Project Structure for Mutliple Clients Using Similar Products

[Kyla Kearns]

Hi there!

My apologies in advance for the long question, but I wanted to be as thorough as possible :).  I have already looked at this answer (among others), which helped:  Multi-Client Project Structure, but our setup is slightly different.

Our team has been exploring the best way to manage individual clients in Jira.  These are subscription-based clients receiving software products/services, so the work for them is ongoing.  The same products are usually being implemented for several clients, sometimes with customized versions.

Example:  We have Product A that is available to all clients.  Client 1 and Client 2 both use Product A, but Client 2 has a customized version.  We need to be able to monitor the ongoing tasks being completed for  Client 1 and Client 2, and that they have different versions of Product A.  This all would happen while tracking customization time/tasks for Client 2 as well.

This is a two-branch issue: 

1. We need to have our “Internal” projects for the actual product development, updates, etc.. (This is less of an issue as we can utilize a more traditional software/project management style)
2. We need to keep up to date with the tasks being done for our clients: new implementations, training sessions, customizations, etc.

We originally thought having all clients (>100) within one project, organizing each as an epic, then assigning a component that equals the client name is a good way to organize as it will allow us to monitor who is working on what, and compare client workloads within one project.  It would be great to see x amount of time was spent with Client 2 this week vs. Client 1 within a dashboard.

We then would list client-specific tasks in that “All Clients Project” as linked issues to the client’s epic to organize and report on the work that is currently being done. 

The other benefit of having all clients in one project is that we can add a component for the product(s) that the client is using.  I would be able to look up the Product A component and see all clients that are using that specific product.

Are we going down a road that has the potential to be too complicated?  Do any super-users have any feedback on the pros/cons of this approach?  Am I making sense?  Ha.. Any feedback would be incredibly helpful as I continue down the path of tutorials and videos.

Thanks in advance!

[Hana Kučerová]

Hi @Kyla Kearns ,

as I started to read your question, Insight immediately came to my mind. 

It enables you to create object database with many types, which could be linked together, and use these object data in various custom fields.

In your case I can imagine, you would create object types like Client, Product, Product implementation (which is linked to Client and Product) and then create various custom fields to be able to link the issue with the client/product/specific implementation...

You internal issues could be linked to product objects, tasks being done for your clients to the implementations.

I can imagine more complex database with more attributes and links, hopefully it would give some sort of idea, how your issues could be handled with usage of Insight.