Getting started with Jira

Jira is a project management tool to help you plan, and track work across all teams.

To request a new Jira project or Plan, access to an existing project, or support with an existing project please get in touch with IST’s Atlassian Support.

Jira projects

A project is a container used to organize and track those tasks, or issues, across a team. A Jira project is configurable and can be customized to map around organizational structure, workflow, or level of agile maturity. Learn more about Jira projects.

Project templates

When you request a new project be created, you can select your project template. The templates are pre-configured to support how your team does their work. Learn more about the different Jira project templates.

Permissions

A role is a set of permissions granted to a user or group. Learn more about Jira roles.

The University of Waterloo uses Grouper to manage groups in Atlassian. When a project is created IST creates an administrator and developer group in Grouper and syncs this to the Jira project with the appropriate project role. Project administrators are permitted to add and remove users from these groups in Grouper. Learn more about how to add and remove users from Grouper.

Notes:

• When using Grouper you will need to be connected to the internet on-campus or utilize the VPN.

• Administrators and agents must have a Jira Service Management license to access the project. A license can be requested from IST by completing the Atlassian request form

Boards

Boards accompany Jira projects by default and are designed to provide teams a shared view of all the work that hasn’t started, is in progress, and is completed. The type of board that appears in a project depends on the selected project template.

Learn more about boards and how to configure them.

Views

The timeline is a planning view available in all Jira project templates that allows you to plan work, track progress, and map dependencies. Learn more about timelines.

A list is a view that sorts work into a single list that can be quickly scanned and sorted by field. Issues can be added, edited, and viewed in the list. Learn more about lists.

A calendar is a view that allows you to visualize and plan work. It makes it easy to see when tasks are due in the upcoming weeks and months. Learn more about calendars.

Issues, issue types, and issue hierarchies

An issue represents an individual unit of work, you can update issues to track progress and configure the data that appears in them. Learn more about issues and how to use them.

An issue type helps you identify and categorize different types of work. Issue types manage the foundational features of an issue. The default issue types in a project depends on the selected project template. Learn more about issue types.

The issue hierarchy is a configuration that shows how work ladders up based on the issue types. The University of Waterloo has the Premium version of Jira. This version provides an additional hierarchy level above the ‘Epic’ called an ‘Initiative’. Learn more about the issue hierarchy.

Workflows

A workflow is the path your issues take from creation to completion. It is made of transitions and statuses, that dictate how your work flows. Learn more about workflows.

Reports and dashboards

Reports enable a team to visualize trends in projects, versions, epics, sprints, and issues. Learn more about reports.

Dashboards are a collection of “gadgets”, or pre-installed data displays, that show various types of real-time information to help track and monitor work across projects. Learn more about dashboards.

Automation

Automation allows you to automate processes and workflow, removing the need for you and your team to perform manual tasks. Each automation rule is made of three parts; triggers, conditions, and actions. Learn more about automation and how to write automation rules.

Plans

Plans combine issues from boards, projects, and filters to create an all-encompassing plan. Plans help estimate release dates for cross-team projects, answer staffing and resource questions, or map yearly goals. Learn more about plans.

Advanced planning

Advanced planning is a set of capabilities in Plans. Plans pull data from boards, projects, and filters in Jira to visualize work in a customizable interface. Functioning as a sandbox environment, you can plan and experiment before updating your original data in Jira. Learn more about how your team can leverage advanced planning.

Timeline

The timeline is a planning view available in all Jira plans that allows you to plan work, track progress, and map dependencies. Learn more about timelines.

Jira Query Language (JQL)

Jira Query Langauge is the most flexible way to search. Jira Query Language can be used to configure boards, reports, advanced searches, filters, and more. Learn more about using Jira Query Language.

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