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Jira software / tool to answer my programme management needs!

Matthew Richard Bees

Hi everyone,

I'm relatively new to JIRA and this is my first post, but have began picking up the software from a colleague that used it to cover a few projects mostly for active sprint boards, Gannt charts and allocation of tasks.

As I'm heavily involved in programme management looing after 3+ projects at once, I'm looking for an add-on tool / JIRA software type that covers the following bases :

> Task management - i.e. Gantt Chart, Agile sprint boards, etc.

> Resource allocation / planning

> Dashboard capability (agile reporting?), for :

>> Key Performance Indicators (KPI's) - i.e. Red, amber, green status; pie-charts for no. of risks / issues, etc.

Can anyone help to recommend what tools / JIRA software I should consider? I've found a few different options via the "find new apps" section, but I'm not sure if 1 in particular satisfies all the above needs. These apps includes :

> Resource management & planning for JIRA

> Agile dashboard for PM

> BigPicture

Appreciate your support and guidance, many thanks!

Accepted answers

Dirk Ronsmans

hey @Matthew Richard Bees ,

Just from my experience on PPM I would suggest BigPicture in combination with Tempo (planner & timesheets).

This woud allow you to track your resources (effort/estimations/..) and have a high level overview through bigPicture.

For BigPicture tho I would recommend analysing what you want the app to do. If this is only for visualizations, maybe BigGantt is already enough. However, if you want do do resource/capacity planning and things like "what if" scenario's then BigPicture will be the option to go for.

If you want to play with it a bit, SoftwarePlant actually have a public demo environment that you can use: https://softwareplant.com/bigpicture/demo/ and they also do weekly webinars.

The people from SoftwarePlant also watch this community so if you have more in depth questions I'm sure they'll be able to help!

Dave Rosenlund (Trundl)

Hi, @Matthew Richard Bees. I think @Dirk Ronsmans advice is worth looking into.

However, I suggest you compare a number of similar solutions and make the right/best decision for your specific needs.

In other words, there is no one-size-fits-all

In addition to BigPicture, Advanced Roadmaps (from Atlassian) and (my company's product) Structure.Gantt are generally considered to be the "big three" for the things you outline.

I suspect any one of the three can handle the resource planning/mapping you seem to be suggesting — and Tempo might be overkill for you (have a look and see what you think).

To see all the possible solutions try this search on the web version of the Atlassian Marketplace:

https://marketplace.atlassian.com/search?hosting=cloud&product=jira&query=gantt

https://marketplace.atlassian.com/search?hosting=cloud&product=jira&query=resource%20planning

Note: I am not sure if Atlassian offers Advanced Roadmaps for the free version of cloud (I don't think they do) - if so, you would have to compare Basic Roadmaps to the others.

Hope this helps,

-dave [ALM Works]

Adam _SoftwarePlant_

Hello @Matthew Richard Bees

Taking a look at your listed requirements, BigPicture really seems like a good match. So let me add just a few words about the plugin. It’s a comprehensive tool that supports project management in every phase, helps to plan, manage and track the projects. With it's:

- Gantt module - you can easily synchronize your Jira tasks and plan them according to your needs, visualize your task WBS, measure the progress on each of the tasks and create task dependencies

- Resource module - to allow you smooth task allocation among your resources, track the progress/workload of your individual team members, but also teams as a whole. Data is color-coded what helps in the quick identification of both overallocation and under- allocation.

-Board module - a powerful tool that allows you to visualize and plan your work across your teams, in a given PI/Iteration period, as well as show the dependencies between task assigned to your teams. The Board Module also incorporates a timeline that shows important events or milestones. Plus, you can customize the task card by using the task template creator.

- Reports module - to generate a live-reports for each of your Boxes, and also customize it according to your needs

That's the BigPicture main functionalities in a nutshell.

Let me know if any questions come up! I will gladly answer them.

Regards,

Adam

All comments

Dirk Ronsmans

hey @Matthew Richard Bees ,

Just from my experience on PPM I would suggest BigPicture in combination with Tempo (planner & timesheets).

This woud allow you to track your resources (effort/estimations/..) and have a high level overview through bigPicture.

If you want to play with it a bit, SoftwarePlant actually have a public demo environment that you can use: https://softwareplant.com/bigpicture/demo/ and they also do weekly webinars.

The people from SoftwarePlant also watch this community so if you have more in depth questions I'm sure they'll be able to help!

Dave Rosenlund (Trundl)

Hi, @Matthew Richard Bees. I think @Dirk Ronsmans advice is worth looking into.

However, I suggest you compare a number of similar solutions and make the right/best decision for your specific needs.

-dave [ALM Works]

Dave

Just to add to what @Dave Rosenlund _Trundl_ has said, I can confirm that Advanced Roadmaps is only available with Jira Premium. However, I believe that it is possible to get a free trial of Jira Premium so that you can test it out for comparison, see https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/premium

Regards,

Dave

Matthew Richard Bees

Thanks @Dirk Ronsmans - very helpful!

Matthew Richard Bees

Thank you @Dave & @Dave Rosenlund _Trundl_ - very helpful insights!

Adam _SoftwarePlant_

Hello @Matthew Richard Bees

- Gantt module - you can easily synchronize your Jira tasks and plan them according to your needs, visualize your task WBS, measure the progress on each of the tasks and create task dependencies

- Reports module - to generate a live-reports for each of your Boxes, and also customize it according to your needs

That's the BigPicture main functionalities in a nutshell.

Let me know if any questions come up! I will gladly answer them.

Regards,

Adam

Matthew Richard Bees

Thanks @Adam _SoftwarePlant_ for the breakdown and BigPicture capability in a nutshell. I will test the trial version and see what I can make of it

Anna-BigPicture

Hi @Matthew Richard Bees

Once you decide to evaluate BigPicture, I will gladly get familiar with your feedback. We are doing our best to adjust the plugin to various approaches to Project Management.

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