Switching to TreeCraft
How to bring a hierarchy over from another app, rebuild what it did, and run both apps side by side until you are sure.
On this page
What moves and what you rebuild
Your work items stay in Jira, so there is nothing to move there. What you bring over is the way another app arranged them, and what it did for you.
| What | How it comes over |
|---|---|
| The rows: which work items sit where, and the grouping rows | Imported from a spreadsheet export (steps 1 and 2). |
| The other app's columns and their values | Not imported. TreeCraft works out its own. The import page suggests a TreeCraft column for each column the file had. |
| Rules that fill the tree from queries, boards and links | Rebuilt as TreeCraft rules (step 3). |
| Formulas | Rebuilt as TreeCraft formulas (step 4). |
Step 1: Export the tree from your current app
Open the tree you want to bring over and expand every level, so that every row is showing. Then export it to Excel (.xlsx or .xls) or to CSV, with your current app's own export.
The export needs:
- The work item key, such as
PROJ-123, in a column of its own. - The summary. TreeCraft finds the Summary and Key columns by their names, in any case and in several languages. When no column is named Key, it uses the column whose values look like work item keys.
- The levels. TreeCraft reads the rows' outline levels, else the indent of the Summary. In a .csv file it reads a level column, outline numbers such as
1.2.3, or the spaces before each Summary.
A row without a work item key, such as a grouping row, becomes a folder named by its Summary. The first sheet of the file is read, and row 1 holds the column names. A file can be up to 20 MB.
Step 2: Import it
Importing makes a new hierarchy. It is for Jira admins and app admins. If you are neither, send the file to one of them.
- Open the app's settings: in Jira's administration area, under Apps, choose TreeCraft, or choose Settings at the bottom of the list of hierarchies.
- In the Data and support group, choose Import a hierarchy, then choose the file. The file is read in your browser and never leaves it.
- Check the preview. It shows the columns found, how the levels were read, the counts of rows, work items and folders, and the tree. It lists anything to check, with row numbers.
- Name the hierarchy and select Import.
- Select Open the hierarchy.
The new hierarchy is yours, and only you can see it until you share it from its settings. See Import a hierarchy for how rows are read and what the page checks.
The imported hierarchy holds the rows as they were in the file, placed by hand. It has no rules yet, so arranging its rows changes nothing in Jira.
Step 3: Rebuild the automation
Rules are how TreeCraft keeps a tree up to date as work items change. The rules your current app used to fill its tree become TreeCraft rules.
On sites with Rovo, Build with Rovo does most of this for you. It is at the top of the Rules panel, for people with Automate on the hierarchy.
- Open the imported hierarchy, then Panels and Rules.
- Copy the old app's rules as text, in its own words, and paste them in the Build with Rovo box, under the line "Coming from another app?". You can paste up to 6,000 characters, about 20 long rules.
- Rovo opens its chat and proposes the matching TreeCraft rules. Before it adds anything, it states each rule's direction and settings in plain words, so that you can check them against the old app.
- Confirm in the chat. Rovo adds the rules, 10 at a time. A hierarchy holds at most 30 rules.
Some parts have no TreeCraft rule, and Rovo says so when it meets them. Redo formulas with Ask Rovo (step 4), coloured rows with conditional formatting, write-backs by hand in Write-backs, and views by hand: set the columns, then save the view. See Coming from another app for the details.
Without Rovo, add the rules yourself in the Rules panel. See Rule types.
Step 4: Rebuild formulas with Ask Rovo
In the formula dialog, Ask Rovo opens Rovo chat on the TreeCraft hierarchy helper. Paste the old app's formula, or describe in words what the column showed, and ask for the same in TreeCraft. The agent writes the formula from the app's own functions and from your site's fields, checks it with the app's formula checker, and explains it. After you agree, it saves the column to your own column library, and you add it to a hierarchy from + Column, under Library · yours. See Formulas and queries.
Compare the result with the old column on a few rows you know before you rely on it.
Without Rovo, write the formula in the dialog. The formula reference lists the functions, and the box suggests names as you type.
Step 5: Run both apps side by side
TreeCraft installs next to the app you use now. The two keep their own hierarchies, and TreeCraft doesn't read or change the other app's data. Work items are the same in both, so a change made in Jira shows in both.
During the trial, import one tree, rebuild its rules and formulas, and let your team use both for a while. TreeCraft is sold through the Atlassian Marketplace, and you can try it free first.
One thing is shared: Jira. In a TreeCraft hierarchy built by rules, moving a work item can change its parent or link in Jira, and the other app shows that change too. See Moving rows that rules placed. The imported hierarchy has no rules, so it is safe to arrange while you compare.
Questions about the app? Write to info@plugincraft.ca.