PM use case

Owned by Gyula Puzder
Last updated: Nov 24, 2020
3 min read

Business situation:

You wish to manage different types of issues, assignees, developers, estimation with possible financial data, see task <-> sub-task relations in a simple excel-like table.

Technical conditions:

You have one or more Jira projects which contain various issue types - epic, story, task, sub-task, bug, etc., several Jira custom fields containing relevant issue data. Custom field types can be single- or multi-line text, number, radio button, checklist, single or multiple choice, date picker, date-time picker, etc.

You may have a simple Jira workflow to represent tasks to be executed, but in case you have stricter processes, JExcel respects possible workflow steps, conditions and validators.

Custom fields used for the example:

  1. Developer (user picker)

  2. Product (radio button)

  3. Developer hourly rate (number)

  4. Developer total cost (this is a special JExcel calculated “column”, technically it is like you have created a scripted Jira custom field without script knowledge and without Jira admin permissions/knowledge. Columns like this exist only in your workbook so you can imagine the benefits of such “virtual fields”, e.g. fields visible only to you)

Workflow used for issuetypes in sample project:

How can JExcel support your work as a Project manager

  • Visualize different kinds of tasks and task data relevant to your project(s) in an excel-like view. Although JExcel is not a resource planning or PM tool, it helps your work by giving an easy to review interface.

 

  • Visualize tasks and sub-tasks, flag rows with different colours e.g. by developer, product, project, issue type, estimation, etc.

 

  • Review co-worker's or team member's tasks with ease, delegate issues directly from JExcel grid.

 

  • Visualize estimation data by charts or summarize spent hours, it’s all coming down to your needs.

 

  • Create calculated columns from numeric data without the need of creating new fields in Jira (which would involve Jira admin assistance and possible scripting).

 

  • See average/sum/min/max values for numeric or financial columns.

 

  • Create reports for managers about estimation, progress, cost, dates, etc.

 

  • Create reports for specific time frame

 

  • Manage upcoming dates like date of next action or next meeting

 

  • Rename your Jira fields to better suit your needs (it will only be visible in your workbook, the original name of fields will be shown when viewing issues in Jira)

 

  • Create new tasks directly from your workbook

 

  • View task details directly from your workbook by opening JExcel sidebar (similar to issue detail view in agile boards)

  • See if your colleagues have worked on a task and left you a comment or a new attachment has been uploaded