Summary

Sprint Synchronization between Jira and Jira Align is often misunderstood, resulting in mapping/alignment issues for the sprint relationships between the two separate Atlassian products.

This article has been created to define some of the concepts, explain how the automated process to map Jira Sprints to Jira Align Sprints works and the configuration recommendations when setting up sprints in both Jira and Jira Align

Environment

Jira Align

Solution

Concepts

• In Jira Align, Program Increments (PIs) and Sprints are both objects that manage a set time period.
• Typically PIs represent a Quarter and are 3 Months long
• Sprints are much shorter than PIs and are typically 1 or 2 weeks long   
• Jira Align Sprints are child objects of PIs so a PI would typically contain 6 or more Sprints if the PI is a Quarter
• Jira only works with Sprints
• Jira Align has both PIs and Sprints
• Jira Sprints must only be connected to one Jira Align Sprint (and vice-versa)
• Jira Sprints do not have a direct relationship to the PI, the relationship is via the parent of the Jira Align Sprint
• Program Increments  have an important configuration requirement known as Anchor Sprints. These define the time segments within a PI that each sprint can be associated with. As each team under a program will have it's own list of sprints, the anchors ensure that the sprints for any team under a single program all follow the same sprint cadence.
• Anchor Sprints are used when Jira Sprints are mapped to existing or automatically created sprints based on the details of the Jira Sprints. 
• Program Increments, with configured Anchor Sprints, MUST exist before Jira Align Sprints can be created.
• Jira Align cannot create sprints in Jira, so new sprints have to be created in Jira 

How Sprint alignment/mappings between Jira and Jira Align work

The following points are presented in the order seen when first configuring integration of a project between Jira and Jira Align, so show what is configured first and how the settings are then used for the automated sprint mapping

1. The Jira Program has been created and has at least one current/future PI linked to it that has suitable anchor sprints configured.
2. The Jira Project is connected to the Jira Align Program (in Jira Align > Settings > Jira Settings)
3. The Jira Board is connected to the Jira Align Program and Team (in Jira Align > Settings > Jira Management) 
4. When a new sprint is created in Jira, the Start and End Date properties are set in that sprint
5. During a sync cycle of the Jira Connector, the new Jira Sprint is seen and the Program (set in Points 2 & 3) is used to lookup the PIs linked to that Program.
6. Each PI in the Program has their Anchor sprints checked to find a match for the End Date of the Jira Sprint (from Point 3)
   If there is no match a valid mapping can't be created, but as the sprint order (in the Jira. Backlog)  can still cause issues this failure may affect the sprint mappings of other sprints
7. Once a sprint anchor is matched we check to see if the team (from Point 3) has an existing Sprint linked to the same Sprint anchor. If it does we use that Sprint, if it does not then we create a new sprint (and link the PI with the identified sprint anchor to  that new Sprint ) 
8. Points 5, 6, & 7 apply to the first or current active sprint in the Jira board, any future sprints that then follow are connected to the future Jira Align Sprints by using the sprint order from Jira and choosing each future anchor in the PI in their defined order (Note:  this behaviour is due to change so that all Jira sprints will eventually use only the end-dates to link to Jira Align Sprint Anchors) 
9. Points 5, 6, 7, & 8 happen when a sprint is first created, however if changes have subsequently been made to future sprints in Jira, these mappings can be refreshed by using the Resync Future Sprints option that can be found in Jira Align > Settings > Jira Management > Jira Sprints and choosing your board.
   In the same screen, it is possible to manually adjust a sprint mapping by changing  the Mapped Jira Align sprint column content for the row of the affected sprint. Make sure the Save button located at the top of the list of sprints is used when manual changes have been made as the page does not automatically save.
10. If you add a story to a Jira Sprint, then the mappings as displayed in Jira Align > Settings > Jira Management > Jira Sprints are used to automatically set the sprint in the Jira Align version of the story. If bidirectional sprint updates are enabled, then the mappings are also used, to update Jira, if the sprint is changed  in the Jira Align Story

Configuration Recommendations for successful sprint mappings between Jira and Jira Align

• In Jira Align, the program linked to the Jira Project must be added to the PI(s) - in the Programs, Products and ... tab of each PI
• In the Jira Align PI(s), multiple Sprint Anchors (typically 1 or 2 weeks long) should be created that cover the complete timespan of the PI (in the Sync Sprints tab)
• Only create anchor sprints when sure the dates are correct, and unlikely to need changing in the future. This recommendation is because there can be negative experiences related to other objects (risks, dependencies etc), where a corrective action related to incorrect dates requires the deletion of either a sprint or a sprint anchor. Not creating the anchors until you have confirmation of the dates then avoids such issues.
• Do not overlap the dates of your sprints or sprint anchors
• Create PIs and set the correct sprint anchors before creating the sprints in Jira (as if they do not exist, the Jira Sprints cannot map correctly into Jira Align and the mappings may not be automatically corrected once they do exist)
• If creating PIs well in advance of their active dates, then make sure the anchor sprints are configured as they are created. This is to allow future work to be assigned to the correct sprints immediately  
• Make a decision as to whether the Jira Align sprint anchors that cross the start and end dates of 2 different PIs are to be created in the earlier PI or the later PI - see https://confluence.atlassian.com/jakb/how-to-handle-sprints-that-cross-a-pi-boundary-in-jira-align-1384122154.html 
• The Start and End dates of each Sprint Anchor should be agreed with and/or given  to whoever creates the sprints in the related Jira Projects (so a good change control process is needed to inform the correct people.)
    Whoever creates PIs in Jira Align and/or the Jira Align Admins must have a working relationship with whoever creates the sprints in Jira. 
• Jira Sprints should be created with dates that match those of the Jira Align Anchor Sprints (Note: it is the end date that is important and it must be within 3 days, as a default that can be changed, of the sprint anchor end date)
• All Jira projects linked to a single Jira Align program must use the same sprint timings (dates etc) as you cannot have parallel  PIs (covering the same dates) linked to the same program
• If possible,  try to use a regular cadence (sprint length) - although IP sprints can be a different length from your standard sprints. This recommendation is because maintaining sprints of different lengths is prone to user error and then more likely to cause manual corrective actions to be needed.
• Do not configure sprint lengths to be the same length as the PI as this would mean sprints are not really being used and the use of Kanban Boards in Jira may be more appropriate
• Jira Sprints should be listed in the backlog in date order (and 'bucket' sprints without dates should not be created in Jira) This requirement  will change in the future
• In Jira do not share sprints between boards, create unique sprints in each board

Some of the above points are covered in more detail in: Jira and Jira Align Integration: Sprint Best Practices

Related Content

• "No Jira Project was found" error seen in Jira Align when integrating a Jira Board
• Warning "Jira Align team sprints are not mapped in calendar order" after syncing Jira Board
• Jira sprints not syncing with Jira Align due to error Sprint was not created because this sprint originates from another board