Are you planning a migration to Cloud? Make sure you don't lose your BigPicture data/configurations in the process. Check out this page for information on how to migrate BigPicture's data to Cloud. If you have any questions please email support@appfire.com
The following article provides an overview of the midterm product roadmap to the BigPicture App stakeholders. The App development has been split into three key-value streams to highlight our focus areas for the upcoming months.
If you want to keep up with changes in our application, remember you can always visit our Jira. Use filters to easily locate the Jira issues that interest you (remember to open the link using your browser's incognito mode).
New Level of User Experience
Performance and Reliability
The performance of the App has a tremendous impact on the user experience. For that reason, we remain focused on continuously introducing further improvements in various areas of the App.
This year we aim to achieve:
Shorter loading time and smoother performance of modules that contain a large number of tasks/resources in their scope (most noticeable for Gantt, Board, Roadmap, and Resources modules);
Improved performance of key functionalities (scheduling on the Gantt module, planning on the Board module, report generation time, etc.);
Faster scope synchronization with connected tools (Jira, Trello);
Background large data volume synchronization not affecting the performance of the hosting/integrated tools (Jira, Trello);
Fully single-page Application (almost unnoticeable switching between screens within the App with less need to reload the page).
We have implemented and will keep developing a detailed performance monitoring of our frontend components, REST APIs, selected E2E features, etc. The test results are monitored throughout the entire development process to improve performance and avoid potential regressions.
If you want to find out more about recent and future performance improvements, follow the below links.
We will focus on improving the everyday work experience by making the user interface more intuitive. A few crucial initiatives are listed below:
Sorting, filtering, grouping, and search functionalities enhancement (user-specific sorting rules applied on a click, easy to set filtering by specific attributes, a real searching without need to filtering your data out); https://appfire.atlassian.net/browse/INITIATIVE-87
Inline task editing directly on the App screens (updating the attributes like dates or estimations without a need to switch between BigPicture and Jira); https://appfire.atlassian.net/browse/ONE-24949
Multi-language App interface (set of available translations and the possibility of further customization/creation of new interface translations); https://appfire.atlassian.net/browse/ONE-12560
Two-way task structure builders (indenting tasks of various types (in WBS) creates Jira links that reflect the task structure - e.g., indenting Story under Epic creates the Epic link in your Jira ); https://appfire.atlassian.net/browse/ONE-7212
We aim to improve data reporting and visualization capabilities across available modules (especially: Reports, Overview, Scope, Resources).
What can you expect?
A much more powerful Reports module providing many new reporting widgets. To name a few: Cross-team dependencies, Cross-project dependencies, Objectives achievements/ Predictability report, Velocity chart, Work progress report, Team availability report, Risk matrix, etc. We will successively expand the catalog of the available report widgets.
The possibility of having embedded reports widgets among different screens of the App, starting with the Overview module and going further. All vital information will always be at your fingertips.
Portfolio management includes planning and monitoring of financials. We will successively start covering this functional gap in our tool by implementing a few handy features in the second part of this year.
What can you expect?
New columns available in the Overview module: Budget, Actual cost, Estimated cost:
Roadmapping process facilitated by inline editing available.
External system integration possibility.
Actual costs and Estimated costs on Overview can be automatically calculated based on tasks in the scope:
Users can establish actual cost and Estimated cost on the task level allowing for defining the cost of the respective tasks or deliverables.
Costs rolling up possibility across portfolios.
Up-to-date portfolio reporting by syncing costs on the task level with respective custom fields.
Individual resource cost rates:
Possibility to calculate the task (Epic, Story, etc.) estimated or actual costs based on the resource cost rate assigned and task estimate or already logged work for the task
Costs rolling up possibility across portfolios.
The implementation will start in Q3 2021 and last at least for the rest of the year (we will regularly release new features in increments). https://appfire.atlassian.net/browse/ONE-33557
OKRs Management
Extending BigPicture capabilities regarding management with the use of objectives is an important part of the product roadmap. That's why we are going to keep delivering new options for our users regarding that.
What can you expect?
Possibility to align works with the objectives:
Helps to answer the question: "What will we do to achieve the objective?"
Possibility to set measurable key results for objectives:
Helps to answer the question: "How will we know we're getting to achieve the objective?"
Better traceability of the progress by generating up-to-date charts for the objective (e.g., a line chart showing objective key result value change over the timeline). https://appfire.atlassian.net/browse/ONE-24350
More integrations and standalone app
BigPicture Backup and Migration Between Jira Instances
The Atlassian ecosystem is evolving, and so do we. We want to make migrating from Server to Cloud and Data Center hosting models as easy as possible. Besides, we want to give users the ability to integrate BigPicture with their preferred cloud tools. Last but not least, we aim to take BigPicture beyond the Atlassian realm.
What exactly can you expect in the area of data backup and migration?
Possibility to backup BigPicture Jira Server / DC instances: Jira Server / DC BigPicture product family data will be possible to backup and restore on the same instance or a different instance of Jira Server / DC (migration process). Following example use cases will be supported:
App database scheme backup is automatically done before every plugin update.
App database scheme backup can be done and restored on the same instance on demand.
App database scheme backup can be done and restored on another instance of the Jira Server / DC. Data can be migrated between instances (all data will be migrated at once).
Possibility to backup BigPicture Jira Cloud: Jira Cloud product family data will be possible to backup and restore on the same instance or a different instance of Jira Cloud (migration process). We will support the following example use cases:
Database backup can be done and restored on the same instance on-demand.
Database backup can be done and restored on the other instance of the Jira Cloud. Data are possible to migrate between instances (all data are migrated at once).
Possibility to migrate at once Jira Server instance to Jira Cloud: Jira Server product instance will be possible to migrate to Cloud instance. This process supports migration at once, and the entire BigPicture or BigGantt database will be migrated. We recommend proceeding after Jira instance migration from the Server version to Cloud. Users (relevant admins) will be asked to provide required data for migration, e.g., the information needed for user mapping. https://appfire.atlassian.net/browse/ONE-29627
BigPicture product family's mission statement proclaims: "All task management tools united. Beautifully." This means we want our users to have an overall view of what is happening in their organization based on the most current aggregated data from all the tools that teams already know and love.
We already support the Trello connection. We don't stop here and plan to improve. What connected tools improvements can you expect in the future?
Trello team boards connected with BigPicture App (already available within BigPicture 8).
Every bit of feedback is valuable for us and may impact the prioritization process.
New Hosting Platforms
Currently, the BigPicture product family is hosted only on Jira Server\DC, Jira Cloud, and Trello (limited free version). We want you to know that making sure our App is available on many different host platforms and even as a standalone Application is an integral part of our mission statement.
What are we going to work on this year?
A fully functional BigPicture App available on Trello. The idea of a fully functional BigPicture App available on different hosting platforms will be first implemented for Trello. Trello version is going to contain almost all features available on Jira. That includes the possibility to connect other remote tools. It will be possible to see Jira issues on Trell). https://appfire.atlassian.net/browse/ONE-19434
Fully functional BigPicture App available on Azure DevOps. Azure DevOps is the next host platform for BigPicture App after Trello. Technical and business possibilities are in the analysis phase.
BigPicture.One as a standalone application. BigPicture will also be available as a standalone application without any host platform. BigPicture.One will provide basic task management features based on the current Basic Task. The ultimate goal of BigPicture.One is to visualize the titular big picture of a complex world of various tools and management approaches in one technically independent tool. https://appfire.atlassian.net/browse/INITIATIVE-52
Besides main workstreams, we are definitely going to implement other selected most wanted features as well.
