New to JIRA and have a few questions!

[Ken Uehling]

Apologize in advance if not appropriate to fit so many questions in one discussion thread. Please let me know if it isn't and I will move it to separate areas. 

I currently work on a team that is between our customer account managers and supply account managers. I handle refund and adjustment requests from the customer account managers -> review it -> send it to our supply account managers.

Our current JIRA Board system is set into place so our customer account managers can post a refund request they received from their client so that I can investigate it further. Once I finish my investigation, I move it to a different section of the board where our Finance team will take note of the refund and input it into their Google Sheet.

My current work flow is that once I finish my investigation, I have to manually create an email to send to the supply account managers so they can contact their clients and input the refund numbers into their Google Sheet so the Finance team can go over it.

I would like to integrate the supply account managers into this JIRA Board system that we already have in place for our customer account managers. I've been thinking about a few ways to go about this and have a few questions that I was hoping someone who is a lot more knowledgeable about JIRA could answer for me:

I was considering including sub-tasks after my investigation was completed and tag the appropriate supply account managers to process the refund but it's crucial that both the two team of account managers do not have visibility into each other’s work flow and refund amount. With that in mind, would it be best to just clone the original ticket from the customer account managers into a new board where only the supply team can look over it?

I was looking into JIRA Apps on the Atlassian Marketplace and noticed the array of options to integrate other applications into JIRA. How feasible would it be to integrate Google Sheets directly into the JIRA Board ticket? Could the account managers input the refund numbers reliably into the sheet?

Sometimes there can be up to 10 different account managers involved for one refund request where they could potentially post different comments within the ticket. Is it possible for me to respond directly to the comment (similar to how it is in Slack) instead of the whole comment thread?

Thank you in advance for your help!

[Gundlupet Sreenidhi]

Hi @Ken Uehling,

Given your scenario where you want to restrict viewing between two teams, I would recommend having separate JIRA projects for both team. JIRA's permission scheme does not allow you to allow view of one type but not the other. 

I would recommend - when you are complete with your investigation, you can clone and move* (explained later) for each team that needs to continue their work.

Why clone and move?

As mentioned earlier - i recommend you create separate projects for each team to work on their own tasks. 

When you clone - you are basically cloning the issue in the same project as the original issue. Since you want to send the issue to a second team, you need to move the issue to that's team project / board.

This way each team will have visibility to their own activities and cannot view other projects (once the permissions schemes are setup properly).

Another alternative to doing the clone and move is to implement a Derive(you can name it whatever you want) functionality. This is similar to the clone and move except that it does everything for you. You can look more into how this is achieved here(look at the Derive section).

As for linking google drive documents to JIRA, there is a plugin in the Atlassian Marketplace:

https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1216787/google-drive-docs-for-jira?hosting=cloud&tab=overview

This plugin provides the capability of getting the google drive documents directly into the JIRA issues.

[Ken Uehling]

Hi @Gundlupet Sreenidhi,

Thank you for your prompt and detailed response, I appreciate it. 

I have a few additional questions that I was hoping you could clarify for me:

1. As I mentioned in my original comment, there could be up to 10 different supply account managers in one JIRA Board ticket. What would be the best way to ensure that these multiple supply account managers are informed of the task at hand? I'm assuming that there can only be one assignee so do you suggest adding them to "Watchers"?
2. Once the supply account managers complete their individual task of inputting the refund amount into their Google Sheet and contacting their clients of the refund, is there a way to notify, within the ticket, that they have completed their task. I ask because since if there are multiple people within one ticket, I would like to find an easy way for me, as an admin, to see that everyone finished what they were supposed to so I can move it into the "Completed" section of the board. 

Thank you.

[Gundlupet Sreenidhi]

Hi @Ken Uehling,

1. Watchers is a good way to keep people informed about activity on the issue. Another possibility is to use components (which have component leads). If you go the component route - you will be identifying each supply account as a component and the manager as the component lead. That way the account manager is automatically notified when activity happens for a component. 

2. You can build post-functions in JIRA when a specific transition happens, then an automated notification is sent. You can also link post-functions in such a way that when the linked issues are complete, then the main issue is automatically complete. 

I recommend you go through this link for more details on how it can be achieved:

http://sreenidhi-gsd.com:9191/display/DEVOPS/Implementing+Scaled+Agile+in+JIRA+-+One+way+to+do+it

[Ken Uehling]

Hi @Gundlupet Sreenidhi,

Thank you. Although I am confused on how I can use components and post-functions to achieve what I want to do. 

Let's say that in a one week period, I approve and clone 10 tickets to from Board #1 to Refund Board #2 in JIRA so that the supply account managers can review the ticket and contact their clients about the refund. 

This new project board will consist of three sections - "Refund", "Completed", and "Finance Completed" and all the cloned tickets will be included in the "Refund" section. 

Once the cloned ticket is in the "Refund" section - I plan on adding the relevant supply account manager(s) to the "Watchers" section of the ticket. It can be anywhere from 1 to 10 people per ticket. 

At this point, I expect the account manager(s) to review the ticket and send their emails to the clients / add relevant lines to the Google Sheet depending on the content of the ticket. 

I do not want any of the account manager(s) tagged as a "Watcher" in the ticket to move the ticket into the other "Completed" or "Finance Completed" section. 

With that in mind, am I still able to use components / post-functions to achieve what I wanted to do in my previous comment? 

Thank you.  

[Gundlupet Sreenidhi]

Before I give you my answer - one further question: 

Who should have the permission to move to "Completed" and "Finance Completed" statuses?

[Ken Uehling]

@Gundlupet Sreenidhi - I should be the only one who has permission to move it to "Completed" and only the person on the Finance team should have the permission to move it from "Completed" to "Finance Completed". The person on the Finance team does not need to be tagged or part of the ticket process and can work directly from the queue created in the "Completed" section. 

My reasoning is because I do not want to give any of the 10 supply account managers permission to move it to "Completed" since if a ticket is in the "Refund" section and has multiple account managers as watchers in the ticket, they will complete their tasks all at different times of the month. 

It would be ideal if the supply account managers can, once they finish their task, to post a comment in the ticket in the "Refund" section or check a box and the ticket can move to "Completed". 

[Gundlupet Sreenidhi]

Hi @Ken Uehling,

Here is one way you can do it. 

Lets say you have a (standard) issue type called "REFUND" which you manage. 

Build a workflow having 4 statuses: OPEN, IN PROGRESS, COMPLETE, FINANCE COMPLETE

When the REFUND issue is created, it goes to the OPEN status. 

When you start your investigation, you can move them to IN PROGRESS. \

At this time, if you want to hand-over to one (or many) of the supply account Managers --> create a separate sub-task for each one of them.

--> You can assign the sub-tasks to individual supply account managers or add them to the watch list of the sub-task impacting them.

The sub-task can use its own workflow having status OPEN, IN PROGRESS, DONE. 

Each supply account manager can work on their own sub-task and move them to complete when they are done. This way the supply account manager does not have to worry about the timeline or activity of other sub-tasks.

As the reporter of the sub-task(s), you will be notified for every activity on the sub-task(s). 

The main REFUND issue does not get impacted in any way.

When all the linked sub-tasks are done, you can move the REFUND issue to COMPLETE. (This transition can also be automated - move the REFUND issue to complete when all sub-tasks are done - which will also put in the restriction: you cannot move the REFUND issue to complete unless all sub-tasks are done)

At this time, the Finance Team can move the REFUND issue from COMPLETE to FINANCE COMPLETE.

You can do all this within a single board and single project. 

It keeps all your activities streamlined and less workflow maintenance is involved.

[Ken Uehling]

@Gundlupet Sreenidhi

I cannot thank you enough for the help. I recently received administrative access so I have been playing a lot with the different options and settings in the JIRA system. I have set up my board and created sub-tasks to see if this is something that could improve the efficiency of our current process. 

Regarding your point here: 

"When all the linked sub-tasks are done, you can move the REFUND issue to COMPLETE. (This transition can also be automated - move the REFUND issue to complete when all sub-tasks are done - which will also put in the restriction: you cannot move the REFUND issue to complete unless all sub-tasks are done)"

How do I set up an automated transition once all the sub-tasks are DONE?

Ken

[Ken Uehling]

@Gundlupet Sreenidhi

I cannot thank you enough for your help. I really appreciate it. 

A question about your previous comment:

"When all the linked sub-tasks are done, you can move the REFUND issue to COMPLETE. (This transition can also be automated - move the REFUND issue to complete when all sub-tasks are done - which will also put in the restriction: you cannot move the REFUND issue to complete unless all sub-tasks are done)"

How do I automate this process so that once all the sub-tasks are DONE, it will automatically move it to COMPLETED? 

In addition, I have two questions: 

1) On my JIRA Board, there is a filter "Assigned to me" that shows all the issues that are assigned to me. However, it does not show any sub-tasks that are assigned to a particular person. Is there a way to fix this so it shows the "Assigned to me - sub tasks"? 

2) Is there a way to not have every sub-task numbered? For example, when I create one ticket, it is labeled as TX-1. But then every subsequent sub-task is labeled as TX-2, TX-3 etc. However, I just want the main ticket / issue at hand to be numbered. Is this possible? 

Thank you, 

Ken

[Gundlupet Sreenidhi]

Hi @Ken Uehling,

For auto-transition of issue when sub-tasks are complete, there are two things you need to do:

a. In the workflow of the REFUND issue; on the IN PROGRESS to COMPLETE transition, add a condition specifying that all sub-tasks must be in the COMPLETE status. 

This puts the restriction that the REFUND issue cannot be complete unless all sub-tasks are complete.

b. In the workflow of the Sub-task; on the IN Progress to COMPLETE transition, add a post-function that triggers a parent issue transition to COMPLETE. This will attempt to transition the parent to COMPLETE status. 

This way whenever the sub-task is moved to COMPLETE, it attempts to move the REFUND issue to COMPLETE. However, the REFUND issue's condition blocks the transition until if there are more sub-tasks that haven't satisfied the condition. Once the last sub-task is COMPLETE, then the REFUND moves to COMPLETE.

Note: You need to have the Jira Workflow Toolbox and Jira Suite Utilities add-ons installed in JIRA to accomplish this activity.

Answers to your questions: 

1. The filters on the board are called Quick Filters. You will be able to add additional quick filters per your needs. 

Click on the Board drop-down on the upper right and select Configure 

Select Quick Filters on the left panel and you will be able to add additional Quick Filters using JQL queries that satisfy your needs. 

2. Everything in JIRA is an Issue and every issue will have a number. Even though you might consider a sub-task as part of the main Issue, it is still its own issue in JIRA. Hence it will have its own number. This is how JIRA is designed. You cannot get past it. 

Also, I think this thread is getting really long and its time to close the thread.

If you require detailed help and support, I recommend you contact me directly and I will be able to help you further.