Turning Jira into a one-stop shop with Timesheets and Structure

We spoke with one of Europe's largest IT services companies – one with billions in revenue, tens of thousands of experts, and operations in dozens of countries – about how they track work and report on projects.

No one needs to be told that being a large company introduces problems for keeping an eye on all work across teams – but it is no less important. The interesting part is how those large companies solve that problem and keep everyone informed of ongoing and upcoming work.

We spoke to this company's project manager and Atlassian specialist – who wishes to remain anonymous – about how a fusion of Timesheets and Structure PPM from Tempo helped him and his team plan, track, and report on work – and do it all within Jira. 

The challenge: Too many systems, not enough clarity

When time tracking happens outside of where your teams work – it means engineers and project managers are constantly switching between systems to log work, reconcile timecards, and figure out where time actually went. 

The same goes for tracking projects – the more work and context switching you ask your teams to do, the more you build up a silent tax on every project, one that can stretch completion times and test people's patience.

Research from the University of California, Irvine, found that interruptions and context switching change not only work rhythms, but strategies and mental states. They found that just 20 minutes away from the “core work” leads to people reporting significantly higher stress, frustration, workload, effort, and pressure.

Their team highlighted how the main problems he wanted to solve – and that Tempo solved – were clarity on projects and clunky ways of working.

The project manager said: “For example, Timesheets makes it possible to log your work directly in Jira, instead of working in a separate system which would require you to go back and forth between systems to fill your timecard. 

“Since you log your time directly on the work items that you have been working with, there are little to no questions about where you have been spending your time. This makes for a smoother experience both for end users and project managers.”

The decision: Pick what you need, skip what you don't

Before landing on Tempo, the team evaluated alternatives. BigPicture was considered alongside Structure PPM, but Structure won out on three counts.

“Structure was chosen as it was easier to administer, user-friendly, and cheaper,” The project manager says. “Another thing that is great with Structure is that you actually can save a lot of money as it allows you to have your own structure in Jira without upgrading to Jira Premium, which is needed if you want to make changes to your work type hierarchy.”

Structure PPM is Tempo’s solution for visualizing all work in Jira within a single view, with custom fields and formulas for showcasing any idea your team needs to get a cleaner, more trackable Jira for the entire organization. 

Another key element that led the company to choose Tempo was the flexible and modular nature of the platform – the apps aren’t bundled together, and teams can pick exactly what they need and still get full functionality. 

“If we did not want the Gantt feature, we did not have to pay for it," The project manager  explains. That flexibility mattered – both for cost and for keeping the toolset focused.

For Timesheets – it was an easy choice. The project manager tols us people in the team already had experience with Tempo’s automated time-tracking tool, and it was an easy win to implement something that keeps people in Jira with functionality they were already familiar with. 

The result: Jira as the single source of truth

It is important to note that neither tool went straight to full-scale use. Both Timesheets and Structure PPM went through heavy testing before a smaller-scale rollout, which eventually expanded to all users. 

It's a methodical approach – and for a company that supports external customers in Atlassian environments, getting it right mattered as much as getting it done fast.

However, the results of the company’s careful implementation are clear: Consolidation and clarity. Jira has become what the team calls a "one-stop shop." The need to bounce between tools and systems has dropped significantly, and everyday tasks are smoother as a result.

Users can now log time directly on the issues they’ve been working on; Structure lets people know what to work on, and the bigger picture – and leaders saved money on other monolithic solutions that might not have been so easy to get adoption and alignment. 

What they'd tell others

When asked what he’d say to a colleague at a similar company, the answer from the project manager was direct: “Tempo is a great vendor that has many smart apps that you should consider to make your daily work faster and smoother. 

“I would also tell people that we’ve had great experience with Tempo, and their support is fast and precise. It is a vendor that you can trust.” 

For a team that spends its days supporting others in Atlassian environments, that trust carries weight.