How to use Jira for Project Management of company-wide initiatives (PMO, not software)

[TP]

Hi guys,

Seeking your guidance on the best way to track high level projects in a company, ideally using Jira. 

The goal is to create a project management office (PMO) tool to manage initiatives across the company - something we can use in management meetings to track tasks, or drill down to lower level details. Is this idealistic heirarchy a possibility in Jira or a pipe dream?

We currently use Jira for agile software development. 

I have a dream... of a company-wide PMO using Jira where high level projects drill down into smaller projects and finally into tasks. 

We'd prefer to adopt Jira rather than add more tools (Monday, MS Project) since we already use Jira for Agile software development and want to expand its use. We also have ERP software so timesheets logged there need to correlate at some point with Jira's project tasks. But i haven't used Jira, so I don't know how flexible or appropriate it is for what i'm trying to achieve. So i'm seeking your help!

1. What's the most efficient way to learn Jira for Project Management? Cheapest and fastest, for senior level tracking. (I.e., I don't need accreditation or certification, and probably don't need to learn scrum or detailed software development in order to implement and start using this as high level PM tool.)

2. Do Jira tasks allow for many hierarchies - can we report at various levels? E.g., does each Epic have a parent, and therefore an unlimited hierarchy? 

3. Does Jira offer useful dashboards and reports that are useful for management meetings?

Thank you (!!) for your expertise and time to read my long post. I have a gut feeling for what I'm trying to achieve but not sure if i'm going about it in the right way. I thank you SO MUCH for any recommendations, guidance, suggestions.

[Ste Wright · Accepted solution]

Hi @TP 

It's certainly very possible to do this!

Below is some general advice, but how to set it up for you does depend on your specific company needs - reports, visualisation, portfolio management, processes, etc.

I'd check out...

• Portfolio management tools...
  • Advanced Roadmaps - available with Jira Premium/Enterprise, this will allow you to set a custom hierarchy (above Epic), have plan views with multiple teams and initiatives, see a cross-team roadmap, etc.
  • Apps on the Marketplace which can offer you these views - such as Structure, BigPicture, etc
  • Jira Product Discovery, if ideation pre-delivery is of interest to you
  • Jira Work Management, for non-technical teams (should be included in your JSW subscription)
  • Jira Align - a PPM/VSM tool, which allow you to connect your business strategy to your technical execution
• Setup for Jira above delivery...
  • This will depend on your need - but you can setup Initiatives, Themes, etc as Issue Types - Advanced Roadmaps will then let you put them above in the Epic in your hierarchy
  • These Issue Types can have custom Workflows and Screens specific to your need
• Reporting...
  • Aside from the Apps/Products above which provide substantial reporting options - you could also look for Apps which allow for customised reporting suited to your needs - eg.
    • Custom Charts for Jira
    • Flow Analytics for Jira Cloud
    • Dashboard Hub for Jira
    • Or an App which connects Jira to an external BI tool, like Power BI Jira Connector

There's also guides, articles, blogs, etc on how to setup for what you want - but it's going to take some planning and designing for you to get it right for your organisation.

Ste

[TP]

Thanks so much, @Ste Wright 

[Kristen Roth]

Hey, @TP! We recently launched a new networking group for program and project management professionals: https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Program-Management-Professionals/gh-p/program-management-professionals 

Just figured I'd give it a shoutout in case you'd be interested in joining like-minded folks there for discussion! 

[Iryna Komarnitska_SaaSJet_]

Hi @TP 

One more tip, if you don't mind.
To create ideas in JPD, I recommend you try the Issue Creator for Jira Cloud app from my SaaSJet team.

With it, you can easily take screenshots or videos of your screen and add them to a Jira issue immediately.

I hope it will be helpful for you!