Jira software / tool to answer my programme management needs!

[Matthew Richard Bees]

Hi everyone, 

I'm relatively new to JIRA and this is my first post, but have began picking up the software from a colleague that used it to cover a few projects mostly for active sprint boards, Gannt charts and allocation of tasks. 

As I'm heavily involved in programme management looing after 3+ projects at once, I'm looking for an add-on tool / JIRA software type that covers the following bases : 

> Task management - i.e. Gantt Chart, Agile sprint boards, etc. 

> Resource allocation / planning

> Dashboard capability (agile reporting?), for : 

>> Key Performance Indicators (KPI's) - i.e. Red, amber, green status; pie-charts for no. of risks / issues, etc. 

Can anyone help to recommend what tools / JIRA software I should consider? I've found a few different options via the "find new apps" section, but I'm not sure if 1 in particular satisfies all the above needs. These apps includes : 

> Resource management & planning for JIRA

> Agile dashboard for PM

> BigPicture

Appreciate your support and guidance, many thanks!

[Dave Rosenlund _Trundl_ · Accepted solution]

Hi, @Matthew Richard Bees.  I think @Dirk Ronsmans advice is worth looking into.

However, I suggest you compare a number of similar solutions and make the right/best decision for your specific needs.

In other words, there is no one-size-fits-all  :) 

In addition to BigPicture, Advanced Roadmaps (from Atlassian) and (my company's product) Structure.Gantt are generally considered to be the "big three" for the things you outline.

I suspect any one of the three can handle the resource planning/mapping you seem to be suggesting — and Tempo might be overkill for you (have a look and see what you think).

To see all the possible solutions try this search on the web version of the Atlassian Marketplace:

https://marketplace.atlassian.com/search?hosting=cloud&product=jira&query=gantt

https://marketplace.atlassian.com/search?hosting=cloud&product=jira&query=resource%20planning

Note: I am not sure if Atlassian offers Advanced Roadmaps for the free version of cloud (I don't think they do) - if so, you would have to compare Basic Roadmaps to the others.

Hope this helps, 

-dave [ALM Works]

[Dave]

Just to add to what @Dave Rosenlund _Trundl_ has said, I can confirm that Advanced Roadmaps is only available with Jira Premium. However, I believe that it is possible to get a free trial of Jira Premium so that you can test it out for comparison, see https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/premium 

Regards,

Dave

[Matthew Richard Bees]

Thank you @Dave & @Dave Rosenlund _Trundl_  - very helpful insights!

[Adam _SoftwarePlant_ · Accepted solution]

Hello @Matthew Richard Bees 

Taking a look at your listed requirements, BigPicture really seems like a good match. So let me add just a few words about the plugin. It’s a comprehensive tool that supports project management in every phase, helps to plan, manage and track the projects. With it's:

- Gantt module - you can easily synchronize your Jira tasks and plan them according to your needs, visualize your task WBS, measure the progress on each of the tasks and create task dependencies

- Resource module - to allow you smooth task allocation among your resources, track the progress/workload of your individual team members, but also teams as a whole. Data is color-coded what helps in the quick identification of both overallocation and under- allocation.

-Board module - a powerful tool that allows you to visualize and plan your work across your teams, in a given PI/Iteration period, as well as show the dependencies between task assigned to your teams. The Board Module also incorporates a timeline that shows important events or milestones. Plus, you can customize the task card by using the task template creator.

- Reports module - to generate a live-reports for each of your Boxes, and also customize it according to your needs

That's the BigPicture main functionalities in a nutshell. 

Let me know if any questions come up! I will gladly answer them.

Regards,

Adam

[Matthew Richard Bees]

Thanks @Adam _SoftwarePlant_ for the breakdown and BigPicture capability in a nutshell. I will test the trial version and see what I can make of it :) 

[Anna-BigPicture]

Hi @Matthew Richard Bees

Once you decide to evaluate BigPicture, I will gladly get familiar with your feedback. We are doing our best to adjust the plugin to various approaches to Project Management.

[Dirk Ronsmans · Accepted solution]

hey @Matthew Richard Bees ,

Just from my experience on PPM I would suggest BigPicture in combination with Tempo (planner & timesheets).

This woud allow you to track your resources (effort/estimations/..) and have a high level overview through bigPicture.

For BigPicture tho I would recommend analysing what you want the app to do. If this is only for visualizations, maybe BigGantt is already enough. However, if you want do do resource/capacity planning and things like "what if" scenario's then BigPicture will be the option to go for.

If you want to play with it a bit, SoftwarePlant actually have a public demo environment that you can use: https://softwareplant.com/bigpicture/demo/ and they also do weekly webinars.

The people from SoftwarePlant also watch this community so if you have more in depth questions I'm sure they'll be able to help!

[Matthew Richard Bees]

Thanks @Dirk Ronsmans - very helpful!