How the heck does it work?!

David Kernaghan

Hi, 

I've recently taken over our JSM from a guy who was made redundant. As with such cases, there was no hand over or tutorials and coming into this blind is really getting me frustrated.

The set up seems completely counter intuitive. The options seem complex and don't do what you expect them to do. There appears to be no easy way to set this up.

I'd love to tear it all down and start again, but unfortunately the way it is, is already being used and there are two many queues and tickets open to change what already exists too much. 

I can get overwhelmed and complex explanations get me frustrated with terminology I'm expected to know and such. I need small words, small examples, like an 11 year old. 

Are there any resources that might help in this way.

Thanks

D

Nikola Perisic

Hello @David Kernaghan 

Using JSM for the first time can be frustrating. You can either use Rovo and really ask it to explain it to you in plain simple words.

JSM is used for creating a portal where users are creating requests: software installation request, new equipment ordering, ordering new software, etc. These requests are handled by the users that are called agents. Users who are creating requests are called customers.

Agents take a JSM license and you can have up to 3 agents for free. Everything above is paid. Customers are always free.

You mentioned queues - these are just filters that allow different request tracking: you have application support team and billing team for example. Queues can be created to distinguish the work the app support team will handle and the work that billing team will handle. These queues are created JQL a query language used in Jira to create advanced filters. I would suggest to use Gemini or ChatGPT to create the queries that you want to see as your queues.

How do I distinguish the work between the two teams? - With request types. Request types are used to be customized in a way that customers would see on their portal. Each team would have their own request types. Here is the catch:

Request types -> work item type -> workflows

This is how the request types are interconnected with work item types and workflows. Each request type needs to have a work item type (task, incident, problem,etc.). Why? Because, each of these work item types can have their own workflows, which is mostly the case. 

Customer Portal view

Agent View

These are starting essentials for JSM.

Some helpful links:

https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/service-management/product-guide