Jira Service Desk lets you set up different field layouts for each request type. The important thing to note here is that, when you are setting up fields for Jira Service Desk, you are not creating new custom fields (as you would in Jira Software); you are simply adding and removing existing fields in the request form when customers create a new request. You can think of this as adding fields onto screens. If you want to add a field that does not yet exist, you will have to create a new custom field first, as described in Chapter 5, Field Management, and then make it available in the request form.
Just as with request types, Jira Service Desk allows you to give a custom display name to the field, independent of the actual field's name. This means that the field can be more informative when displayed to customers. For example, for the Jira Summary field, you can give it a display name of What is the problem you are having?. As the display name is independent of the field's name, your existing filters and search queries will continue to work as they are.
To set up field layouts for a request type, follow these steps:
- Browse to the project administration page for the service desk you want to set up field layouts for.
- Select the Request Types option from the left-hand panel.
- Click on the Edit fields link for the request type you want to set up fields for. This will list all the fields that are currently displayed when customers create a new request:
- Click on the Add a field button and select an existing field (both system and custom) to add to the request type.
- Click on the field's Display name to change what customers will see when the field is displayed. This does not change the field's actual name in Jira; it only makes the display more user-friendly.
- Change the field's mandatory requirement by clicking on the Required column. Note that you cannot change this value if it is grayed out, such as the Summary field.
After you have set up your field layout for the request type, you can click on the View this request form link at the top to see a preview of the result. As shown in the following screenshot, we added the Due Date field to the form, but it is now displayed as When do you need it by?:
