Time is very valuable. This is why it's important to invest it wisely in all your activities throughout the day. Monitoring projects in Jira (or within any other tool) and the other tasks implicit in this activity (automation, creation reports, etc.) doesn't escape this truth. That's why we'll tell you more about ten Jira project fields that will help you succeed monitoring projects quickly and easily.
There is a variety of scenarios when someone starts tracking projects in Jira, and the most common are the following:
These scenarios are usually within the Jira project tracking scenario. And the most recent version of Projectrak (formerly Profields) solves them by incorporating ten (10) preconfigured fields, which, added to Jira's default fields, add up to fifteen (15) fields that enhance Jira projects' tracking.
By creating this solution, we have been interested in helping both, those who don't know which fields to create when monitoring projects and those who generate more fields than needed; therefore, to choose which fields we've incorporated into Projectrak, we've based the decision on different studies about the most common project fields customers are using.
A Project Field in Jira is a series of identities allowing to identify and catalog projects within the tool; However, they are not designed to monitor projects, and the tool provides some of those properties.
Also, Project Fields in Jira provide automation when you land management at the issue-level (automatic assignment to the project leader, for example.)
Now, let's list the project properties Jira includes by default and answering the question:
The "Lead" field is used to identify the person responsible for the project; it can be configured to automate assignments or other actions.
The "Description" field is used to detail what's the project about.
"Category" is the only property Jira incorporates by default for cataloging and organizing projects. If you want to learn how to do this with Projectrak, check this guide.
"Type" is a mandatory field when creating the project. This field helps to determine which type of project are you dealing with, depending on the tool: If it's Jira Core, Jira Service Management, Jira Software or the three of them.
The licensing of each tool will dictate which project view you will have: queues in the case of Jira Service Management or boards in the case of Jira Software, or both if you have both licenses. If you have doubts, contact us.
As the name may suggest, this field is useful for storing the product site or application or documentation URL. Storing URLs is vital to the project.
The fields to track projects in Jira are the preconfigured ones Projectrak offers at first, when installing the app, and still, the answer to this question is not definitive given there are more fields to monitor projects and will adapt to your project needs. Let's see how Projectrak set this fields:
As shown un the video, consider these essential project fields for project monitoring will be arranged within a Layout, which is a mechanism that allows you to organize (in containers) and associate these project fields to Jira projects, as you can see in the following (It will also include the project fields Jira provides):
Once previously stated which Jira properties will lead us to achieve an optimal project monitoring; now, let's going through the ten (10) Predefined Fields Projectrak offers, which will help you focus on the mere activity of tracking Jira projects and spend less time in the configuration process.
Embedded within the "System data" container, we have added the Created Date field. These dates are crucial when carrying out a system audit or to measure the number of projects created at a given time.
Like the previous field, you'll find the Creator field, which shows which user has created the project. This data's also useful for audits; it helps measure the administrator's performance or inform who created which project, in the situation someone has questions about the project's configuration.
In the container titled "Follow-Up," there's the Status field. When updating this field, Project Managers or the person responsible for the project will communicate the current project delivery situation: if it's at risk, in danger, etc.
The Priority field is used to identify the project's urgency, priority, or criticality. This information helps those responsible for prioritizing tasks.
The End Date field specifies when the project will conclude. It's usually set by those responsible for the project.
The field What are we doing? and the other two followings store subjective, still essential data. The person in charge of the project uses this field to communicate what's being done.
The field Why are we doing it? allows communicating the reasons for this project's carrying out.
The field What will success look like? is intended to communicate what's expected when the project is concluded.
Start improving the communications with stakeholders over your Jira projects >>
The Related projects field enables linking the project to others. This field allows identifying possible risks due to the dependency between projects.
Finally, the Stakeholders field allows the project's responsible to identify and involve the people interested in a particular project (e.g., decision-making stakeholders). This field helps team members contact them, if necessary, or improve the tracking experience for those interested in keeping track of the project.
If you are already tracking Jira projects, you may already be using fields similar to these we have just shown and others that fulfill your project needs. However, if you're getting started, these fields will allow you to track your projects effectively in a matter of minutes.
Over time you may need other fields and/or different values; your needs change. Within the advantages Projectrak and Jira offer is their flexibility, so, at any time, you can choose which fields to use and to which Layout to embed it. Self-designed, or the one predefined by the system, as we showed.
Get a deep dive into creation of project fields and download the following document, which contains a complete guide to designing your own Layout, and select the fields to start tracking Jira projects like a boss.