Jira 8 Essentials. E-Book

Patrick Li

• Herausgeber: Packt Publishing
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 496

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

This new and improved sixth edition comes with the latest Jira 8.21 Data Center offerings, with enhanced features such as clustering, advanced roadmaps, custom field optimization, and tools to track and manage tasks for your projects. This comprehensive guide to Jira 8.20.x LTS version provides updated content on project tracking, issue and field management, workflows, Jira Service Management, and security.
The book begins by showing you how to plan and set up a new Jira instance from scratch before getting you acquainted with key features such as emails, workflows, and business processes. You’ll also get to grips with Jira’s data hierarchy and design and work with projects. Since Jira is used for issue management, this book will help you understand the different issues that can arise in your projects. As you advance, you’ll create new screens from scratch and customize them to suit your requirements. Workflows, business processes, and guides on setting up incoming and outgoing mail servers will be covered alongside Jira’s security model and Jira Service Management. Toward the end, you’ll learn how Jira capabilities are extended with third-party apps from Atlassian marketplace.
By the end of this Jira book, you’ll have understood core components and functionalities of Jira and be able to implement them in business projects with ease.

Leseprobe

Jira 8 Essentials

Effective project tracking and issue management with enhanced Jira 8.21 and Data Center features

Patrick Li

BIRMINGHAM—MUMBAI

Jira 8 Essentials

Copyright © 2022 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing or its dealers and distributors, will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

Group Product Manager: Alok Dhuri

Publishing Product Manager: Harshal Gundetty

Senior Editor: Nithya Sadanandan

Content Development Editor: Rosal Colaco

Technical Editor: Pradeep Sahu

Copy Editor: Safis Editing

Project Coordinator: Manisha Singh

Proofreader: Safis Editing

Indexer: Rekha Nair

Production Designer: Vijay Kamble

Developer Relations Marketing Executives: Deepak Kumar and Rayyan Khan

Business Development Executive: Uzma Sheerin

First published: June 2015

Second edition: January 2018

Third edition: April 2015

Fourth edition: November 2016

Fifth edition: February 2019

Sixth edition: October 2022

Production reference: 1141022

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place

35 Livery Street

Birmingham

B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-80323-265-2

www.packt.com

To Johnny and Fanny, my family far away in Sweden. Without your constant belief and support, this will not have been possible through these hard times.

– Patrick Li

Contributors

About the author

Patrick Li is the cofounder of AppFusions and works as a senior engineer there, specializing in integration solutions with many enterprise applications and platforms, including IBM Connections, Jive, Google Apps, and more. He has worked in the Atlassian ecosystem for over 10 years, developing products and solutions for the Atlassian platform and providing expert consulting services. He has authored many books and video courses covering Jira. He has extensive experience in designing and deploying Atlassian solutions from the ground up and customizing existing deployments for clients across verticals such as healthcare, software engineering, financial services, and government agencies.

About the reviewer

Daniel Brvnišťan is an experienced agile product owner focused on Atlassian stack, online channels, and localization, with a passion to make things work. He likes to groom the backlog, implement new tools and disruptively improve processes.

Table of Contents

Preface

Part 1: Introduction to Jira

1

Getting Started with Jira Data Center

Understanding the Jira platform

Introducing Jira Data Center

System requirements

Hardware requirements

Software requirements

Installation package options

Installing Java

Installing and configuring Jira

Installing Jira

Post-installation configuration

Increasing Jira’s memory

Changing Jira’s port number and context path

Configuring HTTPS

Clustering

Preparing for clustering

Creating JIRA_SHARED_HOME

Enabling clustering

Adding a node to the load balancer

Adding new nodes to the cluster

Zero-downtime upgrade

Summary

2

Using Jira for Business Projects

Understanding projects and project types

Business projects

Jira permissions

Creating projects

Project user interfaces

Project browser

The Summary tab

The Issues tab

The Versions and Components tabs

Project settings

Importing data into Jira

Importing data through CSV

Archiving projects and issues

The HR project

Creating a new project

Creating new components

Putting it all together

Summary

Part 2: Jira in Action

3

Using Jira for Agile Projects

Getting an overview of Scrum and Kanban

Scrum

Kanban

Running a project with Scrum in Jira

Creating a Scrum project

Working with the backlog

Prioritizing and estimating work

Creating a new sprint

Running a sprint

Running a project with Kanban in Jira

Creating a Kanban project

Using the Kanban board

Enabling a backlog for Kanban

Configuring agile boards

Configuring columns

Adding column constraints

Setting up swimlanes

Defining quick filters

Grooming your backlog

Creating a new agile board for your project

Including multiple projects on your board

Summary

4

Working with Issues

Understanding issues

Jira issue summary

Working with issues

Creating an issue

Assigning issues to users

Editing an issue

Moving an issue between projects

Sharing issues with other users

Deleting an issue

Receiving notifications on an issue

Casting a vote on an issue

Issue linking

Linking issues with other issues

Linking issues with remote contents

Cloning an issue

Tracking time

Specifying original estimates

Logging work

Issues and comments

Attachments

Attaching files

Issue types and sub-tasks

Creating issue types

Deleting issue types

Using sub-tasks

Issue type schemes

Adding issue types to an issue type scheme

Issue priorities

Creating a priority scheme

The HR project

Adding new issue types

Updating the issue type scheme

Putting it all together

Summary

5

Field Management

Understanding system fields

Understanding custom fields

Standard fields

Advanced fields

Understanding field searchers

Custom field context

Managing custom fields

Adding a custom field

Editing/deleting a custom field

Configuring a custom field

Adding custom field contexts

Configuring select options

Setting default values

Optimizing custom fields

Field configuration

Adding a field configuration

Managing field configurations

Field descriptions

Required fields

Field visibility

Field rendering

Field configuration scheme

Managing field configuration schemes

Adding a field configuration scheme

Configuring a field configuration scheme

Associating a field configuration scheme with a project

Screens

The HR project

Setting up a custom field

Setting up the field configuration

Setting up a field configuration scheme

Putting it together

Summary

6

Screen Management

Understanding Jira and screens

Working with screens

Adding a new screen

Adding a field to a screen

Deleting a field from a screen

Using screen tabs

Adding a tab to a screen

Editing/deleting a tab

Editing/deleting a screen

Copying a screen

Working with screen schemes

Adding a screen scheme

Associating screens to issue operations

Editing/deleting an association

Editing/deleting a screen scheme

Copying a screen scheme

Issue type screen scheme

Associating issue types to screen schemes

Editing/deleting an association

Editing/deleting an issue type screen scheme

Copying an issue type screen scheme

Associating an issue type screen scheme with a project

Delegating screen management

Troubleshooting fields and screens

The HR project

Setting up screens

Setting up screen schemes

Setting up issue type screen schemes

Putting it together

Summary

Part 3: Advanced Jira

7

Workflow and Business Process

Mapping business processes

Understanding workflows

Managing workflows

Issue statuses

Transitions

Using the workflow designer

Authoring a workflow

Adding a trigger to transitions

Adding a condition to transitions

Adding a validator to transitions

Adding a post function to transitions

Updating an existing workflow

Understanding workflow schemes

Creating a workflow scheme

Configuring a workflow scheme

Assigning an issue type to a workflow

Editing or deleting an association

Applying a workflow scheme to projects

Delegated workflow management

Extending a workflow with workflow add-ons

JSU

Jira Workflow Toolbox (JWT)

Jira Misc Workflow Extensions (JMWE)

Workflow Enhancer for Jira

ScriptRunner for Jira

The HR project

Setting up workflows

Applying the workflow

Putting it together

Summary

8

Emails and Notifications

Jira and email

Mail servers

Working with outgoing mail

Disabling outgoing mail

Enabling SMTP over SSL

Sending a test email

Mail queues

Viewing the mail queue

Flushing the mail queue

Manually sending emails

Events

Working with mail templates

Adding a custom event

Firing a custom event

Notifications

Notification schemes

Adding a notification scheme

Managing a notification scheme

Assigning a notification scheme

Batching email notifications

Troubleshooting notifications

Incoming emails

Adding an incoming mail server

Mail handlers

Adding a mail handler

Advanced mail handler

The HR project

Setting up mail servers

Updating workflow post functions

Setting up a notification scheme

Setting up notifications

Putting it together

Summary

9

Securing Jira

Managing users

Adding a user

Enabling public signup

Enabling CAPTCHA

Managing groups and roles

Managing groups

Managing roles

User directories

Connecting to LDAP

Understanding Jira permissions

Application access

Global permissions

Project permissions

Permission schemes

Configuring permission schemes

Applying a permission scheme

Issue security

Issue security schemes

Configuring an issue security scheme

Setting a default security level

Applying an issue security scheme

Troubleshooting permissions

Workflow security

Password policy

Enabling SSO with SAML

Enabling JIT provisioning

Auditing system changes

The HR project

Setting up groups

Setting up user group association

Setting up permission schemes

Setting up permissions

Putting it together

Summary

10

Searching, Reporting, and Analysis

Search interface and options in Jira

Issue navigator

Quick search

Basic search

Advanced search with JQL

Working with search results

Switching result views

Customizing the column layout

Exporting search results

Sharing search results

Filters

Reports

Generating a report

Dashboards

Managing dashboards

Creating a dashboard

Configuring a dashboard

Changing the ownership of a dashboard

Gadgets

Placing a gadget on the dashboard

Editing a gadget

Deleting a gadget

The HR project

Setting up filters

Setting up dashboards

Setting up gadgets

Putting it together

Summary

11

Jira Service Management

Introducing Jira Service Management

Installing Jira Service Management

Getting started with Jira Service Management

Creating a new service desk

Branding your customer portal

Service desk user types

Adding an agent to a service desk

Managing service desk customers

Adding a collaborator to a service desk

Issue types and request types

Setting up request types

Organizing request types into groups

Setting up fields for request type

Setting up a workflow for a request type

Service-level agreement (SLA)

Setting up an SLA

Setting up custom calendars

Managing requests with queues

Creating a new queue

Creating knowledge base articles

Process automation

Summary

12

Jira and Third Party Apps

Atlassian Marketplace and third-party apps

Universal Plugin Manager

Searching and installing apps from the Atlassian Marketplace

Installing apps manually

Managing installed apps

Configuring the UPM

Extending Jira with apps

Extending custom fields with apps

Extending workflow with apps

Customizing Jira with scripts

Better time tracking and reporting

Selecting an app and its vendor

Summary

Index

Other Books You May Enjoy

Preface

Over the years, Jira has grown from a simple bug-tracking system designed for engineers to manage their projects to an all-purpose issue-tracking solution. The term Jira now refers to a suite of products, including Jira Software, Jira Service Management, Jira Core, and others. With this change, each product is more focused on what it does and the value it provides. It is now easier than ever for customers to choose the product best suited to their needs, whether they are running an Agile software development project, a customer support portal, or simply a generic task management system.

With the latest Data Center offering, Jira is now the go-to solution for any enterprise that is looking to future-proof its teams with performance, reliability, scalability, and security.

In this book, we will cover all the basics of Jira and its core capabilities, as well as advanced features offered by the data center offering. We will also explore third-party apps that add additional features to the Jira platform. Packed with real-life examples and step-by-step instructions, this book will help you become a Jira expert.

Who this book is for

This book will be especially useful for project managers but it’s also intended for other Jira users, including developers, and in any other industry besides software development, who would like to leverage Jira’s powerful task management and workflow features to better manage their business processes.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Getting Started with Jira Data Center, serves as an overall introduction to Jira by going over its high-level architecture. We will cover both new deployments and how to upgrade from an existing deployment. We will also introduce the Jira Data Center offering from Atlassian. This will also serve as the starting point of the project that readers will go through.

Chapter 2, Using Jira for Business Projects, covers using Jira for projects that are not based on software development, for example, a generic task management solution. This chapter focuses on the use of the basic features of Jira, which are offered through the Jira Core product, which is bundled with Jira Software.

Chapter 3, Using Jira for Agile Projects, covers features that are specific to Jira Software. This chapter focuses on using Jira for software development projects, especially using Agile methodologies such as Scrum and Kanban.

Chapter 4, Working with Issues, introduces issues, which are the cornerstone of using Jira. The focus is to make sure users understand issues and what they do. You will also learn how to make each of the features available and customize them beyond the out-of-box settings.

Chapter 5, Field Management, introduces fields, and specifically how to use custom fields to customize Jira for more effective data collection. You will learn how to create new custom fields, and how to control field configurations such as visibility and rendering options.

Chapter 6, Screen Management, introduces screens. You will learn how to create new screens from scratch and specify which fields (system and custom) will be displayed. We will also cover complex scheme mappings to apply new screens to projects.

Chapter 7, Workflow and Business Process, explores the most powerful feature offered by Jira, workflows. The concept of issue life cycles is introduced, and various aspects of workflows are explained. This chapter also explores the relationship between workflows and other various Jira aspects that have been previously covered, such as screens. The concept of Jira apps is also briefly touched upon in the sample project, using some popular apps.

Chapter 8, Emails and Notifications, talks about emails and how Jira can use them to send notifications to end users. We will start by explaining how Jira sends out notifications to users, and then how Jira can process incoming emails to create, comment on, and also update issues.

Chapter 9, Securing Jira, explains Jira’s security model, starting with how to manage users, groups, and roles. Readers will then learn Jira’s security hierarchy of how permissions are managed. Lastly, we will look at setting up single sign-on using SAML, a common requirement with most enterprise organizations.

Chapter 10, Searching, Reporting, and Analysis, focuses on doing more with data collected by Jira, including searching, reporting, and using dashboards. You will also learn how to make this data and reports available outside of Jira, either via email or by displaying them in other applications.

Chapter 11, Jira Service Management, introduces Jira Service Management, which allows you to run Jira as a customer support portal. Readers will learn how to use Jira Service Management to run and manage a support queue internally while at the same time communicating effectively with customers.

Chapter 12, Jira and Third Party Apps, covers using third-party apps to extend the capabilities of Jira. You will learn how to find, install, update, and manage apps for Jira. We will also look at some popular third-party apps and how they can be used to take Jira to the next level.

To get the most out of this book

The installation package used in this book is the Windows Installer standalone distribution, which you can get directly from Atlassian at https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/download for Jira Software and https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/service-desk/download for Jira Service Management.

You will also need additional software, including the Java SDK, which you can get from http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html, and MySQL, which you can get from http://dev.mysql.com/downloads.

Software/hardware covered in the book

Operating system requirements

Jira Software

Windows, macOS, or Linux

Jira Service Management

Java

MySQL

If you are using the digital version of this book, we advise you to type the code yourself. Doing so will help you avoid any potential errors related to the copying and pasting of code.

Experience in XML, Java, or the Groovy programming language will be useful to better understand the code snippets in the book.

Any errata related to this book can be found on the following link: https://github.com/packt-pradeeps/Jira-8-Essentials.

Download the color images

We also provide a PDF file that has color images of the screenshots and diagrams used in this book. You can download it here: https://packt.link/9C0B9.

Conventions used

There are a number of text conventions used throughout this book.

Code in text: Indicates code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles. Here is an example: “You should see both the New Employee and Termination issue types.”

A block of code is set as follows:

<Resource name="mail/JiraMailServer"   auth="Container"   type="javax.mail.Session"

When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items are set in bold:

<security-constraint>   <web-resource-collection>     <web-resource-name>all-except-attachments</web-resource-name>     <url-pattern>*.js</url-pattern>     <url-pattern>*.jsp</url-pattern>

Any command-line input or output is written as follows:

  create database jiradb character set utf8;

Bold: Indicates a new term, an important word, or words that you see onscreen. For instance, words in menus or dialog boxes appear in bold. Here is an example: “There is a Create another option beside the Create button.”

Tips or important notes

Appear like this.

Get in touch

Feedback from our readers is always welcome.

General feedback: If you have questions about any aspect of this book, email us at [email protected] and mention the book title in the subject of your message.

Errata: Although we have taken every care to ensure the accuracy of our content, mistakes do happen. If you have found a mistake in this book, we would be grateful if you would report this to us. Please visit www.packtpub.com/support/errata and fill in the form.

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Part 1: Introduction to Jira

In this section, you will learn how to set up a Jira instance from scratch, followed by how to use Jira for your business and agile projects.

The following chapters are included in this section:

Chapter 1, Getting Started with Jira Data CenterChapter 2, Using Jira for Business Projects