Move from MKS Integrity workflow into JIRA

Question

Hi

We are looking at a proof of concept in using JIRA for the replacement to our MKS ALM Software.   We use MKS for tracking releases through the application lifecycle from Dev, UAT & through to production. Running Reports over fields, extraction of fields to pipe into external commands.   We also use Dashboards, queries and Charts to monitor the progress of releases.

The MKS issues under the MKS Releases contain the objects that are being deployed. Developers will create these MKS Issues and advise code versions to be deployed.  The some of the issues have change packages which contain the source code which has been checked into MKS (We are looking into using GIT to control this if we decommission MKS). Other MKS Issues will just have a field with the objects that need deployment

The majority of our applications use MKS as workflow, to ensure correct authorisation and testing has completed.  The majority of these workflows use Subversion (We will replace with GIT in future), so there is just a reference to the object versions from SVN.

The tasks move to different state for code review, Authorising code deployment and deploying the code.   So we would need different team user groups to be able to control this.

Does anyone know if this is possible to replace MKS with JIRA? I have only just got access to view some issues and epics as a starter.

Thanks in advance

Tony

Tony Davis_y1q75k · Answer

Hi @Jimmy Seddon

Thanks for the information.  Yes I agree this will be a long process, I will try and contact a solution partner to get this started, however, as I am not an admin in our JIRA, I may need to get someone else in the company to start these discussions.

We also use iSeries linked to MKS via Implementer change packages, so I think we will look at integrating with GIT in regards to this, else as the last resort we will keep the MKS Implementer element and see if we can link that to our new JIRA release issues.

Cheers

Tony

Jimmy Seddon · Answer

Hi @Tony Davis,

Welcome to the Community!

The short answer is yes it can replace MKS Integrity.

However,  from what you have described, it sounds like your company is heavily entrenched in MKS and it's going to take a time, effort and training to move.

Jira is the issue tracking side of things, and while there are links to source control systems.  The concept of change packages is unique to MKS.  The closest you will get are pull requests in GIT but the level of detail surfaced in Jira is different.

But, everything you want to accomplish is possible.  You might want to consider contacting a solution partner to help you with best practices and workflow design and configuration.

I hope that helps!

-Jimmy