# Strategic Parents

**New in v7.1**

Strategic Parents introduce a hierarchy level above Epics for Jira Standard teams. This feature allows you to group Epics under strategic themes, programs, or initiatives without requiring Jira Premium.

## What Are Strategic Parents?

In Jira Standard, the native hierarchy is limited to Epic > Story (or Task). Strategic Parents extend this by adding a virtual parent layer stored in Forge Storage. This means:

* You can group multiple Epics under a single Strategic Parent.
* The hierarchy is visible and functional within Hiera's views (Timeline, OKR, Portfolio).
* No changes are made to your Jira issue type scheme or project configuration.

Strategic Parents are stored entirely in **Forge Storage** within the Atlassian ecosystem. They are not Jira issues -- they are lightweight parent records managed by Hiera.

## Assigning Strategic Parents

There are two ways to assign Strategic Parents to your Epics:

### Via the Detail Panel

1. Select any Epic in the Timeline, Portfolio, or other view.
2. Open the detail panel (click the issue or use the info button).
3. In the **Strategic Parent** field, select an existing Strategic Parent or create a new one.
4. The assignment takes effect immediately.

### Via the Bulk Assignment Manager

For large-scale assignments, use the Bulk Assignment Manager:

1. Open the **Strategic Parents** section from the toolbar or settings.
2. The Bulk Assignment Manager displays a filterable list of Epics.
3. Use **filters** to narrow the list by status, assignee, area, team, or text search.
4. Use **search** to find specific Epics by key or summary.
5. Select one or more Epics using the checkboxes.
6. Choose a Strategic Parent from the assignment dropdown and click **Assign**.
7. Repeat for other groups as needed.

The Bulk Assignment Manager also supports **CSV export** of the current assignment table, allowing you to review or share assignments offline.

## Hierarchy Integration

Once Strategic Parents are assigned, they appear at the top of the hierarchy in all tree-based views. For example, with a 4-level hierarchy:

```
Strategic Parent > Initiative > Epic > Story
```

Or in simpler configurations:

```
Strategic Parent > Epic > Story
```

Configure the hierarchy via [Hierarchy Setup](/hiera-docs/admin-and-configuration/hierarchy-setup.md) to include Strategic Parents at the appropriate level.

## Data Storage

Strategic Parent records and their assignments are stored in **Forge Storage**, scoped to each Jira site. This means:

* Data never leaves the Atlassian infrastructure.
* Assignments persist across sessions and are visible to all project members.
* Removing the Hiera app will remove Strategic Parent data from Forge Storage.


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