Best options for project templates creation and project overview

[Mariya]

Dear Atlassians, I'm looking for a solution to create the templates for standardized projects in Jira and reuse them in the new projects, ideally combined with other tools for project management (like dashboard overview, gantt charts, any other helpful features).

It could be an internal solution on Jira itself or any add-ons.

Will be glad and grateful for any recommendations and use cases, thanks! :)

[Danno]

@MariyaI have used an add-on (not mine) called Deep Clone. I used the trial version and found it to do what I needed. I was going to purchase it until a budget cut changed that idea. I'm not sure if it will clone a whole project because we don't use projects in that way and I never tried that. I'm sure you can buy an add-on that would do what you want but I don't think it would be too difficult to create and then just copy a template project and then grab all of the items from your template using Deep Clone.

[Marlene Kegel - codefortynine]

Hi @Mariya , hi @Danno ,

I am the product manager of Deep Clone for Jira.

Good news! We released an update a few weeks ago that enables you to clone entire Jira classic projects - along with all issues, settings, components and versions.

If you plan to work with next-gen projects you can still benefit from the Deep Clone bulk clone feature. You would have to create new projects manually, but save a lot of time by bulk clone and move several issues at once into the new project.

It's a pity that you weren't able to realize your process because of an budget cut, @Danno. I hope there will be more budget in 2021. That would be a win-win for both of us :) 

If you have questions or feedback about Deep Clone for Jira, don't hesitate to get in touch with us directly.  

[Danno]

@Marlene Kegel - codefortynineso you do have a bot watching the community for Deep Clone mentions. 🤣

Good to hear. Yours is one of the few Add-ons I could justify. In fact other than going with a premium subscription to Jira to get unlimited automation, Deep Clone was going to be it.  It really does work as advertised (so far anyway. If there is a bug, I'll find it.) and this new upgrade just makes it better.

Yes, 2020 wasn't kind to us but here's hoping 2021 is 180° out of phase with 2020. I can't say we'll add you back into our add-on list early this year but who knows.

@Mariyathere is your answer. Check it out.

[jbedar]

I've been playing with Deep Clone a bit myself.  If you are able to make use of Labels (e.g. project names), it makes it quite easy to pull from multiple boards without disrupting how the board is being used by the owner / team.

[Leo Diaz _ DEISER]

Hi @Mariya 

I'm not sure about your question...

Do you want to create projects based on a template? and do you want to copy its configuration like dashboards or views? or, do you want to have tools to help you to standardize and categorize your projects?

[Mariya]

Hi Leo!

First, I need to be able to create templates with all prescribed (or copied to the new projects) milestones, lead times, responsibles and so on. So, create, let's say, 20 project templates and then just use them when such project occurs again.

And then, I'd like to have more functionality to manage and have a project overview (so less technical perspective, more pm).

Hope that makes sense.

[Leo Diaz _ DEISER]

Ok. Thanks. 

First, I'm from DEISER (Solution Partner and Vendor) I would like to understand better your problem to help you.

Projects in Jira don't have milestones, lead time, etc... If you want to save data into projects and track this data you can use an app like Profields (our app), but I'm not sure if this is your requirement, because you can have milestones with project management apps like Bigpicture or the Lead Time metric with the same Jira (depending on the board)... What is a project for you? is it a Jira project?

[Anna-BigPicture]

Hello @Mariya

Please take a look at BigPicture/BigGantt. It may be the answer to your needs. 
Given the use of repeatable configurations (templates), BigPicture gives the possibility to set up any number of default Boxes (programs, projects, or projects phases)  - flexible, high-level containers that come preconfigured, partially customized, or fully personalized. 

A Box type is akin to a template, which, once configured, can be used each time you or your team want to start working on a new thing (i.e. a Project, Portfolio, etc.), launch a new SAFe Agile Release Train, or do anything else. In fact, each of your teams can have a different Box template to accommodate different types of projects and individual team preferences.

Moreover, you can use the plugin to prepare your project schedule, visualize dependencies, track the execution, and generate reports by aggregating your task data. To measure the progress not only on a single task level but also on a project or its phases level, the plugin gives you the possibility to aggregate data of statuses, progress, and time tracking. 

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

Best,
Anna 
SoftwarePlant

[lucale]

Hello @Anna-BigPicture 

I would like to know if in BigPicture there is a way to create comments/notes not to the issues of the project but to the project itself (or sub-parts of it) in order to show the macro-points of what's going on.

Combined with you've shown about the measure of the progress, it could be very useful to the top-management for a high-level tracking project without going to the details of the issues, it would work as a thread for the project (or threads for the main points of the project) as there is in social networks.

Could you provide an example if BigPicture can do it?

Best regards

Luca

[Anna-BigPicture]

Hi @lucale

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. 

Currently, you can display all your projects on the timeline view and add a marker to underline important events. However, we are aware that adding notes can be very beneficial, and therefore such functionality is already on our list. 

You can follow the work progress here. Please note that it is best to open the link in the incognito tab of your browser.