Managing large scale Jira instances can be very challenging. It’s hard to retain full visibility of progress and issues when there are many different projects happening at once, while a build-up of unnecessary configurations, custom fields and inactive users slows down overall performance, and therefore progress.
These issues make it difficult to keep track of multiple projects and to allocate resources where they are most needed. Standardising processes is important for meaningful reporting, but teams still need flexibility and creativity in the way they work.
With that in mind, here is an overview of the best Data Center-enabled Jira apps that are designed to help teams manage large, complex instances.
Portfolio for Jira
Portfolio for Jira is perfect for those looking to manage a small to medium-sized portfolio of projects. It helps you create a single plan and a timeline for a set of projects in Jira. It makes it easy to track progress and share the status of your projects with the rest of your team, and can give an overview of team capacity with a capacity report, so you can identify bottlenecks and assign tasks to team members with less on their plate.
Furthermore, you can create different versions of the plan in a www environment, allowing you to do ‘what if’ analysis without changing anything in the projects concerned. Once you are sure you want to make changes and what those changes are, there is also the ability to push changes through to the actual projects in Jira Software. Ultimately, looking at your projects this way can help you connect your work to the broader business objectives, and any insights can easily be shared with the management team.
BigPicture
BigPicture is designed to help manage multiple projects at one time. You can create programs and filter between them to create cross-Program dependencies with automatic sync.
With BigPicture, you can allocate tasks, build an Agile program roadmap and identify risks using a drag and drop matrix. It also features Gantt Charts with sorting, grouping and aggregation features (via the BigGantt plugin).
Structure for Jira
Structure for Jira helps you collaborate on projects with your team. It has sorting and filtering features so that you can build dynamic structures that update in real time.
It helps you visualise work across teams and projects with aggregated views of progress and timelines. You can also set hierarchies for any issues to varying levels of depth, so that you can better prioritise tasks and projects.
eazyBI Reports and Charts for Jira
As its name suggests, eazyBI Reports and Charts for Jira is a report and chart app. It has a drag and drop-based dashboard which makes it incredibly easy to use, and it has a variety of different chart types that are publishable as eazyBI reports.
eazyBI also has predefined rules to create specific calculations, or you can set up your own rules. It allows you to import data from CSV or Excel files, as well as from SQL and REST API data sources, and combine them in reports and charts with Jira data.
Optimizer for Jira
Optimizer for Jira, developed by Automation Consultants, is an app that helps you clean up your system by finding, analysing and removing elements that you’re not using, therefore speeding up your Jira instance. This can include projects, custom fields and users, as well as outdated boards, issue types, filters and statuses.
Optimizer helps you understand what is and isn’t being utilised and can help you determine if there are existing fields that can be used for a new purpose. It’s intuitive and easy to use, with drop down menus and sortable columns.
Work with an Enterprise Platinum Solution Partner
Automation Consultants is an Atlassian Enterprise Platinum Solution partner. We can help you manage your large scale Jira instances, help you install the right apps, and offer consulting to ensure your Jira and other Atlassian applications are running as smoothly as they can.
We provide advice on all the apps that integrate with your Atlassian solutions and offer a range of support services tailored to your company’s needs. Our consultants can provide comprehensive monitoring of your systems so that we can fix problems before they affect users, which is especially important if you’re running mission-critical Jira instances.
To further discuss Jira Software Data Center or any of your other Atlassian Data Center needs, contact us today.
