Summary

The details panel of a Feature, Capability or Epic may show a yellow triangle with a warning message indicating that the “Program Increment(s) are misaligned with its parent…”

Example of the messages displayed are shown in the following images (which came from a test environment)

Environment

Jira Align

Diagnosis

The error message is indicating that one of the Program Increments (PIs) configured in the work item, is not configured in the immediate parent item, resulting in the misalignment.

For information, The following table lists the possible parent of each type of work item

Cause

This can be caused by:

1. Setting a PI and parent combination in a Feature, Capability or Epic where the chosen PI is not already configured in the selected parent

2. Removing a PI from a parent item where that PI is already configured in the child work item

Solution

Make sure the parent item is configured for the PI being selected. To check or update the parent, use the following steps:

1. Make a note of the type and name of the parent by checking in the work item showing the error

2. Open the details of the parent

   1. for a Capability: go to Solution > Capabilities (New Navigation = Items > Capabilities)

   2. for an Epic: go to Portfolio > Epics (New Navigation = Items > Epics)

   3. for a Theme: go to Portfolio > Themes (New Navigation = Items > Themes)

3. Add the missing the PI(s) into the Program Increment(s) field and Save the changes

There are situations where the Program Increment(s) field in the parent will not allow selecting a PI, this typically means an update is needed to the PIs in the next parent level up.

If for business reasons a PI has been deliberately removed from a parent, then the child work items will need adjusting instead.