Requirements can be covered by Tests and are the expected result for the system. 

Defects are identified during Tests Executions and represent a condition in the system that does not meet the requirement or end-user expectations. 

In Jira, Requirements and Defects are going to be created as issues inside a project.



Decide which issue types to use


Discuss with your team which issue types you will consider as Requirements & Defects. If none of the existing issues types are suitable, you can always create new ones!

Nevertheless, remember that you can re-use existing issue types and you don't need to create extra ones.

What issues type can be used as Requirements?

Basically, any issue type can be mapped as a Requirement in Jira, but the most common ones are: 




What issue types can be used as Defects?

As with Requirements, any issue type can be considered a Defect. 

The most common to use is the "Bug" issue type that is available by default when you install Jira Software.


Map Requirements & Defects


  1. Go to  Jira Administration > Manage Apps > Xray > Issue Type Mapping and drag-and-drop the issue types that should be considered "Requirements" and "Defects."

2. Click "Save"



Confirm Sub-Requirements behaviour

By default Xray will have the following settings enabled: 


This means that a Requirement can be associated with Sub-Requirements, resulting in a hierarchy of Requirement issues. With these options enabled, you will have this behaviour by just using the relation: 

  • Issue > Sub-Task - For example using issue types like "Requirement" & "Sub-Requirements"
  • Epic > Story 


To have "Sub-Tasks / Links" working correctly, you need to have the Sub-Task requirement issue types associated with "Requirements" in the "Issue Type Mapping" section. For example, you can create a new issue type Sub-Requirement / Sub-Story and mapped as a Requirement.


If you decide to disable these options, you can set the sub-requirement behaviour using the Jira linking mechanism. You just need to select which "Issue Link Type" to use and the correct "Direction. 



A Jira re-index operation is recommended when there are changes to Issue Type Mappings.