Initial Configuration

This article outlines the most essential configuration steps required to start using the App and provides guidance and best practices on the most common use cases.

Make sure that the version of the App you want to install is compatible with your Jira instance. We recommend using Atlassian's plugin manager which will always install the latest compatible version of our App. If you plan to use the app together with BigPicture Enterprise or BigTemplate, make sure they are compatible as well.

Before installing the app on your production instance make sure to test it using the staging environment. If it is not possible, create a separate project on your instance and test how the App works.

Process identification

The first step should be to identify the business processes that will be affected by BigPicture and to develop, at least at a high level for piloting purposes.

There are administrator-level settings in BigPicture - the Jira administrator on the company side should be included in the BP installation process.

Documentation

We strongly recommend that you go through the documentation, especially the cross-module features and scheduling rules.

Test it first

As with all new software installations, we recommend using a stage instance to test it first and to backup your data before installing it on a production instance.

Configuration

The minimal resolution of the app is 1280x720. If you make the viewing tab narrower, the view cannot be further compressed and part of it will be cut off.

Start with the App's configuration which requires Jira administrator access. The most important are the following:

Security - if you are evaluating the App, you can grant permissions to everyone or restrict access by assigning security roles to users or user groups.
Task - specify which fields will be synchronized when using the App. Each task has a start and end date and it can be mapped to different fields. If you are already using date fields in Jira (such as "Due date") simply map them and the App will use those dates during the synchronization to generate the tasks correctly.

Besides the task field mapping, we recommend disabling the comments and notifications. While they are very useful and improve communication, when you create your Boxes and synchronize existing data, users might receive numerous notification emails. Enable these features once your Boxes are synchronized.

Dependency configuration - like with the task field mapping, you can synchronize up to five different dependency types to visualize the task relationships.
Team field configuration - Teams are a very important element, especially when using the Board and Resources modules. Make sure to select the fields used for Team assignment.
Risks - check if the Risk heat map matches your organization's needs - change the field mapping or update the select options if required.

Administration

The administration section is another important area and it requires App administrator access:

Security Global roles in Administration - grant access to the App. There are two global security roles - App users and App admins.
Box types - configure the default setting of your Boxes.

Automation

BP has a so-called Scheduling mode (previously period mode) functionality that can influence the length of parent ribbons and/or child ribbons. As a precaution, it is best to set the "Manual" period mode before the Box scope is defined. BP gives you the ability to set up an automatic record of actions performed on a given ribbon and send notifications to an email to Jira users. In case of unforeseen events, a large number of emails can be sent to the mailbox

Golden rule: at the beginning of the road with the App, remember not to throw all of Jira's issues into the scope. It can be quite easy to make a mistake, e.g. if you have incorrectly written JQL when defining the scope of a Box.