A new way to manage intake in Jira

64 comments

Erki Tammik
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December 3, 2024

I can't understand why we need to reinvent the wheel.

Our problem is simple: we don't have an effective request intake process for Jira Software. The new solution is half-baked until it is possible to use a form on the Create screen and make sure that the requester can only use the issue type with the form to submit the request.

The problem I see with this is that developers may need to have multiple forms, and no one wants to have dozens of issue types in their projects.

Workarounds:

1. Grant everyone permission to create tickets in projects. The issue with this is that users often don't know which issue type to use, leading to missing details that are needed to resolve the request. This means we have to follow up multiple times to get all the necessary information.

2. Use Jira Service Management and buy extra licenses just to handle requests from internal users. The problem with this approach is that everyone needs a license to communicate with the requester, making it an impractical and inefficient solution.

Why can't we use the existing forms functionality and make it work for internal users only? This would reduce the impact on Jira Service Management.

Loretta Brunette
Atlassian Team
Atlassian Team members are employees working across the company in a wide variety of roles.
December 3, 2024

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the feedback on this post. We have taken on all the feedback on Advanced Forms aka ProForma, but for now we will continue to invest in the forms natively available in Jira, for a number of business reasons, various customer feedback sources and insights from our research. I know some of you do not agree with this approach and may be disappointed, but I want to be transparent here.

We have no current plans to remove Advanced Forms for those who have it enabled, nor to block the direct URL access.

Also, just to re-iterate, forms today are only accessible to those who have a Jira license, they cannot be opened up to the public.

thanks

Loretta

Sarah Palumbo
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December 11, 2024

I see the last comment is that this should be rolled out a couple of weeks ago. I don't see this available in our project yet. Can you confirm if this is available for on-prem?

Michiel Schuijer December 12, 2024

@Sarah Palumbo No, this is not likely to be rolled out to self-managed/on prem or Jira Data Center, because it is mentioned at the top "Loretta here from Jira Cloud".

That is usually a good indicator something is released only on Jira Cloud and not for Data Center.

I wouldn't worry that you miss out, though, since it is not a very useful feature that is added and I don't know anyone who is going to use this.

 

Loretta Brunette
Atlassian Team
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December 12, 2024

@Sarah Palumbo - this is for Jira Cloud only

Daniel Bagiński
Contributor
December 17, 2024

EDIT: Atlassian employee created a feature request for updating Forms on my behalf. If you want, watch, vote and comment it! https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRACLOUD-85492

 

Hey,

I completely agree with @Michiel Schuijer  and I’m confused about why you introduced Forms instead of using Advanced Forms, which have been available for some time. This functionality was not communicated either.

"When I saw the "Forms" menu in our Sandbox, I was excited at first. For years now, 'regular mortals' have asked for more simple input forms than presented via the "Create" button, and this seemed like the answer to me.

I quickly realised, however, that this menu has nothing to do with the (formerly Proforma) Forms that existed already for more than two years, the proper forms app that Atlassian bought from Stilsoft and has not integrated properly at all with Jira Software (JSW), ever since (2021?).

The Stilsoft Forms feature has been available under the hood for quite some time now, but instead of leveraging that and making those forms available from the side panel to all project users, we now get some weird forms menu that only showcases forms that can be shared in a convoluted way that defies all purpose, to me.

Then, why name it the same, if it is something else entirely than "Forms" that already existed before and is still accessible for JSW projects (https://<your-company>.atlassian.net/jira/software/c/projects/<KEY>/settings/forms)?

Why make this separate feature, when the separation between Jira Software and Jira Work Management is supposedly lifted, and there is just "Jira" now?

And (last) why push this feature without being able to hide this at global level. Yet another feature we can't hide from project admins, making it challenging to be a Jira Admin some more...

Sorry, but I just have a hard time following the strategy taken here. IF Atlassian really wants to compete with competitors in the field of tracking work items and managing these, getting people out of email completely to track work/tasks/issues/etc., then wouldn't it make sense to build in features that are currently available already, like out-of-office assistants, easy ways (forms!) to capture input with the click of a "Create" button of from the Forms menu (without needing to go full JSM which is aimed at and priced towards external customers) and such things?

This is not it."

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Stefan Draber
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December 20, 2024

Hi there,

when I first commented on this article, I was quite happy to get a forms solution also for Software projects in Jira. At that point, I simply didn't know the "hidden" forms feature yet.

Now that I know it, I'm with all the others asking: why would you, Atlassian, keep your great (ProForma) feature hidden and populate a much worse other form feature instead?

For now, I have no reason to make any use of the official Forms feature as long as the hidden feature is so much better and available.

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Michael Holian
Contributor
January 2, 2025

My largest hope (and disappointment) is that I was hoping that forms would allow me a method of capturing very project-specific attributes and storing the form as either an attached object, or formatted as a single field, e.g. a read-only text field.

Without this capability, I'm back to having to figure out if I allow additional custom fields for single-project requirements (something I work to avoid), and diminishing the value of forms. Why create another way to enter data?

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Michiel Schuijer January 2, 2025

@Michael Holianthat is exactly what Advanced Forms aka ProForma can be used for!

It is my go-to alternative to offer when people request a bunch of custom fields, just for a single (software) project. I also don't want to allow custom fields for such occurrences, because practice has shown me that is not worth the effort and maintenance. Often times, such projects are short lived or don't get off the ground, or worse, they need to be changed back to follow company standards, making all the work done already useless, and still more work is needed to revert it. The experience is painful for everyone.

Advanced Forms can solve this, to some extend, but the workaround available now for JSW, could use an update, so people can start a new form creation directly from the "Create" menu, or alternatively from the Forms menu in the sidebar.

Wishful thinking, I know, but I'm not letting this go quietly into the night.

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Arvind Ram
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January 3, 2025

Amazing! Is there any way to notify a product manager via email when a new form is submitted? Looked around under the notification settings but doesn't look like there's any way to enable notifications for Forms in particular.

Michiel Schuijer January 4, 2025

@Arvind Ramthat scenario is also covered when using Advanced Forms: https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Service-Management-articles/4-New-Form-Automation-Components-for-Jira-Service-Management/ba-p/2018674

Advanced Forms are truly a useful addition for capturing input (work).

The newly introduced (simple) Forms not so much, in afraid.

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Rob Horan
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January 8, 2025

Is there a migration path for ProForma DC customers who want to migrate to the cloud without using JSM?

Mykenna Cepek
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January 10, 2025

I'm pretty disappointed to read:

We have no current plans to merge with the forms capability available in Jira Service Management and there will be no changes to any site which currently has these enabled for their Jira projects.

The acquisition of ProForma provided the opportunity for Atlassian to offer great functionality not just in JWM and JSM but also in Jira. But no. Feels like a sales and marketing play for more product licensing. Many Enterprise Cloud orgs have good reasons to not want or need JSM (or JWM), and they are left to suffer with the substantial feature gap with Forms in Jira Cloud.

I recommended ProForma as a forward-looking option, after Jira acquired them and well before a planned migration from Data Center to Cloud. Now I learn that ProForma features in Jira won't ever happen. Great. My full gripe in the Community Forum is here.

P.S. Please cast a vote for JRACLOUD-85492

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Mykenna Cepek
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January 10, 2025

@Arvind Ram - You can use automation to trigger on a new form being submitted, perform other checks, and send email as needed. So: yes!

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