Using macros in Confluence databases

[Colin Hewson]

I have created a database of all the actions from the various programme governance meetings that I want to track in one place.  It has a field for 'user' but this doesn't appear to do anything other than to allow you to put in a name of a Confluence user, i.e. it doesn't allow you to assign them a task with the to-do macro or create any alerting.

1. What is the 'user' field functionality?

2. Is there any way to insert macro functions, such as 'to-do' into a Confluence database?

[Tomislav Tobijas _Koios_ · Accepted solution]

Hi @Colin Hewson ,

I don't think databases are intended to be used as a 'task list' but I can see that some users might try to use it in that way. Something like that isn't supported yet - the best thing that comes in mind (with just looking at native functionalities) would be to use a regular Confluence page with Tasks and task reports.

However, I can see that some people already raised similar requests on JAC so it might be worth checking out and voting on suggestions like these ones: project = "Confluence Cloud" AND statusCategory != Done AND text ~ "macro database" 

Cheers,
Tom

[Colin Hewson]

Thanks Tom.  The more that I start to use Confluence and Jira for running the PMO for a major multi-million pound programme, I am finding more and more limitations in its use.  This is proving quite frustrating as I fashion workarounds.  Is there a backlog anyway of the development plans for Confluence and Jira that is available for me to see what issues are planned to be addressed?

[Tomislav Tobijas _Koios_]

Yeah. I guess it all highly depends on the requirements and use cases within each organization. While Atlassian tools can be customized to a certain point (DC more so), there are (and always will be) some limitations regarding required functionalities.

As for the roadmap, apart from previously linked jira.atlassian.com (JAC), where you can filter out issues by status (e.g. "In progress"), here's a link to the official Cloud Roadmap where you can filter out items by product, category and status: Cloud Roadmap 

Cheers,
Tom

[Colin Hewson]

I have used the export to .csv option for the database and imported all of the actions into Jira.  The field mapping is a little funky but it has allowed me to get them all listed.  The problem I face is the there is less familiarity in the organisation with using Jira (even less than using Confluence) so I have some training sessions to run so that the various PMO teams and workstream leads can update their tasks.... the joys of running a PMO :D  

[Tomislav Tobijas _Koios_]

@Colin Hewson nice 'workaround'.

And, all I can say is...good luck! 😄