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Create Issue Matrices

After installing the Issue Matrix for Jira Cloud app, you can go to your project’s setting in Jira Cloud and create matrices with configuration options set according to your needs.

The issue matrices are elements with context, type, and data that are visualized in Jira Cloud issues. You may check the Configuration options section in this document for more details on each option offered by Issue Matrix. 

You can create five different types of Issue Matrices:

• Sub-task Matrix - shows the sub-tasks of the current issue.

• Issue Links Matrix - shows issues linked to the current issue.

• Epic Matrix - shows the issues linked to the current epic issue.

• JQL Matrix - shows issues returned by a custom JQL query.

• Similar Matrix - shows issues similar to the current issue

You can create as many Issue Matrices as you like in different projects or issue types. To achieve it, navigate to your project’s settings in Jira Cloud and start creating Issue Matrices. Also, you can create one issue matrix and link it with multiple projects.

Visualization in issues

After creating an Issue Matrix with the configuration of your choice, a new panel will be visualized in the project’s issues with the configured data in it.

Configuration options

Each Issue Matrix configuration consists of the following sections with options: Context, Type, Data, and Sort By. You also need to name your matrix and optionally give it a description.

Context

The context options allow you to define the projects and the issue types where the particular Issue Matrix will be visible.
You can also customize the issue types where the Issue Matrix panel will be shown. By default, the panel is visible in all issue types.

Linking Issue Matrices to projects

You can link a single Issue Matrix to multiple projects, and it will appear in all of them. Changes to multi-project matrix configurations affect all linked projects. Learn more about project linking

Selecting issue types for multi-project matrices

If you have matrices linked to multiple projects, you can choose specific issue types for each project. This way, the matrix panel will only be displayed in the issue types for a given project in the matrix configuration.

For example, let's say that you have a matrix linked to projects A and B. You've selected the issue type Story from Project A and Task from Project B in the Context > Issue Types sub-section. The matrix panel for Project A will appear only in Stories, while for Project B the matrix panel will appear only in Tasks.

Type

The options in this section allow you to choose the type of issues that it will contain based on the matrix type.

For Sub-task and Epic matrices, in the Type > Issue Types sub-section, you can choose the types of issues that will be displayed in matrix panel.

For multi-project matrices, you can select issue types from each project. A linked project’s matrix panel will contain only the issue types selected from that project in the configuration. Learn more about project linking

Suppose, there is a matrix linked to projects A and B, and in the Type > Issue Types sub-section and you’ve chosen issue type Bug from project A and Sub-task from project B. The matrix panel for project A will contain only Bugs, but project B’s matrix will show only Sub-tasks.

Filter JQL option allows you to enter a JQL query in the configuration to further filter the issues displayed in the matrix panel.

Data

Columns

You have to choose columns, to create an Issue Matrix successfully. You can select most of the custom fields from your Jira Cloud instance and set them as columns in the Issue Matrix panel even if the selected issue types don’t use them. Check the list of custom fields that have specifics in the implementation.

Issue Matrix for Jira Cloud allows you to customize the width of each column to achieve better overall visualization and alignment. You can specify the column width in pixels ("px") or as a percentage of the table width ("%"). Examples: 20px, 25%.

When choosing a field for a column in the Issue Matrix panel, the column width is initially set to "Auto." "Auto" stands for automatic sizing, and the column width, in this case, is automatically determined by the browser. If you want to set the customized width of a column back to Auto, delete the contents of the Width field.

Results

By default, the Issue Matrix panel shows all available results. However, you can use the Results section to set the maximum number of displayed issues. Which issues are displayed depends on the sorting field you've selected in the Sort By section during matrix configuration, or your decision to sort by any column in the Issue Matrix. If you haven't made a sorting choice, the arrangement of issues in your matrix panel will be handled by Jira's algorithm.

For example, if you've chosen to sort by the Summary field, set a 50-issue limit for your matrix, and there are 70 issues available, the first 50 will be shown based on their alphabetical order in the Summary field. If you haven't chosen a sorting field, you can directly sort the results by a column in the matrix itself. If none of that is done, the 50 issues you see will follow Jira's arrangement.

Categories

Configuring issue categories is an optional step in creating your Issue Matrix. Issue categories help organize and spot certain issues easily. All Issue Matrix types support categories. Learn more about Issue Categories.

Sort By

Having issues ordered per your team’s needs is essential for productive work in Jira. 

In Issue Matrix, you can set a default order for the issues displayed in an Issue Matrix panel. Just choose one or more sortable columns in the Sort by section of the configuration. Only sortable fields are listed in the configuration.

For example, you might choose the Summary and Status columns as a default sort order criteria. Then, after saving the Issue Matrix configuration and opening an issue, you’ll be able to see the issues in the Issue Matrix ordered accordingly.