Summary

You can synchronize issue links from Jira and convert them into dependencies in Jira Align. The Story Link report generates a report of all story links that have not been converted to dependencies yet.

The Story Link Report can be accessed from Program > Reports > Story Link Report.

Solution

Prior to creating a Story Link Report, there are a few pre-requisites to be met -

1. The portfolio must be created in the system

2. The program must be created and tied to a portfolio

3. Program Increment (PI) must exist in the system and be tied to a program

4. Sprints must exist in the system and be tied to a team

5. Epics must be created and tied to the PI

6. Features must be created and tied to epics

7. Stories must be created and tied to features

8. Jira integration must be set up

9. Jira issue links must be created in Jira (follow the steps below)

Steps to create a Jira Issue Link in Jira

• In Jira open a story that is already linked to Jira Align

• Click on "Link Issue"

• Select “Local” in the first dropdown, select a dependency condition from the second dropdown, and select the story on which the current Story should depend from the third dropdown

• By creating a Jira Issue Link, a dependency is created from one story to another

In order to sync Issue links from Jira to Jira Align, we have to Set up Jira link actions in Jira Align by following the steps below -

• Navigate to Settings > Jira Settings > Manage Projects > Manage Custom Fields

• Under Set up Jira Link Actions, click Add New

• Type the link ID

  • You can get the Link ID from Jira

  • Navigate to the Story for which you created the Issue Link to another story

  • Click on the “three dots” on the right side of the Story Details panel

  • Click on Export XML

• Look for “issuelinktype id” in the Export XML and that will be the Link ID

• Type the link name (for example, “Depends On” or “Is blocked by”; look in Jira for the condition for the dependency between the stories)

• From the Action dropdown menu, select the action type. Story Predecessor allows dependency generation on the Story Link Report for the default Jira issue links. Story/Task Link allows the linkage of a Jira custom issue type to a Jira Align task. We recommend this link type for custom issue links.
  (Note: If the link action is a story/task link, type the issue type ID used for tasks in Jira in the Issue ID text field. Please be careful while entering the Issue ID. Ensure that the ID used is not one that is already in use for tasks/sub-tasks/stories in Jira setup tab. This will make Jira Align to see the same ID as two different issue types, which will lead it to create/destroy the issues in loops. This could break the integration. So please use a unique issue type ID here)
  Here since we are creating Story Link Report for the default Jira issue link, select Story Predecessor from the Action dropdown.

• Click Update Link

Now, navigate to the Story in Jira (from where you created the Issue Link) then make a modification to the Story description to force a sync to Jira Align.

Once the Story syncs to Jira Align, navigate to the Story Link Report page and we can see a story link created between the dependent stories.