Introduction to Jira
What is Jira?
Jira is a project management and issue tracking tool developed by Atlassian, widely used in
software development, IT service management, and business process tracking.
It’s popular for:
Agile Project Management (Scrum, Kanban)
Bug & Issue Tracking
Workflow Customization
Team Collaboration
Key Features:
Supports custom workflows
Integration with CI/CD tools (Jenkins, GitHub, Bitbucket)
Dashboards and Reports
Permissions and Roles for secure project management
2. Key Jira Concepts
2.1 Project
A Project in Jira is a collection of issues, workflows, and settings grouped for a team or
goal.
Projects can be:
o Team-managed (simpler, managed by the team itself)
o Company-managed (more control by Jira Admins)
Example:
Project Name: ―E-Commerce Platform Development‖
Key: ECP
Contains issues like ECP-1 (Setup Database), ECP-2 (Create Login Page).
2.2 Workflow
A Workflow defines the life cycle of an issue — the steps it goes through from creation to
completion.
Basic Workflow Example (Software Development):
To Do → In Progress → In Review → Done
Advanced Workflow Example:
Backlog → Ready for Development → In Development → Code Review → Testing →
Done
Each step in the workflow is called a Status, and transitions define how you move from one
status to another.
2.3 Issues
An Issue in Jira is a task, bug, story, or epic you track in a project.
Types of Issues:
Story – A user requirement.
Bug – A defect to fix.
Task – A work item.
Epic – Large work item containing multiple stories.
Sub-task – Smaller task within a larger task.
Example:
Story: ―As a user, I want to log in with Google so that I can sign in quickly.‖
Bug: ―Login with Google fails when using Firefox.‖
3. Creating Projects and Users
Step 1: Create a Project
1. Log in as Jira Admin.
2. Go to Projects → Create Project.
3. Choose a template (e.g., Scrum, Kanban, Bug Tracking).
4. Name your project (e.g., School Management System).
5. Assign a project key (e.g., SMS).
6. Choose Team-managed or Company-managed.
7. Click Create.
Live Scenario:
A software company starts a new project for "Online Banking App".
They create a Jira project named BankingApp with Scrum template for agile sprint
management.
Step 2: Create Users
1. Go to Jira Administration → User Management.
2. Click Invite Users.
3. Enter their email addresses.
4. Assign roles (e.g., Administrator, Developer, Tester).
5. Click Send Invitation.
Live Scenario:
Invite:
o Product Owner (access to backlog and reports)
o Developers (can transition issues, log work)
o QA Testers (can update bug statuses)
4. Creating Issues in Jira
Step 1: Create an Issue
1. Open your project.
2. Click Create (top navigation).
3. Select Issue Type (Story, Bug, Task, Epic).
4. Fill in:
o Summary: ―Implement Student Registration Form‖
o Description: ―Create a form with fields: Name, Age, Class, Email.‖
o Assignee: Developer’s name.
o Priority: High.
5. Click Create.
Live Scenario:
In the School Management System project,
Create:
Story: SMS-101 — ―Implement Student Registration Form‖
Bug: SMS-102 — ―Form submission fails when Email is missing‖
5. Creating Subtasks
Subtasks break an issue into smaller pieces.
Step-by-step:
1. Open an existing Story or Task.
2. Click More → Create Sub-task.
3. Fill:
o Summary: ―Design Registration Form UI‖
o Assignee: Frontend Developer.
4. Create other subtasks:
o ―Validate Form Fields‖ (assigned to QA)
o ―Connect Form to Backend API‖ (assigned to Backend Dev)
Example:
Main Story: SMS-101 — Implement Student Registration Form
Subtask 1: SMS-101-1 — Design UI
Subtask 2: SMS-101-2 — Form Validation
Subtask 3: SMS-101-3 — API Integration
6. Live Project Example
Let’s take a real-world example for clarity.
Project: E-Commerce Website Development (ECOM)
Workflow:
Backlog → In Progress → Testing → Done
Issues Created:
Key Type Summary Status
ECOM-1 Epic User Authentication Module Backlog
ECOM-2 Story Login Page UI In Progress
ECOM-3 Bug Fix password reset issue Testing
ECOM-4 Task Configure Payment Gateway Backlog
ECOM-5 Story Implement Product Search Backlog
Subtasks Example:
For ECOM-2 (Login Page UI):
o ECOM-2-1 — Create HTML/CSS Design (Frontend Dev)
o ECOM-2-2 — Integrate with Backend API (Backend Dev)
o ECOM-2-3 — Testing (QA)
