JIRA Newbie Admin Question

[David Kiellar]

My company is evaluating JIRA. I have used it in the past as a user, but never an admin. I am just evaluating it at the moment but have some questions on how to set it up. So here is my scenario.

We have different programs that we want to use this. So for that I know each program would be a project. So I create the projects, say ProgramA, ProgramB, and ProgramC. So I got that far. I am confused as how to set up users and groups and project roles.

Here is my situation.

Each program will have an Admin, Program Manager, and users, maybe a few others. Would these be the project roles?

So say I have UserA. He is a user for ProgramA. I want it so he can only see ProgramA items. UserB is a Program Manager on ProgramA and ProgramB, so he should see both. UserC is a user on ProgramC only.

How do I set this up. I am confused about the groups/roles/etc. Every program will have the same tasks. Also, how do I set up permissions for each group, do I do that by the project roles? Example, users can only create issues, but program managers can create issues, close issues, etc. Admins can do everything.

Please help. Thank you

[Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist] · Accepted solution]

Start by reading this :

https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/Managing+Project+Permissions

You will be using groups/roles etc in the permission scheme. If you have different people using different projects (or programs as you call it), add them in to the project roles and use the roles in the permissions. If there are groups, like the jira-administrators, which has access to all projects, you can use it in permission scheme directly.

You can also define new roles and/or define which groups will have default access for each roles.

[David Kiellar]

I guess i am just confused between groups and roles and how they apply to different aspects of JIRA

[David Kiellar]

So if i have a group called ProjectA_Users which has UserA and UserB in it. Should I have a role called ProjectA_Users? Or do I just add the group to the project?

[David Kiellar]

Ok, let me give it a try. Thanks for the help. I will probably be back with more questions.

[Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist]]

Yes, you can have such a group. The role name will be Users as roles are same in all projects. Go to project A and add ProjectA_Users group to Users role. Then use the Users role in the permissions.

[Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist]]

That is the best way to learn ;)

Btw, you don't use groups directly in the permission scheme because you don't want to end up having 100 permission schemes for 100 projects.

[David Kiellar]

Ok, so I created both projects, added 3 users plus an admin. Created two groups, programA_users and ProgramB_users. user1 is in A, user2 is in B, and user 3 is in both. I have two roles project_admin and project_users. Then I went into programA and added programA_users to the project_users role. I think I am good so far. Next you mentioned the permissions. Is this permissions for the individual project or the default permissions schema?

[Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist]]

Usually, permission schemes are shared by more than one projects and that is why you use roles in it. You can start with the JIRA Default scheme and make modifications as needed.

[David Kiellar]

Awesome. I think I understand those relationships now.

On to my next set of questions. I have 3 types of issues (Problem/Issue, Hardware Failure, and Business Opportunity). I have created these issues in JIRA. I know how to add custom fields (though I do have a question about that later). Each issue type will have different fields. How do I create a screen for each type?

[Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist]]

See https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/Associating+a+Screen+with+an+Issue+Operation

It is best to create a new question for different threads.

[David Kiellar]

Jobin, you are in Maryland?

[David Kiellar]

No, not at all. I am in MD as well. Might have some work for you in the future, possibly. If our IT department gets their head out of their a**'s. Maybe setting up JIRA for us or more, if you would be interested. It is a large enterprise, and the tool we are creating we are going to be using company wide.

[Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist]]

Yes, only if you are not planning to find me and beat me up ;)

[David Kiellar]

can you email me david.kiellar@ngc.com. Let me know when you get this, i want to delete this post after you got it

[David Kiellar]

Added you on linkedin.

[Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist]]

Sure. That's what we do :)

[Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist]]

I did. Speak to you offline.

[David Kiellar]

For custom fields - Selection boxes. Instead of typing in options, can I have it look at a table in the database and show those as options?

[Walt Fles]

create separate screens:

issuetypeA viewscreen

issuetypeB edit/create screen

etc for issuetypeB, C, ....

create your issuetype scheme for the project and associate it with the project.

Then associate the screens to the issue type in the issuetype screen scheme

you will be able to say issuetypeA for view, issuetypeB for edit/create, etc.

Then associate the issuetype screen scheme to the project.

[David Kiellar]

See attachment, can I do this, and how

[David Kiellar]

See Attachement. Can I do this? And how would I go about it?

[David Kiellar]

See attachment, can I do this and how?

[David Kiellar]

how do i make the built in summary field not required?

[Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist]]

You can't. Summary is one field that is always required. You can change its name by some dev work but that's it.

[David Kiellar]

Ok, so it is limited to 255 characters? How can I change the name of it from Summary to Title

[Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist]]

It is a regular text field. Free text fields have textareas like Description field. I don't know if there is a document though.

[David Kiellar]

Ok, is there a document that says what type of field each built in field is. Is summary a Free Text Field, or regular text field, etc

[Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist]]

Yes. See https://developer.atlassian.com/display/JIRADEV/Customizing+Text

[David Kiellar]

I do not see these files mentioned. I am using an eval copy installed on my local machine, winxp.

[David Kiellar]

no where can i find jira-lang-default.jar

[Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist]]

yes, change the appropriate property value.

[David Kiellar]

so i found JiraWebActionSupport.properties,

can i just go in there and change it, save it then restart jira?

[David Kiellar]

Ok, got that, thanks.

So i have figured out the create issues screens for each issue type. My question now is, when i am browsing issues, and pick an item and view that specific issue, what screen is that showing me. How to I edit that screen. The workflow and resolve screens, what are they?

[David Kiellar]

For custom fields - Selection boxes. Instead of typing in options, can I have it look at a table in the database and show those as options?

[Walt Fles]

you can share them, or have separate view and edit/create (1 for both) screens.

It depends if want each view to be different, i.e.:

If in view only you have fields which you dont want displayed on edit/create, or you dont want

users to modify but are for display only.

[David Kiellar]

So for Business opportunities I want the create screen to basically have three fields, Title, description, and status. the edit screen would only allow for a status change, the other fields would not be editable.

For Problems/Issues issue type, I want it to have a few more fields.

So for each issue type, the screens will look different between the issue types. How do I do this?

All projects will have the same screens.

[Walt Fles]

Hi Dave (is this the DK from the PEAK of my career I think it is?)

First of all, you have to set up an issue type scheme for the project(s).

You use the issue type screen scheme.

You create your screens (view, edit/create) and associate these screens with an issue type in the issue type screen scheme.

Then you associate the issue type screen scheme to the project.

[David Kiellar]

Do I create a view,edit, resolve screen for each issue type?