Project Manager

With Structure, you can easily create a visual overview of your projects – and visualize all the data you need to track on a single screen.

Step 1: Build Your Structure

To create a new structure:

• Open the Structure Selector menu and select Create New Structure

• Use the +Add menu to add work items and build your hierarchy:

  • Use Presets to use one of Structure's preconfigured hierarchies

  • Or configuring your own hierarchy using +Add | Insert | Basic Insert, +Add | Group, and +Add | Extend

Step 2: Add Data

Next, add the data you need to track by clicking the + button at the top-right corner of the structure. You can add as many columns as you need, including:

• Jira Fields - For each Jira field, Structure offers a column that displays that field's value.

• Progress - Display an aggregate work item progress, which is calculated based on values from the work item and its sub-work items.

• Totals  - Display aggregate values for work item progress, which include progress values from sub-work items.

• Service Management - Jira Service Management customers can visualize and manage SLA fields within a structure.

• Work Logged - View and manage Timesheets by Tempo work logged data alongside your project data.

• Many more - To learn more about the available columns, see Adding Columns.

Once you've added your columns, you can aggregate the data up the structure. To do so, open the column you want to aggregate and select Sum over sub-items.

Looking to visualize your structure data as a chart or other report? Our integration with Custom Charts for Jira makes it easy to build customizable charts from your structure data. Learn more

Create a structure to organize and track Objectives and Key Results across all your Jira projects.

https://www.loom.com/share/2213e5910bf34d358b4f284a39be086c

Step 1: Build an OKR Project in Jira

We recommend adding 2 work types to your project:

1. Objectives - the Parent items

2. Key Results - the Child items

Step 2: Add Objectives to the Structure

1. Create a new structure using Power mode

2. In the new structure, go to + Add | Insert | Basic Insert

3. Configure the following:

   • Project: <Select your OKR project>

   • Work Type: Objective

4. Click Create

Step 3: Add Key Results

1. Go to + Add | Extend | Child Work Items

2. Configure the following:

   • Check the Work Items under epics box

   • Check the Moving an item in the structure will change its parent work item in Jira box

   • Extend levels: 1 to 5

3. Click Create

Step 4: Add Epics

1. Go to + Add | Extend | Linked Items

2. Configure the following:

   • Link type: Add the link type you use to connect your epics to key results (we used Implements, but you may prefer another link, such as Relates to, etc.)

   • Check the Moving items in the structure will update links box

   • Extend levels: 2 to 2

You don’t have to use Epics for these - add whatever type of work item your team uses to track key results (tasks, stories, etc.).

Once you add your epics, you should see any child stories/tasks automatically added beneath them - this is because of the Extend Child Work Items generator we added in Step 3.

Step 5: Link Epics to Key Results

If you’ve already linked epics to key results in Jira, you should see those in the hierarchy. If not, or if you want to add more, here’s an easy way to link epics to key results:

1. Create a structure that contains the epics you want to link to your key results (or use one you already have!)

2. Select Split in the Structure toolbar to open a second structure panel

   • In the left panel, open the OKR structure

   • In the right panel, open the structure with your epics

3. Drag epics from the right panel under the appropriate Key Result in the left panel - this will automatically add links between your key results and epics (if it doesn’t, open your Extend Linked Items generator and make sure the Moving items in the structure will update links box is checked)

 If an epic affects more than one key result, you can place it under as many key results as necessary and have its data reflected for all of them!

Step 6: Add Data

Next, add the data you need to track by clicking the + button at the top-right corner of the structure. You can add as many columns as you need, including:

• Jira Fields - For each Jira field, Structure offers a column that displays that field's value.

• Progress - Display an aggregate work item progress, which is calculated based on values from the work item and its sub-work items.

• Totals  - Display aggregate values for work item progress, which include progress values from sub-work items.

• Service Management - Jira Service Management customers can visualize and manage SLA fields within a structure.

• Work Logged - View and manage Timesheets by Tempo work logged data alongside your project data.

• Many more - To learn more about the available columns, see Adding Columns.

Once you've added your columns, you can aggregate the data up the structure. To do so, open the column you want to aggregate and select Sum over sub-items.

With Structure, you can easily organize work items into an advanced Agile hierarchy (Epics > Issues > Sub-tasks) AND identify any issues that aren't attached to epics.

Step 1: Create a New Structure

Open the Structure Selector menu and select Create New Structure.

Step 2: Add Two Flex items

Open the +Add menu and select Flex item. Add two Flex items, named:

• "Agile Hierarchy"

• "Issues without Epics"

Step 3: Insert Epics

Select the Agile Hierarchy Flex item, so that its row is highlighted, and add a JQL Query Insert Generator:

1. Go to +Add | Insert | JQL Query

2. Enter the following JQL query: issuetype = Epic

   • To limit the epics to specific projects or other variables, add additional specifications (Example: AND project = "My Epics")

3. Change the Place the generators on selection to Level below - this will add the epics under the Agile Hierarchy Flex item

4. Click Create

All your epics should now be placed beneath the Agile Hierarchy Flex item.

If the epics did not appear beneath the Agile Hierarchy Flex item, your generator was probably placed at the top of the structure, instead of beneath the Flex item. Select the "Insert issues: issuetype = Epic" row and drag it to beneath the Agile Hierarchy Flex item (see the picture above).

Step 4: Insert Work Items and Sub-tasks

Make sure the "Insert issues: issuetype = Epic" row is selected, and return to the +Add menu. This time, select Extend | Child Work Items. Under Add, select Work Items below epics and Sub-tasks.

Step 5: Insert Work Items without Epics

Next, we need to make sure we don't lose track of any work items that aren't linked to epics yet. That's what our second Flex item is for:

1. Select  the "Issues without Epics" Flex item

2. Go to: +Add | Insert | JQL Query

3. Enter the following JQL query: issuetype != Epic AND issuetype in standardIssueTypes() AND "Epic Link" is empty

   • If you narrowed your query to specific projects, etc. for your epics, do the same here

4. Change the Place the generators on selection to Level below - this will add our work items under the Flex item

5. Click Create

Any work items that are not assigned to epics should now appear beneath the second Flex item.

If no work items appear under the Issues without Epics Flex item, make sure the Insert Generator is located in the right location - if not, drag the generator to beneath the Issues without Epics Flex item (see the picture above).

Step 6: Assign Work Items to Epics / Reassign Work Items

Now that you have all your work items organized and in one place, you can assign work items from the second Flex item to epics, or even reassign work items that already have epics.

Assigning Work Items to Epics

To assign work items in the second Flex item to an epic:

• Drag the work items to the epic you want to assigned them to.

• While dragging, hold down the ctrl key - this copies the work item to the new location in the structure. Once the work item is copied to the new location, it should disappear from beneath the second Flex item (because now it's assigned to an epic). 

Don't worry: copying an item in Structure does not make a copy in Jira.

Reassigning Work Items to New Epics

To reassign work items from one epic to another, simply drag them from beneath their current epic to the new epic.

With Structure, you can track all the work items for upcoming releases – even if they're from different projects – and visualize all the data you need to track on a single screen.

Step 1: Build a Release Management Structure

To create a structure for release management: 

1. Open the Structure Selector menu and select Create New Structure

2. Add the work items you want to track – you can add them manually or automatically using +Add | Insert | Basic Insert

3. Group work items by fix version: +Add | Group | Field | select "Fix Version/s"

Want to include epics and stories?

1. When inserting work items, add epics: +Add | Insert | Basic Insert | open the Issue Types dropdown and select Epic

2. Add your stories: +Add | Insert | Child Work Items | under Add, select Work Items under epics and (optional) Sub-tasks.

Step 2: Add Data

Next, add the data you need to track by clicking the + button at the top-right corner of the structure. You can add as many columns as you need, including:

• Jira Fields - For each Jira field, Structure offers a column that displays that field's value.

• Progress - Display an aggregate work item progress, which is calculated based on values from the work item and its sub-work items.

• Totals  - Display aggregate values for work item progress, which include progress values from sub-work items.

• Service Management - Jira Service Management customers can visualize and manage SLA fields within a structure.

• Work Logged - View and manage Timesheets by Tempo work logged data alongside your project data.

• Many more - To learn more about the available columns, see Adding Columns.

Once you've added your columns, you can aggregate the data up the structure. To do so, open the column you want to aggregate and select Sum over sub-items.

Looking to manage resources for your next project? Planner makes it easy to plan resources and capacity for your team.

Tempo's Strategic Portfolio Management solution is a modular approach to help organizations focus their priorities, people, and spend across their portfolio of products and services.

1. Plan and manage your work in Structure.

2. Convert your plans into boardroom-ready roadmaps in Strategic Roadmaps.

3. Monitor the financial health of your portfolio using Financial Manager and Structure.

4. Manage resources and resource allocation with Capacity Planner and Gantt Charts for Structure.

5. Build custom reports to monitor your portfolio with Custom Charts.

The following products are part of Tempo's Strategic Portfolio Management solution. Pick the ones that are right for your teams, or try them all - you can download free trials using the links below.

• Strategic Roadmaps

• Structure

• Gantt Charts for Structure

• Timesheets and Financial Manager

• Capacity Planner

• Custom Charts for Jira

Strategic Portfolio Management with Tempo Apps

When you're working across multiple projects and teams, chances are there are some inconsistencies between the link types being used. 

The following guide will show you how to quickly update all your links to a single, consistent link type using Structure.

The examples below demonstrate how to update link types for an initiative, but the same process can be used for other link types as well.

Step 1: Build a Simple Structure

1. Create a new, blank structure and add 2 flex items: "Original Link Type" and "New Link Type". 

2. Manually add your parent initiative to both flex items. Note: this should be the same initiative for both.

Step 2: Add Epics

1. Highlight the Original Link Type flex item and add a Linked Work Item generator: +Add | Extend | Linked Items | select the inconsistent link type

2. Highlight the New Link Type flex item and add a Linked Work Item generator: +Add | Extend | Linked Items | select the desired link type

Make sure the Moving items in the struture will update links option is checked for both generators.

Step 3: Update Link Types

Select all the work items under the generator added to the first flex item, and drag them to the second flex item, as children of the same initiative.

Structure will automatically replace all the old links with the new link type.

Need to keep the original links too? When dragging the items, hold down the "ctrl" key (Option key on Mac) to copy the items to the new iniative.

Additional Use Cases

You can also use this same method to:

• Update other link types - just edit your Extend | Link generators and the original item added to each flex item

• Remove links - include an empty flex item (no Extend generator) and drag your linked work items to the empty flex item - the original link will be removed without adding a new link

Use Structure to identify:

1. Overdue tasks

2. Number of overdue tasks per epic, initiative, or other larger grouping

Step 1: Build Your Structure

In this guide, we're going to show you how to track overdue tasks at the epic level. To track overdue tasks for initiatives or any other large groupings, simply reconfigure the structure hierarchy - this can be done using a Preset or Insert, Extend, and Group generators.

To create a new structure using a Preset:

1. Open the Structure Selector menu and select Create New Structure

2. Automatically build an Epic > Story > Sub-task hierarchy: +Add | Preset | Agile Hierarchy

To create a new structure using Insert, Extend, and Group generators:

1. Open the Structure Selector menu and select Create New Structure

2. Add epics: +Add | Insert | Basic Insert | open the Work Type dropdown and select Epic

   • To limit the epics to specific projects, use the Projects dropdown

3. Add stories and sub-tasks: +Add | Insert | Child Work Items | under Add, select Work items under epics and Sub-tasks.

Step 2: Mark Overdue Tasks

Once you have your structure in place, the next step is to identify all the overdue items. To do this, we need to add a formula column. Click the + button to the right of the column headers, go to Formula, and select Formula.

Give the column an appropriate name and enter the following into the Formula section: IFdue_date < today(): "overdue"

If you used "due_date" in your formula, the variable will automatically be mapped to the Due Date attribute. If you used another name for that variable (for example, “due”), you will need to define the variable by pointing it to the appropriate Due Date attribute.

Variations

This is just one way to mark overdue items. You could also:

• Create a more visual warning that highlights not only overdue items, but also items coming due. You can read how to do this in Markdown in Formula Columns.

• Create a formula that relies on another due date.  For example, you may want to flag work items that aren't completed by the due date of their parent epic. In this case, change the formula to: IF(type = "Story" and status != "Done" and parent{due_date} < today(); "overdue")

Step 3: Aggregate Overdue Items for Epics, Initiatives, etc.

In the previous example we were simply returning the string “overdue”, but if we give that "overdue" flag a numeric value ("1"), we can use the Sum over sub-items option to aggregate those values up the hierarchy. To accomplish this:

1. In place of the formula we created in step 1, enter the following: IF(type = "Story" and status != "Done" and due_date < today(); 1)

2. Check the Sum over sub-items box

In this example, we limited our scope to only stories that are not yet "Done" - depending on your situation, you may want to adjust this to include other work item types, add additional qualifications, etc.