Create work items and subtasks
The building blocks of any project are work items. Work items act as the packets of work that travel through their respective workflows within their projects, until the work is completed.
A work item can have subtasks that can be assigned and tracked individually. You can also control work item level security to restrict a work item to select members of your team.
Before you begin
You need the Create work item project permission for the work item’s relevant project.
Create a work item
To create a work item anywhere in Jira Service Management:
Select Create ().
Enter a Summary for the work item.
Complete all required fields and any other fields that you want.
Optional: To change which fields appear when you create another work item, select Configure Fields and select and deselect the fields you want. When you next create a work item, the selected fields will be displayed.
Optional: To create other work items with the same Project and Work Type, select the Create another checkbox. Depending on your configuration and work item creation history, some fields may be pre-populated. Review these before creating the new work item.
When you're finished, select Create.
When you create a work item using the global navigation bar as above, you can select the roles to which you want to restrict the work item. Learn more about restricting access to a work item.
Clone a work item
Clone a work item to quickly create a duplicate of it in the same project. The cloned work item contains most of the same details stored in the original work item, like the summary, affected versions, and components. Some details aren't cloned, like time logged, comments, history, and links to Confluence pages. The work item status also returns to the first step of the corresponding workflow, and the resolutions are cleared. The cloned work item can be linked to the original work item, but doesn't have to be.
To clone a work item:
Open the work item.
Select More actions (•••), then Clone.
Optionally edit the cloned work item’s Summary.
If applicable to the work item you're cloning, you can also select from these options:
Clone subtasks to copy existing subtasks.
Clone attachments to add any existing attachments.
Clone links to add any existing linked work items.
Clone sprint values to copy across the work item’s current and closed sprint values.
Select Create.
Create a subtask
A subtask can be created for a work item to either split the work item into smaller chunks or to allow various aspects of a work item to be assigned to different people. If you find a subtask is holding up the resolution of a work item, you can convert the subtask to a work item to allow it to be worked on independently. If you find a work item is really just a subtask of a bigger work item, you can also convert a work item to a subtask.
You can only create subtasks if your administrator has enabled subtasks, and has added the subtask work type to the project's work type scheme.
Navigate to the work item you would like to be the parent work item of the subtask you are about to create.
Select More actions (•••), then Create subtask.
Fill in the details as needed, and then select Create.
To link work items and add content from Marketplace apps in the new work item view, use the quick-add buttons below the work item summary.
Quick-add buttons: Link work items and add content from Atlassian Marketplace apps via the More actions (•••) button.
Note that when you create a subtask, the following values are inherited from the parent task:
project
work item security level
You can customize the Create subtask screen to show fields you use most often. To do this, click Configure Fields at the top right corner of the dialog, and use the All and Custom links to switch between the default screen and your custom settings. Your changes are saved for future use.
Work with work types
Change the work item type
After you create a work item, you may want to change its type to better represent the work that needs to be done. For example, you may want to turn a work item that was raised as a task into a bug.
Open the work item you're working with
Click the work type icon in the top-left corner next to the work item key
Choose the new work type
If there are different fields in the new work type, or if it has a different workflow, we'll open the move work item screen to complete the change.
Convert a subtask to a work item
Navigate to the subtask work item you would like convert.
Select More actions (•••), then Convert to work item.
In the Step 1. Select Work Type screen, select a new work type (i.e. a standard work type) and select Next.
If the subtask's current status is not an allowed status for the new work item type, the Step 2. Select New Status screen is displayed. Select a new status and click Next.
In the Step 3. Update Fields screen, you will be prompted to enter any additional fields if they are required. Otherwise, you will see the message 'All fields will be updated automatically'. Click Next.
The Step 4. Confirmation screen is displayed. If you are satisfied with the new details for the work item, click Finish.
The work item will be displayed. You will see that it is no longer a subtask, that is, there is no longer a parent work item number displayed at the top of the screen.
Convert a work item to a subtask
Navigate to the work item you would like to convert.
Select More actions (•••), then Convert to subtask.
In the Step 1. Select Parent Work Item and subtask type screen, type or select the appropriate parent work type and the new work type (i.e. a subtask work type). Click Next.
If the work item’s current status is not an allowed status for the new work type, the Step 2. Select New Status screen is displayed. Select a new status and click Next.
In the Step 3. Update Fields screen, you will be prompted to enter any additional fields if they are required. Otherwise, you will see the message 'All fields will be updated automatically'. Select Next.
The Step 4. Confirmation screen is displayed. If you are satisfied with the new details for the work item, click Finish.
The work item will be displayed. You will see that it is now a subtask, that is, its parent's work item number is now displayed at the top of the screen.
You can't convert a work item to a subtask if the work item has subtasks of its own. You first need to convert the work item’s subtasks to standalone work items, then you can convert them to subtasks of another work item if you need to. Subtasks can't be moved directly from one work item to another – you need to convert them to standard work item, then to subtasks of their new parent work item.
Restrict access to a work item
While we recommend working openly, there are times where you may want to restrict who can view a particular piece of work. For example, you may want to restrict who can view tasks related to sensitive financial information, hiring or other personal employment information, or security-related software engineering work.
You can restrict who can view a work item in both company-managed and team-managed projects, but the procedure is different in each.
Restrict access to a work item in a company-managed project
In company-managed projects, you can restrict access by setting the work item’s security level.
To set the work item security level on work items in company-managed projects:
Choose the lock icon at the top-right of the work item. This icon only appears if the project has a security scheme configured.
Select the desired security level.
You can also remove a work item’s security level by selecting the lock icon and selecting Remove security level.
Jira admins can add, edit, or remove security levels (and their membership) through work item security schemes. Learn more about work item security schemes.
Delete a work item
To delete a work item, you must have the Delete work items project permission in the project where the work item was created.
To delete a work item:
Navigate to the work item and view its details.
Select More actions (•••), then Delete.
Was this helpful?