JIRA as a Project Management Tool

Time Tracking

JIRA has a time tracking feature which allows the estimation of how much time is spent for each task. The actual time spent can then be logged against each task. JIRA also features a time tracking report which can be used to work out the total estimated time for each phase (version). The issue navigator can be used to identify issues where the actual work logged differs from the estimated time to complete by more than a certain percentage. For example, users can be track risky tasks in a project by setting up an RSS feed of all tasks that have taken 15% longer to complete than estimated. You can read more about the project time tracking report here:

http://tinyurl.com/fv5rj

User Workload Report 

You may also find the User Workload Report to see how much work an employee has been allocated, and how long it should take.

http://tinyurl.com/h59q8

Gantt Chart Plugin 

We also have a GANTT chart plugin report, for example, that you can freely use. You can read more about this here:

http://tinyurl.com/j2agp

Also see the Greenhopper and JIRA TimeTracking Reporting Collection plugins.

Project Phases / Milestones

At the moment a JIRA entity that represents project phases is called a 'project version'. Project version has a name, description, due date, etc. It is possible to allocate tasks to multiple versions and each task can be allocated a single assignee (staff resources). Each task can then also have a due date which can help you map to a critical path. You can learn more about version management in JIRA here:

http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/docs/latest/version_management.html

Sub-Tasks 

Sub-tasks can be used to split up a parent issue into a number of tasks which can be assigned and tracked separately. Sub-tasks have all the properties of regular issues such as summary, reporter, assignee, fix versions, etc. You can read more about sub-tasks here:

http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/docs/latest/subtasks.html

Dashboard Portlets (Reports)

Portlets provide pertinent information on your dashboard the moment your login. You can display project specific statistics in various dimensions for relevant projects on the dashboard itself. To familiarise yourself with the types of portlets that can be placed on your dashboard in JIRA, please see:

http://tinyurl.com/fzdjx

Issue Navigator Filters (Searching & Reporting)

You can also create 'filters' to view specific issues via our issue navigator according to either simple or complex criteria. You can then save these 'filters' and include the results or a hyperlink (so that the results are just a click away) on your dashboard. You can also share these filters so that other people can include the link or results on their own dashboards. Furthermore you can also have the results of issue navigator filters emailed to yourself or specific people, e.g. all
issues that are open but past their due date by one day can be emailed to you as soon as this case is true. You can read more about issue navigator filters here:

http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/docs/latest/issue_filters.html

You can also view the results of an issue navigator in Excel so you can then, in turn, create customised reports. It is also possible to see these results in XML (perfect for RSS readers) or even printable form.  You can read more about this here:

http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/docs/latest/navigatorviews.html

Additional Useful Plugins for Project Management

Some of these plugins are free extensions to Confluence, others are commercial. All of them are focused on helping project managers make the most of JIRA.

Greenhopper

This agile project management plugin includes burndown charts with estimation accuracy and story points, planning boards with drag-and-drop reordering, personal task boards with time tracking and editable issue summary cards.

http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRAEXT/GreenHopper

JIRA TimeTracking Reporting Collection

JIRA TimeTracking Reporting Collection is a set of reports and portlets presenting time tracking data in various ways. It contains more than 25 portlets and reports. As a supplement also a service can be configured to send a report as an email to one or more recipients.

http://confluence.atlassian.com/x/4dQC

Links Hierarchy Reports

This plugin is an interactive hierarchical view of linked Issues based on a selected link type.
http://confluence.atlassian.com/x/RQsPAw

Kaamelot

Kaamelot is a set of Plugins around Timetracking and Worklogs.
http://confluence.atlassian.com/x/6nYC

Schedule Planner - AJAX issue editing for bug triagers

This plugin gives you a AJAX interface for editing (re-assigning/de-prioritizing/generally, changing) lots of bugs without having to load lots of pages. Also gives some high-level stats about how loaded each developer is for each of the releases ("fix for" versions) that you're querying on.

http://confluence.atlassian.com/x/ErYC

JIRA RiskManagement

RiskManagement report and portlet provides risk management functionality.

http://confluence.atlassian.com/x/0MkC

Jimex

Allows to import Microsoft Project files to JIRA and adds extension of RPC JIRA plugin with useful tasks.

http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRAEXT/Jimex+Plugin

MS Project Import

User can import project from MS Project to the system after plug-in and portlet installation.

http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRAEXT/MS+Project+Import+plug-in

Agile Wall Report

Report for viewing issue statuses in the same way as in agile project progress walls (issues in three columns: to do/in progress/done).

http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRAEXT/Agile+Wall+Report

Microsoft Project Integration

The Connector is a Microsoft Project extension plug-in that will allow connection directly from Microsoft Project to JIRA. Use JIRA for task management and quickly and easily sync between the the two systems. The connector provides direct integration with Microsoft Project creating a JIRA toolbar right in Project. From this toolbar, you have access to a variety of JIRA functionality like importing, updating resource assignments, due dates and task descriptions.

http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRAEXT/Microsoft+Project+Integration

JIRA Project View Plugin

This plugin is a Jira extension to allow the Planning and Time Management of the project from a single screen. It allows the Project Manager to create and manage the schedule of the project. Display issues in a multi-level hierarchy. This report shows a set of issues (version) like a Project view. Contact us for details.

http://confluence.atlassian.com/x/SIGwB

Customizing JIRA & Plugins

If the packaged reports and portlets do not meet you needs, you can also easily write customised portlets and reports using JIRA's plugin subsystem. You can read more about building your own specific JIRA Plugins here:

http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/JIRA+Plugin+Guide

Related Material

Using JIRA For Agile Development

All Best-Practice Discussions

Confluence UI Guidelines

JIRA as a Project Management Tool

JIRA as a Support System

JIRA in an Agile Environment