Jira Project Configuration Analysis
On this page:
Overview
As a Jira admin, how many times have you been faced with a scenario where you implement a change request, only to trigger an unexpected impact across all dependent configuration elements? Large and complex Jira systems are comprised of hundreds or thousands of custom fields, workflows, screens, and other types of Jira configuration elements that interact with one another in a nonlinear way, thus making it difficult for admins to understand these dependencies and their change impact easily.
Power Admin for Jira is an advanced administration tool designed to enable Jira admins to search for configuration elements, see their dependencies, usage, and change impact, and perform quick actions such as modifying or deleting them. In the following use case, we will introduce you to the powerful capabilities of Power Admin for Jira and how it can enable Jira admins to conduct a comprehensive configuration analysis of their system.
Purpose
The purpose of this use case is to demonstrate how Power Admin for Jira can enable admins to quickly and confidently configure their Jira projects by understanding the complex web of dependencies of the configuration elements which comprise a typical complex Jira environment.
When admins implement change requests to the configuration of a Jira project, they rely on Configuration Manager's change and impact analysis to review these changes and see which projects are going to be affected. During this phase, admins often encounter the following issues:
Inconsistencies in the snapshot: a configuration element, say a custom field that wasn't added initially ends up being listed in the snapshot. The reason for this is an indirect reference, such as a post-function, which is related to a particular configuration element.
Lack of visibility into dependencies: no clear visibility into all Jira configurations and their dependent elements.
Non-optimal UI: the current Jira UI does not allow for a quick and easy change of related configuration elements.
The lack of visibility into the dependencies between the various configuration elements and the less-than-optimal Jira admin UI forces administrators to perform multiple manual complex processes to meet their objectives. Power Admin for Jira allows you to find a configuration element, explore all its dependencies quickly, and efficiently perform various actions (e.g., edit/configure/delete/copy).
Terminology
For this use case, we'll assume the following definitions:
Configuration element: the search object, a configuration element type (e.g., custom field, screen, workflow etc.).
Dependent element: the first-level dependent configuration elements to the search object (e.g., custom field, screen, workflow etc.).
Usage and dependency management
Location, location, location: Search & find Jira configuration elements
Power Admin for Jira allows administrators to search and find configuration elements by Name or ID quickly. The search results provide end-to-end information regarding the usage of a configuration element, how changing it will impact the configuration, and a list of its first-level dependent configuration elements. You can also drill down to review each dependent element.
The search mechanism allows you to filter the configuration based on the following configuration element types:
Custom Field
Screen
Screen Scheme
Issue Type Screen Scheme
Workflow
Workflow Scheme
Issue Security Scheme
Permission Scheme
Notification Scheme
Understand configuration element usage & its dependencies
By navigating further, Power Admin for Jira allows you to review the full information about the searched configuration element:
Its usage: see the usage of the searched configuration element across Projects and Issues. Understand where and how a configuration element is used.
List of dependent elements: see all the first-level dependent configuration elements to the searched configuration element.
Relations between configuration elements: drill down into a more detailed chain of dependencies to further explore configuration element relations.
This will enable you to quickly and easily gain a full understanding of the complex dependencies that exist between the different configuration elements of your Jira configuration before introducing any changes. A task that would usually take hours can be completed within minutes as all the information is readily accessible via Power Admin's search and filtering mechanisms - a capability that provides a lot of day-to-day value to the administrators.
Perform actions on configuration elements and their dependent elements
How many times have you stumbled upon a post function or any other configuration element which you wanted to change or delete quickly, but the clunky Jira admin UI didn't accommodate such a straightforward approach? Power Admin for Jira allows you to perform actions on all configuration elements and their dependent elements down the chain of dependencies.
These actions allow you to configure, edit, copy, and delete, the configuration elements depending on their type. For all actions, whether they are on a configuration element or its dependent elements, Power Admin for Jira will redirect you to the Jira native action pages.
This capability enables you to quickly introduce changes across the chain of dependencies, while fully aware of the impact. Additionally, this streamlines the process of cleaning up rarely-used configurations to tune the performance of the system, which is one of the other use cases of Power Admin for Jira.