Learn how to link Meisterplan projects to existing Jira Epics or create new Jira Epics directly from Meisterplan projects. This allows you to connect tasks, effort, and other Jira data directly to your planning.
- Prerequesites
- Linking a Project to Jira
- Creating a Jira Epic from a Meisterplan Project
- Remove a Link
Prerequesites
To link projects or create a Jira Epic from a Meisterplan project, at least one Jira Link must have been added to your Meisterplan system. Learn how to add Jira Links in the Configuring Jira Links article.
To create a Jira Epic from a Meisterplan project, the project must not already be linked to a Jira Epic. In addition, a Jira space must be configured for the Jira link you are using. If no Jira space is configured, the option to create a Jira Epic will not be available.
Find out how to test the Jira Connector without risking live data in the Testing the Jira Connection article.
Required User Rights
To link a project with Jira, your Meisterplan user account must have the following rights:
- Manage > User Groups > Integrations > Connected Tools > Project & Task Management Tools > Use
- Edit Rights for the desired scenario or Edit Plan of Record
- Manage > User Groups > Project & Resource Planning > Projects > Add Projects
- The Meisterplan project you will link must belong to the current portfolio
Additional prerequisites for creating a Jira Epic from a Meisterplan project:
- The automation user must have read access to the Meisterplan fields that are synchronized via the Jira link.
- The user logged in to Jira must have permission to create Jira Epics and edit the mapped Jira fields.
Linking a Project to Jira
The following are the steps to link Meisterplan projects to Jira in the Portfolio Designer:
Step 1: Select a project by clicking on the project name in the list or on the project bar in the Gantt chart.
Step 2: Open the Information Panel by clicking on the Link icon in the right sidebar:
Step 3: Select Jira to create a link:
Step 4: Select the Jira link that contains the Jira issues you want to link to this project and click Continue:
You may get prompted to authorize access to Jira. Learn more in the article Configuring Jira Links.
If the desired Jira space is missing from the list, you can create an additional Jira link by clicking Add New Link.
In the dialog, specify which Jira data the Meisterplan project should be linked to. Select Link Existing Epic in Jira to choose a Jira Epic from the list, or Link Using JQL to define the Jira data to be linked using a JQL query:
Depending on the selected option, proceed with the relevant next step.
Step 5a (Link Existing Epic in Jira): Select a Jira epic by clicking the entry in the list:
Meisterplan displays up to 100 Epics from the Jira space configured for the active Jira link. You can filter the epics by Jira project or epic status using the drop-down controls. You can also use the search box to search for epic names.
Epics or parents are always displayed by their epic name, not by their summary.
If the desired epics are not in the active Jira space, click Back and select a different space in the previous step.
Step 5b: (Link Using JQL): Enter a JQL query:
You'll find an introduction to JQL as well as example queries in the Easy JQL Queries in Meisterplan article. If you need further assistance, just ask an expert in your company (e.g., the project lead or the Scrum Master/Agile Coach, or also the team itself). We recommend to test the query in Jira first to ensure you get the desired result(s).
Meisterplan displays up to 100 of the epics in the Jira instance configured for the active Jira Link.
If you want to see the query results before linking, click the Preview the Results in Jira button. This will open Jira in a new browser window.
Step 6: Once you have selected an epic or entered a JQL query, click on the Import button.
You can also automatically link Jira epics to Meisterplan projects via the REST API, Zapier, or Power Automate, and include the Jira links stored in your Meisterplan system. Simply enter the tool key of the Jira link you want to use in the toolKey field of the Task Management > Create or Update Task Management Link endpoint, or in the Tool Key field in Zapier or Power Automate.
Result
When you've connected your project to a project in Jira, you can:
- Visualize Jira tasks in a project's details
- Compare allocations and Jira effort on the project level
- Compare allocations and Jira effort across the portfolio
Note: If you rename the Jira issue type Epic, the synchronization with Meisterplan will no longer work, as Meisterplan relies on this specific issue type.
Creating a Jira Epic from a Meisterplan Project
Instead of linking a Meisterplan project to an existing Jira Epic, you can create a new Jira Epic directly from the Meisterplan project. The new Epic will then be automatically linked to the Meisterplan project.
Follow these steps to create a Jira Epic from a Meisterplan project:
Step 1: In the Portfolio Designer, the List or the Board view, select a project that is not yet linked to Jira. Then either click the link icon to open the task overview in the Information Panel or open the Task Timeline tab in the project details. Next, select Jira.
Step 2: Select the Jira link you want to use to create and link the Jira Epic, then click Continue. All Jira links are displayed, regardless of whether a Jira space has been configured.
You may be prompted to authorize access to Jira.
Step 3: Select Create New Epic in Jira.
If this option is disabled, no Jira space has been configured for the selected Jira link. In this case, select a different Jira link or configure a Jira space for the Jira link you want to use.
Step 4: Click Create & Link Project to create the Jira Epic.
The Jira Epic will be created in the background and then automatically linked to the Meisterplan project.
Project Data Transferred
When creating a Jira Epic, Meisterplan applies the field mappings configured in the selected Jira link.
All mapped field values from the Meisterplan project are transferred to Jira when the Jira Epic is created, regardless of the synchronization direction configured for the respective field mapping.
After the Jira Epic has been created, further updates are synchronized according to the synchronization directions configured for the field mappings.
If a field value is not available in Jira, it is not transferred.
Result
After the Jira Epic has been created successfully, it is automatically linked to the Meisterplan project. The Epic is created in the Jira space associated with the selected Jira link.
Remove a Link
If you want to remove the link between a Meisterplan project and the respective Jira data, click More Actions in the Information Panel and select Unlink Project:
When you unlink a project, information such as the linked Jira issues or the predicted finish date is no longer available for this project.