Synchronize | Choose mode of operation (GreenHopper/JIRA Agile 6.1+ only):
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Agile Board mode (GreenHopper/JIRA Agile 6.1+ only) parameters: | |
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Agile Board | JIRA Agile board to synchronize with. The issues matching Board query will be synchronized. The structure may contain other issues, they will not be affected. If Ranking is turned on by ORDER BY clause in the query, it can be used for synchronization. |
Synchronize Epics | If checked, epics will be synchronized with JIRA Agile epics. |
Synchronize Rank | If checked, and Ranking is enabled for Agile Board, it will be synchronized with Structure. |
Custom issue set mode and GreenHopper 6.0 and earlier parameters: | |
Project | A project that JIRA Agile is used in. The structure may contain issues from other projects, they will not be affected. |
Rank Field | The field of type "Rank" (managed by JIRA Agile) that holds the rank (backlog order) for the selected Project. If you do not wish to synchronize rank, select Don't synchronize. |
Epic Field | The field holding the Epic that the story belongs to.
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Epic Type | Relevant only if an Epic Field is selected. Defines an issue type that is treated as Epic - typically named "Epic". All issues placed under an issue of this type in the structure will be updated to have Epic Field point to that issue. |
Auto-add Subtasks | When turned on, sub-tasks will be automatically added to the structure and forced to stay under their respective parent issues. This works similarly to Sub-Tasks Synchronizer. |
This synchronizer supports both Import and Export / Resync into/from Structure (more about resync). Incremental synchronization watches both structure changes and JIRA Agile's changes and applies the change to the other side.
CAREFUL! Please be careful when using this synchronizer, especially when you add multiple issues to the Structure, as this may lead to massive updates in the Agile ranks without undo.
Earlier GreenHopper versions relied on values in the Fix in Version/s field - if a version has been released, the issues assigned to that version won't appear on the Classic GreenHopper boards. GreenHopper synchronizer in Structure reflected that behavior and ignored such issues.
With the introduction of new Boards (known initially as Rapid Boards, then as Agile Boards), this dependency on Fix Version field has become optional. In some cases, Fix Version field is completely disabled and the teams use Agile Sprints. To address that, the JIRA Agile synchronizer no longer filters issues by Fix Version, unless you're using an old GreenHopper version.
Common Rules:
Sub-Tasks Synchronization:
Rank Synchronization:
When issues are repositioned in the structure according to Rank, they are never moved under a different parent issue.
This restricts the possible rank changes in JIRA Agile - you can only move an issue to the position of another issue that is under the same parent issue in the structure, otherwise the issue will "jump back" later.
Epic Synchronization:
When JIRA Agile synchronizer is enabled, it automatically updates Agile order in background when any Structure change happens. So if you carelessly add issues from the sync'ed project to the structure in some random order, their ranks will be updated according to that order.
To add issues to the structure without breaking the existing backlog order:
JIRA Agile's Board is flat (except for sub-tasks), and the Structure is hierarchical - so it is not possible to precisely rearrange Structure to have all issues come in the same order as they do on the Planning Board, without changing issue parents or making the Structure also flat.
Henceforth, the Structure syncs subsets of the issues in the hierarchy with Agile Rank. For example, consider the following Structure:
A |
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| B |
| C |
D |
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| E |
| F |
It is not possible to rearrange the sub-issues so that they come in the following order: B, E, C, F - although this is possible on the Planning Board. Instead, the structure will synchronize sub-sets of the issues in the Structure with JIRA Agile. The following sub-sets will be synchronized separately:
In JIRA Agile version 6.1 and later, the Epics are treated by JIRA Agile as a separate set of issues, different from Stories and other non-Epics. To accommodate this change, Structure updates the rank of issues also using "partial order" approach, syncing Epics and non-Epics separately. This means that, starting with JIRA Agile 6.1, if an Epic comes before a Story on the Structure Board, it is not required that they come in the same order on the Scrum Board.