Team - Please provide overall insight into my thinking and direction - I am new to JIRA

[Richard Pugh]

Team goal - replace current inhouse ticketing system and introduce PM methodology

I read all the documentation online for CORE, Software and Service Desk and I mean every page...

Based on my understanding, I plan to:

1.  replace current in house ticketing system with JIRA service desk...seems straight forward

2. As the PM's we want to use the agile/scrum boards to provide management reporting of the tickets from the service desk and a better way for us to manage ticekts through burn-down etc...So we plan to utilize Software

3. The first question is to get the tickets from the service desk to software, is my only option to LINK tickets and if so, do we have to LINK every ticket indiviudally or is there a process that can port tickets over to Software? Do the status LINK, when a ticket is closed in Service desk does it close in Software or do we have to manually manage the tickets once in Service Desk?

4. Lastly, I am still trying to determine the ascertainable difference between CORE and Software. Why would I use one or the other?

Thank you so much in advance for your feedback

[Thomas Buchhorn]

I do not have Service Desk so I can not answer those questions.

About Question 4.

Jira Core provides basic features like workflows, issue browsing and editing, and other project features, just with a simplified view for non-technical users

Jira Software is Jira Core + Agile Tools.

Agile Tools = Kanban, Scrum Boards, Provide links in tickets to development tools like Fisheye (code changes) , Bitbucket (Git Source code Repository), Bamboo (deployment server), etc.

So basically tools which software developer needs.

Jira Core seems to provide only Kanban boards if you use the Cloud version. So if you plan to use boards and host it on your own server, you need the Jira Software.

Also a good overview about difference between Jira Core , Software and Service Desk can be found here:

https://confluence.atlassian.com/migration/jira-7/server_jira+agile_product-changes

[Richard Pugh]

Thank you Thomas. I want to master Software and Service Desk. Is there a book you wold recommend or is the online documentation sufficient?

[Thomas Buchhorn]

Online Documentation is sufficient for basic stuff.

If you need to go in depths or want some practical tips, etc maybe check out;

- JIRA 7 Essentials - Fourth Edition by Patrick Li

- Practical JIRA Administration by Matthew Doar

If you are unsure about Jira and SD try out the cloud versions for free (trial). Best to see it in action.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

I tend to think of them as layers.

JIRA Core provides you with a pile of things - users, issues, workflows, projects, searches etc.

JIRA Service Desk allows you to flip a project from being a pile of "issues" over to a Service Desk, with a request interface in front of the issues.  Agents then handle the calls coming in that way, and are expected to sort most of them out (including getting some help from developers if necessary), but escalate bugs and so-on over to the development team by creating and linking them to the development team projects

JIRA Software puts a layer of functionality over the top of that, giving you Scrum and Kanban boards.  You can, in theory, point them at Service Desk projects, but as these projects are intended to be handled by Agents, your Software people won't get a lot of functionality out of it.

An issue linked from a Service Desk request/issue to a development issue simply keeps that logical link.  If you want it to do more than just display, you'll need a bit of code or automation.

[Richard Pugh]

Nick, first of all thank you for your guidance...

If I understand you correctly, my path should be:

1. Create a Project / Board in SW (I am leaning towards KANBAN)

2. When tickets come in, which will go to ONE SD project. I will have various issue types within the SD Project - its simply a Helpdesk, then point my KANBAN board to the SD Project.

3. The SD team will work on tickets as they normally do - per my workflows and assign to one another and interface with internal customers

4. As the tickets transition through the workflow, does the status change LINK to my KANBAN or do I have to constantly monitor in SD and change in SW?

I am getting a better understanding. Thank you very much...