Managing projects and budgets in Jira and Confluence

Confluence is a wiki collaboration tool, while Jira is an issue tracking tool. Together they transform the way you manage your project, organize all of the ideas, content, and files that you and your team create as you bring your vision to life. Let’s say you’re working with your team remotely for the first time. Keeping track of all that information is difficult when it’s spread across different platforms and mediums, like Google Docs, PDF files, spreadsheets, Slack messages, and even post-it notes. Jira and Confluence cloud bring that information into one place and one platform where everyone can easily collaborate. There are numerous ways of how to integrate Jira and Confluence today; we will focus on improving your Jira and Confluence experience in terms of issue tracking and documentation.

Managing a project can be challenging; you need to develop skills that allow you to monitor different aspects of the project at the same time, be ready with documentation and report presentations. Utilizing both Jira and Confluence maximizes your ability to multitask and share information with stakeholders.

Linking your Jira project to Confluence

The first step is to link your Jira project to your Confluence page. Navigate to your confluence space , then on the left panel click Add shortcut option.

Paste your Jira project URL in the Edit space shortcuts dialog box, and name your shortcut for easy reference then save.

Now you can easily access your Jira project whenever you like.

Documentation in Confluence

There are many misconceptions about Atlassian products, one of which is that it is only used for software development. In reality, the Atlassian ecosystem enables different teams — Finance, Operations, Legal, Marketing, HR, and more — to improve their workflow and process.

One of the best things about Confluence is that it’s easily integrated with Jira. This allows the team to collaborate efficiently by linking Jira Issues, mentioning a team member, and attaching multiple files.

Creating Jira Reports in Confluence

Start by clicking the Create button in the top portion of the Confluence page. Search for Jira report in the list of suggested templates or type “Jira” in the filter.

You can choose between a log type report or a status report with charts. If you select Status report, this generates a template with the generated graphics needed for your report. Make sure you choose the right Jira project for your report.

After selecting the right project, select a name for your page for easy navigation.

Your status report template should look similar to the image below. If you selected the correct Jira project, then it should show the status of your project, the number of issues and the generated charts.

There’s a more detailed blog on Jira reports integrated into Confluence, you should also check out Custom Jira Charts for Confluence Reports. The ability to easily integrate your Jira and Confluence with other tools allows your teams to work more effectively and prevents them from wasting time jumping from one tool to another.

The slash command in Confluence editor

In the editor, one powerful tool is the slash “/” command. This loads up a list of macros that you can use when creating or editing your page. This can also be used to link Jira issues.

The slash command allows you to mention someone, attach files, emojis and many more. You can scroll to the list of macros and add whatever tool you need in the editor. This command allows you to save time and work efficiently.

Linking different files

If your team just transitioned to working remotely for the first time, then you need to try Atlassian’s platform. It serves as a central hub where you can organize your work, consolidate information, and become more productive as a team. You can directly link a meeting recording in your page as well as attach Google drive files. This is very important to keep your pages clean and organized.

In software development, releasing multiple builds can sometimes cause problems. There are various cases where the wrong build was shipped and caused issues in production. This can be prevented if proper tracking and documentation is implemented. The image below shows a sample list of the different versions of an Android build. With this, you can quickly locate the latest build that was pushed in the App store, therefore preventing a mishap with a build release.

Financial reports

In Confluence, you can create a financial report. Although you can generate one from a spreadsheet software, why build one in Confluence? If your project is integrated in Jira, you link a particular milestone or issue into your report. If there were issues that caused your team some major setbacks, then you can directly connect a Jira ticket into your report. You can even mention a member of your team in that report. This increases visibility in your process while keeping everyone in the group updated. Now you can easily monitor everything in one platform without having multiple tabs or apps open.

Conclusion

In the new-normal edition of working, many are finding it hard to collaborate at a pace they are usually used to. However, using the Atlassian platform makes it so much easier. The powerful software and collaboration tool that they offer enables teams to produce high-quality results while working from home. The flexibility that it provides allows managers to monitor and control almost everything in one hub. With Jira and Confluence, everyone has a voice, information flows freely, and work gets done.