Training and Terminology

[Riley Barrett]

Hi, 

We have done some research on the Portfolio for Jira software and have a few questions.

First, we wanted to know if "story" is the same as "task". We think it is on a higher level as a task but we wanted to make sure. 

Second, are examples of themes like ex: OSx app, iOS app, android app, database work, etc? Like an area of work in creating a software application. 

Third, are Epics the same as milestones? 

We have gone over the glossry and still have confusion on the software. We would like some formal training or a decent walkthrough if possible. 

Thank you. 

[Steven F Behnke]

A few offers are out there for training. 

• Atlassian maintains Videos: 
  •  https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/portfolio/demo
  • https://confluence.atlassian.com/jiraportfoliocloud/video-tutorials-824477363.html
• Several Solution Partners offer training:
  • https://www.atlassian.com/partners/search?page=1

To answer your questions:

1. A Task is the same level as a Story. A Task could be called a "non-development task" or something like that. It's a full body of work but perhaps isn't a story.
   
   SUB-TASKS however are lower than a Story, Task, or Bug. Any Story, Task, or Bug can have Sub-Tasks, which all you to split up a body of work.
   
   
2. I've seen teams use themes in different ways. Ultimately, you report on their effort/estimations via themes. The Reports section allows you to set Target percentages for each theme, and then report on the estimated vs actual estimate percentages. 
   
   The teams I worked closely with used it to designate customer committments vs maintainence vs new development. Things of that nature.
   
   
3. Epics are larger bodies of work that may span different JIRA projects. These contain Stories, Bugs, and Tasks. These may last weeks or months. This is important! Portfolio allows you to add levels above Epic as well, such as "Initiative". 
   
   In JIRA, the "Versions/Releases" mechanism is representative of milestones. "Versions", or the Fix Versions field, are the milestones. Versions have a start date, a release date, and a released/unreleased status. Versions represent points in time, similar to milestones.