "sub-items" is the preferred term. |
JIRA has sub-tasks | It's important to distinguish JIRA sub-tasks from Structure sub-items. We will use "sub-tasks" to refer to the issues of the special issue type that you can create in JIRA. They can be shown as sub-issues inside the structure, but since there are no restrictions on issue types in Structure, they can be placed anywhere just like other types of issues and other items. |
item – sub-item relationship | Structure can represent any kind of relationship between a parent item and a sub-item. When speaking of issues, it may be compositing (whole contains parts), planning (big task is done when smaller tasks are done), dependency (an issue can be addressed only if sub-issues are addressed first) – it is up to you. Structure provides user interface and tools that work great for most of the relationship types. |