Numbers guide our decisions every day:
- "How many burgers should I prepare for the weekend barbecue?"
- "Is it cold enough for a jacket?"
- "What is the ETA to get home in this traffic jam?"
When it comes to managing projects, the numbers and visual data in Jira are equally vital. As we start using Jira, we often don't think about reports initially. We might not know how our reports will look or how Jira will evolve within our organization. However, after a few months, we may encounter challenges related to reporting and data consistency.
But what if we could avoid these potential difficulties?
Atlassian Admins are in a unique position to lead the conversation about preparing and planning Jira reports. Their expertise in the tool and understanding of best practices can lay the foundation for forecasting and planning future KPIs and reports.
Here are some ideas to plan and prepare Jira for successful reporting:
- Identify Critical KPIs: Understand the key performance indicators that are crucial for your organization. Knowing what to measure is the first step in generating meaningful reports. Atlassian Admins can initiate discussions with stakeholders from various departments and teams to draft the most important metrics.
- Group Reports by Target Audience: Different stakeholders need different information. Understanding the most important KPIs can lead to the planning of team-oriented dashboards. For example, delivery teams can benefit from daily progress reports, while senior leadership might be interested in a high-level overview with forecasts and trends.
- Ensure Consistency in Jira Custom Fields: Consistency is key when setting up custom fields. Atlassian Admins can develop a strategy to ensure that information in Jira projects is as consistent as possible. This involves repurposing existing Jira custom fields whenever possible, instead of creating new ones (or at least creating a new context for the existing field). Each request for new Jira custom fields should be evaluated against a list of existing fields to determine what can be reused.
- Share Custom Workflows: Standardize and share workflows and statuses across teams to maintain consistency in processes and data collection. This approach ensures Jira issues follow a consistent list of statuses. For example, statuses like “Completed” and “Done” would be duplicates to avoid if we want to run reports against issues in the final status.
- Continuously Tune and Refine Reports: Regularly review and adjust your reports to ensure they remain relevant and accurate. As your organization evolves, so should your reporting.
By proactively preparing Jira for reporting, you can streamline your project management process and avoid common pitfalls. With these strategies, Atlassian Jira can become a powerful tool for insights and decision-making.
What is your favorite approach for successful reporting in Jira?
