Migrating from Classic Boards

The Future of JIRA Agile

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Classic boards have been removed in this release, JIRA Agile 6.7

See The Future of JIRA Agile for more details.

If you need help migrating your projects to the new boards, try getting in touch with an Atlassian Expert.

(info) Watch this page. Further information about features and workarounds may be added over time.

This page provides instructions on how to migrate from a Classic board to a new board.

We are aware that the lack of certain features in JIRA Agile may make it difficult for some customers to migrate. These features have been listed on this page with information on their availability in JIRA Agile and any workarounds.

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How do I know if I am using a Classic board?

If you are not sure whether you are using a newer Agile board or an older Classic board, you can distinguish the two via the page URL. When viewing a newer Agile board, the URL of the page will include the word 'rapid' (e.g. RapidBoard.jspa?rapidView=524) whereas a Classic board will not.

Migrating from a Classic board to a new board

Migrating from a Classic board to a new board in JIRA Agile is a manual process. This section describes a basic scenario for migrating from a Classic board to a new board in a Scrum project. To do this, you will create a board and configure it so that it works in a similar (or better) way to your Classic board.

Why can't JIRA Agile migrate my board automatically?

The simple answer is that there are too many permutations to automate the process effectively. Here are a few examples to illustrate this:

  • Classic board contexts are used to filter/highlight issues. It is difficult to tell how these have been used. For example, someone could have set up contexts for teams in a project to work from, which would logically map to a new board. However, contexts could also be used to temporarily hide issues, which would logically map to quick filters.
  • Classic boards do not have a sprint entity, whereas the new boards do. In some projects, versions may have been used for sprints for Classic boards, whereas other projects may have only used versions to represent actual versions.
  • Classic boards can be configured to use any field to rank issues, whereas the new boards will only use the 'Rank' custom field.

Many teams use different features of the Classic board, so these instructions don't cover every configuration: read Feature availability in JIRA Agile for details on each feature's availability and workarounds. These instructions are also targeted at customers using Scrum. If you use Kanban, then many of the steps below will not apply to you (e.g. creating sprints).

1. Create a new board(s) in the same project as your Classic board.

Create a new Scrum Board or a Kanban Board — pick the option that fits your team's needs. Note, a Classic board is based on a single project. However, a new board can be based on many projects (and vice versa, a project can have many boards that reference it). This is useful for when you want to manage work for multiple related projects in one place.

Mapping your Classic board contexts to a new board:

  • As a general rule, you should map each of your Classic board contexts to a new board and configure the board's filter to match the context. This is usually the case when you have used contexts to manage separate backlogs for different teams or project components.
  • In some cases, you may want to use a Quick Filter rather than create a new board. For example, if you are using a context to quickly switch between different issue types (e.g. show only bugs) or to show team-specific views of a common backlog, it would be better to create a Quick Filter.
  • Classic board contexts permitted sorting by different fields. The new boards will only order by Rank (if ranking is enabled). We recommend that you don't order by a different field, as a number of features won't work (e.g. ranking, sprints, etc).

For instructions, see Creating a BoardConfiguring Filters and Configuring Quick Filters. Once you have created and configured your new board, all of the issues should be in the backlog.

2. Re-rank and flag your issues

The new boards only use the 'Rank' custom field to rank issues. This is the same 'Rank' field used by Classic boards. If you have used a field other than the 'Rank' custom field, you will need to manually re-rank your issues. For instructions, see Ranking an Issue.

Similarly, the new boards only use the 'Flagged' custom field to flag issues. This is the same 'Flagged' field used by Classic boards. However, if you have used a field other than the 'Flagged' custom field, you will need to manually re-flag your issues. Note, the new boards only have one type flag. For instructions, see Flagging an Issue.

3. Create sprints in your project

Sprints are standalone objects in the new boards, as opposed to "sprints" in Classic boards which are based on JIRA versions. If you used versions to represent sprints in your Classic board, use sprints in the new board instead. For instructions, see Creating a Sprint.

Note, as Classic board "sprints" are based on JIRA versions, you can always view historical information about them via the Version Report in the Agile boards.

4. Assign issues to sprints

For instructions, see Adding an Issue to a Sprint.

Tip: To check whether the issues in your project have been mapped to the appropriate sprints, view the issues for your project by going to Projects >  (your project)  > Issues > All issues >  > List View.  Customise the search results to show the Sprint and Fix Version fields — look for issues without a Sprint value, or issues where the Sprint value doesn't match the Fix Version.

5. Customise cards and configure the issue detail view for your board(s)

The "cards" in new boards do not show the same level of detail as cards in Classic boards, as they are optimised to show information in the Issue Detail View of the board. Click on any card in a new board to show the detailed view of the issue.

However, you can add up to three additional fields to cards. These can be different fields for the Backlog versus the Active sprints. See Customising Cards. You can also configure the issue detail view to reflect the information shown on your Classic board cards. See Configuring the Issue Detail View for instructions.

6. Other changes

Here are a few other change that you may need to make:

  • Configure non-working days for your board(s) — the global non-working days configuration will be used by the new board, but you will need to re-configure any board-specific non-working days for your new board(s). See Configuring Working Days for instructions.
  • Configure gadgets for your dashboard — The Classic gadgets will be retired when the Classic boards are retired. JIRA Agile has a number of gadgets that provide similar functionality to the Classic gadgets. See the Gadgets section below.

 

Need help?

If you need help migrating from Classic boards, visit our Support System and create a support request. You will need to create an account on the Support System, if you don't have one already.

See Getting Help for other help resources.


Feature availability in JIRA Agile

We want your feedback!

We would love to hear from you if you need one (or more) of the features in the list below. Just add a comment to the related issue(s) linked below and describe your use-case. Feel free to watch and vote for the issue too. 

If you have any other questions or comments, please use this feedback form.

In this section:

Versions

Using versions for sprints

The sprint object should be used to represent sprints in the new boards, rather than versions. For instructions on how to do this, see  Working with Sprints .

Unlike Classic boards, the new boards do not use versions to represent sprints. Separating versions from sprints was a highly requested feature, and the new boards have a sprint object for sprints. This means that the Fix Version field can be used to represent versions, not sprints, as intended.

AVAILABLE

Related issues:

Version hierarchy

Release planning should be done via versions on the new boards (shown in the Versions panel in the Backlog). See Planning a Version . You can work around this by using an add-on, like the Versions Hierarchy add-on by Broken Build/Vasiliy Krokha

We do not plan on supporting version hierarchy in future.

NOT AVAILABLE

Related issues:

    • N/A

Gadgets

Classic gadgets will be retired when Classic boards are retired.

Agile Classic Project Progress gadget

Use the Sprint Health gadget instead.

The functionality of the Project Progress gadget has been incorporated into the Sprint Health gadget, which also includes number of other items related to the sprint.

AVAILABLE

Related issues:

    • N/A

Agile Classic Days Remaining gadget

Use the Days Remaining in Sprint gadget for the new boards or the Sprint Health gadget instead.

There is a Days Remaining in Sprint gadget for the new boards. This information is also available in the Sprint Health gadget, which also includes number of other items related to the sprint. 

AVAILABLE

Related issues:

    • N/A

Agile Classic Hour/Statistic Burndown gadgets

Use the Sprint Burndown gadget for the new boards. 

The Sprint Burndown gadget for the new boards has the same core functionality as the Classic gadgets, but with less options. We plan on improving the Sprint Burndown report that this gadget is based on.

AVAILABLE

Related issues:

    • N/A

Agile Classic Task Board gadget 

Use the Wallboard gadget

The Wallboard gadget shows the Active sprints/Kanban board of a new board, which is equivalent to the Task Board in Classic boards. Note, the Wallboard gadget shows all columns by default, however you can configure Quick Filters.

AVAILABLE

Related issues:

    • N/A

Agile Classic Cumulative Flow Chart gadget

No workaround available.

This gadget is not yet available for the new boards. We plan on implementing a new Cumulative Flow Diagram gadget after we improve the Cumulative Flow Diagram report. This will work with sprints and you will be able to use it on dashboards and wallboards.

BACKLOG

Related issues:

Agile Classic gadget 

There is no equivalent gadget that provides the same summary/statistics as the Agile Classic gadget.

We will consider this feature for future releases, but we cannot indicate when it will be implemented.

BACKLOG

Related issues:

Agile Classic Card View gadget 

There is no equivalent gadget.

We do not have plans to implement this gadget in future. If you are using this gadget to embed a card in Confluence, use the JIRA Issues macro instead.

NOT AVAILABLE

Related issues:

    • N/A

Reporting

Cumulative Flow Diagram report — support for non-working days

No workaround available.

The Cumulative Flow Diagram report currently does not support non-working days. However, we plan on improving this report and will implement support for non-working days when we do.

BACKLOG

Related issues:

Other reporting improvements

We have been progressively improving a number of reports in recent releases (e.g. see these release notes) and are planning on introducing more improvements over time.


BACKLOG

Related issues:

Estimates and time tracking

Using the Remaining Estimate field for planning

View the remaining estimate in the Issue Detail View on the new board. The remaining estimate is also shown as a total for the sprint in the sprint footer.

The new boards do not permit the Remaining Estimate field to be used as the Estimate Statistic. They also do not show the Remaining Estimate field on cards in the Backlog. We will consider these features for future releases, but we cannot indicate when it will be implemented.

BACKLOG

Related issues:

Viewing the total estimated work for each column in the Active sprints/Kanban board

No workaround available.

We will consider this feature for future releases, but we cannot indicate when it will be implemented.

BACKLOG

Related issues:

Viewing the remaining time estimate for each column in the Active sprints/Kanban board

No workaround available.

We will consider this feature for future releases, but we cannot indicate when it will be implemented.

BACKLOG

Related issues:

Rolling up sub-task estimates to the parent total estimate

The Issue Detail View rolls up the sub-task estimates, although it adds the estimate for the parent issue as well (if the parent issue has an estimate).

We will consider this feature for future releases, but we cannot indicate when it will be implemented.

N/A

Related issues:

Other

Custom cards

Custom cards are available in JIRA Agile 6.6. You can add up to three additional fields to cards. These can be different fields for the Backlog versus the Active sprints. See Customising Cards.

You can also configure the issue detail view to reflect your Classic board cards. See Configuring the Issue Detail View.

AVAILABLE

Related issues:

Printing cards

Card printing is not available in JIRA Agile. You can work around this by using an add-on, like the Agile Cards add-on by Spartez. The Atlassian Marketplace also has other add-ons that can print cards. Alternatively, if you just want to print the list of issues on a board, you can select the issues in the Backlog, right-click and select View in Excel.

We will consider this feature for future releases, but we cannot indicate when it will be implemented.

BACKLOG

Related issues:

Pre-assigning work

In JIRA Agile 6.5, assignee avatars are shown in the Backlog (on cards and in the sprint header). Hovering over the avatars in the sprint header, shows the amount of work assigned to a user.

In JIRA Agile 6.6, you can view a workload summary via the Backlog that lists the work assigned to each assignee in the sprint.

See Using the Backlog.

AVAILABLE

Related issues:

Viewing and ranking sub-tasks

No workaround available.

JIRA Agile currently does not support the viewing of sub-tasks in the Backlog nor the ability to rank them. We will consider this feature for future releases, but we cannot indicate when it will be implemented.

BACKLOG

Related issues:

Board templates 

There are no templates for the new boards. To work around this, create a board with the desired settings. Use this board as a template by copying it, then changing the base filter as required.

JIRA Agile does not support templates for boards, i.e. default settings for columns, status mapping, swim lane strategy, card colour strategy, card layout, etc. We plan to add this feature in future releases, but we cannot indicate when it will be implemented.

BACKLOG

Related issues:

Filtering components/assignees  

There is no equivalent to the Component Board or Assignee Board from the Classic Boards. However, you can work around this by configuring Quick Filters for components/assignees or by configuring swimlanes (based on Queries with the appropriate JQL for components, or Assignees for assignees).

We will consider this feature for future releases, but we cannot indicate when it will be implemented.

BACKLOG

Related issues:

Multiple flag types

There is no workaround for this. There is only one type of flag in the new boards.

We will consider this feature for future releases, but we cannot indicate when it will be implemented.

BACKLOG

Related issues:

Last modified on May 1, 2015

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