Creation of Customer Forums

[Graham Tyrie]

Hello,

We are looking to implement a Customer Forum.  We already use JSM/Confluence.  The forum will allow customers to submit questions to other members as a sort of self help.  As administrators, we would like to be able to submit topics for users to vote upon, which then can then be come part of our development roadmap, with it appearing in our backlog.

We would also like to be able to upload videos onto the channel - 'how to' videos etc.

So really it is something like the Atlassian Community forum here.  Ideally we would like to use JSM/Atlassian tooling, but we are also looking at a discovery exercise to look at SLACK and MS Teams.

I'd appreciate some help on this, and maybe some real world case studies from other customers who have looked at similar use cases.

We are running Jira DC 5.10

Thanks in advance - Graham

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Hi Graham,

There are a number of fora-providing apps for Confluence you could add to it; https://marketplace.atlassian.com/search?query=forum

Of course, I would not be doing my job if I didn't highlight Kolekti's "Forums for Confluence". I've been working with that since Adaptavist wrote it, so it's going to be my first recommendation, but the others are definitely worth a look.  I'd start with TechTime's ForumSpace after a look at ours.

However, you mention questions and the Community, so it might be worth a look at less-forum like apps that are aimed more at questions.  Again, I'd check the marketplace, but the front-runner is always going to be Atlassian's Questions for Confluence.

The previous version of the Community here was running on Confluence + Questions, but it had a lot in common with this Community (this is running on Khoros, although it's going to get a massive upgrade to Aurora, hopefully soon - it's not an Atlassian product)

[Graham Tyrie]

Thanks for the response Nic.  My next question was going to be is Questions for Confluence a 'thing'?  We are running DC v9.10 but the app version only goes up to v8?  What I am trying to replicate is this community page, where users can ask other users questions.  Answers can be voted up.  Polls can be conducted.  Any question can be converted to a JSM ticket/kan ban board etc.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Yes, it's an app for Jira, the current version may not be flagged as compatible on Confluence 9, but it should work.  It does have all of those functions, except the polling, last time I looked.

I don't know why it hasn't been built for 9.x properly yet, I'll ask.

[Abi Brown- Kolekti]

Hi @Graham Tyrie - if you did want any support trialling community forums I would be happy to support you - as its one of the Kolekti apps I look after :)

Thanks

Abi 

[Graham Tyrie]

Hi Abi, we run DC/Server for Confluence....yours is Cloud-based?  If you can support us, could you send through some documentation on the features of your app?

Thanks

Graham

[Abi Brown- Kolekti]

Hi @Graham Tyrie no ours is for DC/server too DC docs - we can have a call if you have any further questions too?

Thanks

Abi 

[Graham Tyrie]

Hello.  Thanks for the above.  I'm curious on a number of levels with regards to Atlassian's own Questions for Confluence - does it support DC9x onwards?  Also, what is Atlassian's strategy with regards to this app, as they themselves use Khoros, which does not suggest confidence in their own offering:-)  Anyone from Atlassian willing to answer that?  I'm also interested in the integration aspect with Jira....converting polls/voting questions into Jira backlog items......the supporting documentation does not describe how that happens.

With regards to Community Forums Abi, this is something we are interested in, and we may be looking to demo it, but again i need info on how your app integrates with Jira.

Thanks

Graham

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Atlassian uses Khoros (soon to move to Aurora) for the Community, not for answering questions.  A big part of the online Community is answering questions, yes, but it's not the only thing the Community does.

Questions for Confluence is used internally by Atlassian, it's intended for Q&A.  There's stuff in it for created docs from good answers and so-on, but it's not intended to gather requests to turn into issues (not that you can't do it, it's just not built in).  That's more the remit of Jira Product Discovery or Jira Service Management.

[Abi Brown- Kolekti]

Hi @Graham Tyrie happy to organise a demo - community forums is not directly linked to jira - users can include links to Jira in topics/discussions. So it doesn't auto create a Jira ticket if thats what you are looking for?

Thanks 

Abi