Step-by-step process of connecting the Jira integration in Elate.
Connecting Jira to a Plugin
To begin, you need to first have your Jira instance connected to a plugin. You will only need to do this once.
To connect the Jira plugin, navigate to My Plugins.
Click connect under the Jira card.
You will then be prompted to allow access to your Jira account. Select the blue Accept button at the bottom of the screen.
Once you've accepted access, you will see the Jira plugin on your plugins page.
Now that you've connected a plugin, you're able to connect to an outcome!
Connecting Jira to an Outcome
Now that you have your plugin set up, navigate to an outcome to connect it to Jira. Select the 3 dot menu in the top right corner and select Connect.
*In this example, we will be walking through how to show total tickets on an Epic and percentage complete of an epic.
You will then be prompted to select the plugin you wish to connect. Select the Jira button.
You will then be taken to a screen to configure your outcome. Select the cadence you wish to view your outcome on the left hand side. Since we're pulling percent complete of an epic, we recommend setting the cadence to annual or quarterly so you're able to see the whole picture of how many tickets are in each status.
On the right hand side, this is where you will be able to configure the information being pulled over.
The resource we are pulling data from can only be Issues so that is the only option in the dropdown. We will narrow the issues down using the JQL link at the bottom.
The time field the data will be based on is going to be dependent on the time fields you use. In this example, we're using actual start to determine when the issue is getting pulled in. Another common time field to use is Created or Actual End. Please note the time field must be a description field on your Jira tickets, not a context field.
The group by field is going to be what shows us how complete our epic is or how many tickets are To Do, In Progress, Done, etc. In this dropdown, select the Jira: Status option to group.
The field you want to use from the resource is going to be how we're counting each ticket. In this example, we're using Summary because that is the title of the Jira tickets. You are also able to use the same time field you used in the above field.
The functions we're using here is Count. We want to count how many tickets are on the ticket total. Count is the most common function to use when connecting Jira.
The JQL link mentioned above will go in the box at the bottom below "What search should we apple when fetching this data?". This is where we are telling Jira what we want to pull in. The link in my example is: project = "KAN" and parent = KAN-5. I am looking at the KAN project board, where the Parent issue is KAN-5 (this is my epic, all child issues to the epic will have the parent link matching this). Check out Jira's JQL guide for more information on how to find and use the JQL function!
Once you're happy with the configuration, select the blue Save button.
Your outcome should then be populated based on the configuration of your outcome.
The outcome now shows that I have 5 total tickets on my epic and is color coded based on the status of the tickets. If you hover your mouse over the bar you'll be able to see the status breakdown and the percentage complete for your epic. In the example below, the epic is 40% done.
Commonly Asked Questions
Q: My date field is not being recognized even though it's on my ticket. What do I do?
A: If the date field is not being recognized, make sure it's on your tickets as a description field not a context field.
Q: I'm not sure I'm using the JQL function correctly. Do you know of any troubleshooting I can try or double check my function?
A: Yes! In Jira, navigate to a project board and select Issues on the left hand side. This is where you will be seeing all of the issues on that project. If it's on basic filter, you will not see the JQL function. In the top right, toggle from Basic to JQL. You will be able to test out your project and parent function here and are able to just copy and paste it from here.