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The creation dialog displayed when choosing to create an issue on IBM ELM can be configured to suit your needs.

In this article, we guide you through the few steps required to set up a dedicated creation dialog for each issue type you use on Jira.

Jira Screens and how to use them

If you’re not familiar with Jira Administration, there are a few concepts that could require some clarification:

  • Field: An issue attribute. An issue Name, Due Date, or Epic Link are three examples of an issue Field.

  • Screen: An ordered list of Fields. A screen is a choice of display for an issue type and context. This allows showing different fields when you’re, for example, creating a Task and a Bug.

  • Screen Scheme: This is where we map Screens with Issue Operations, allowing for showing different Fields when creating an issue and editing it.

In this article, we are interested in editing the Default Screen, which is the screen used for creating, editing, and viewing an issue and then defining for which issue type our custom screen will be used.

Screens

Management page

You should first reach the Screen configuration page in Jira:

  1. Click the Jira Administration icon in the top right corner and go to the Issues tab.

  2. Click Screens in the Screens section.

Using this page, we can manage existing Screens and create new ones.

Before editing screens: Jira offers a quick way to create a copy of a Screen on this page, you can use this to create a temporary backup of the Screen you will edit.

Note that editing a screen will not modify the issues linked to it in any way other than their display.

Configuration page

Search for the Screen used in your project, it should start with the Project Key if you do not use custom Screens. Then click Configure.

The configuration screen offers the following features:

  • Adding, renaming, and removing Field Tabs.

  • Adding, ordering, and removing Fields in existing Field Tabs.

Using these options, you can customize the screen to show the desired Fields in the Creation Dialog.

Doing this, you should already see a difference when you try to create an issue from IBM ELM.

Related documentation:

Screen Schemes

Management page

The Screen Schemes management page is very similar to Screen management, you can reach it below the Screen configuration page:

  1. Click the Jira Administration icon in the top right corner and go to the Issues tab.

  2. Click Screens schemes in the Screens section.

Using this page, we can manage existing Screens Schemes and create new ones.

Before editing screen schemes: once again, you may want to create a copy of a Screen Scheme before configuring it, this will allow you to easily revert unwanted changes.

Configuration page

Search for the Screen Scheme used in your project, it should start with the Project Key if you do not use custom Screen Schemes. Then click Configure.

The configuration screen offers the following features:

  • Associate an issue operation (Create, Edit, View) with a screen.

  • Change or delete the Screen associated with an issue operation by clicking the Edit or Delete button.

An issue operation that doesn’t have a screen associated will use the Default screen defined on the top row.

Using these options, you can precisely define the Screen used when using the Creation Dialog in IBM ELM.

Related documentation:

Issue Type Screen Schemes

Management page

This third management page offers the same options as the previous two and is located in the same Screens section of the Jira Issue administration:

  1. Click the Jira Administration icon in the top right corner and go to the Issues tab.

  2. Click Issue type screen schemes in the Screens section.

Using this page, we can manage existing Issue Type Screen Schemes and create new ones.

Configuration page

Search for the Issue Type Screen Scheme used in your project, it should start with the Project Key if you do not use custom Issue Type Screen Schemes. Then click Configure.

The configuration screen offers the following features:

  • Associate an Issue Type with a Screen Scheme.

  • Change or delete the Screen Scheme associated with an issue type by clicking the Edit or Delete button.

An issue type that doesn’t have a Screen Scheme associated will use the Default screen scheme defined on the top row.

Related documentation:

Issue Type Mapping

There is one last configuration step that you can take to fully customize your Jira Issue Creation Dialog on IBM ELM, the Issue Type Mapping. Following this configuration step will allow you to have the desired Issue Type automatically selected when creating a Jira Issue from IBM ELM.

To reach this configuration page, simply follow:

  1. Click the Jira Administration icon in the top right corner and go to the Manage apps tab.

  2. Click Issue Type Mapping in the OSLC Connect section.

This page provides us with a way to have a specific mapping between your Jira Issue Types (Task, Bug, etc.) and Change Management domain Artifact Types (Requirement Change Request, Defect, etc.)

  1. Select an Issue Type Scheme in the Scheme list.

  2. For each Artifact Type, you can either:

    1. Leave the default value to use the Scheme Default Type.

    2. Click Customize and select an Issue Type in the list.

  3. Once you’re done matching CM Artifact Types to Jira Issue Types, click Save.

Wrap up

Checking the result

Open any ELM Project Area for which you have an active Project Association with Jira, start the linking procedure from an existing artifact and choose to Create new in the Add Link dialog.

In the opening Creation Dialog, check the following:

  • The selected Issue Type matches the type you chose in the Issue Type Mapping step.

  • The fields selected in the Screen step are available for modification.

Removing backups

If you created backups during this procedure, remember to go back to the Screens, Screen Schemes, and Issue Type Screen Schemes pages to remove them.