support help - Chat - is anybody available to have a discussion about product features

Blaine Zuk

I'm new to Jira / Atlassian, and am not having a great first experience.  The name Jura came up as a possible defect tracking tool / Project management tool, but I can not find either.

 

Is anybody out there able to answer a couple of basic questions? to get me started in the right direction?

* Do you have a Gantt Chart timeline feature to track major milestones?

* Am I able to create a task tracking list, that reads like SmartSheet or Excel.

Is there a chatbot feature that I can interact with an Atlassian Rep in real time

 

Kathy Hart

Hi, I am not an Atlassian Rep, but I use Jira extensively. 

To start at the top and explore the full Atlassian ecosystem you can begin here: https://www.atlassian.com/

I don't think there is a ChatBot feature for Atlassian, but there is a lot of info out there about what Jira can do, and how it can do it. And there are a lot of add-ons, free and paid, to make it do the other things it can't do by itself. 

Jira is immensely adaptable and configurable to the point where it can be quite overwhelming to get started, which is why it is usually suggested that you try a free trial version for 30 days or free forever if you only have up to 10 users.

If you want to talk to a rep, or have a demo, you should probably start here: https://support.atlassian.com/contact/#/ You may have to create a log in, but it is quite safe, and only used to keep track of your support questions. 

To answer your other questions: 

•  Do you have a Gantt Chart timeline feature to track major milestones?
  • If you use the Premium version of Jira, it comes with a feature called, Advanced Roadmaps or Timeline (they are in the process of changing the name). This is similar to a Gantt Chart, but not exactly. It is good for strategic planning and tracking milestones and project progress. 
  • There are several add-ons that let you make a true Gantt chart based on the hierarchy of tickets entered into Jira. You can use three levels of Jira tickets Epic, Story/Task, Sub-task to start with. If you pay for Premium, then you can get levels above Epic that help you with strategic planning. 
• Am I able to create a task tracking list, that reads like SmartSheet or Excel.
  • There are multiple ways to view tickets/tasks in Jira, but nothing in Jira is going to replicate Excel. The idea is that Jira is better than excel in that each line item is an actual ticket with much more background information inside of it that helps the team do their work.
  • If you have a Cloud license, then you can use Jira Work Management projects to track basic Tasks with a very nice list view and a Kanban style progress board. 
  • If you are using the Software style project, then you can have Kanban boards and Scrum boards which are totally configurable. 
  • There are multiple project Templates available in Jira, out of the box, that can help you get started. 

I hope this helps you get started with Jira.