Can someone please help me understand the basic relationships in Jira Core?

[Lauren Hunt]

I am a new user trying to set up a Jira Core instance for a small business.  We do not have the tech instance at our firm.

I am struggling to understand how to create the initial set up, I think because I am unclear how all of the 'pieces' fit together.  Since we are using this for a small business each project / associated workflow will be unique.  For example the workflow for purchasing will not be related to the workflow for billing. 

Here is what I think I understand.

Workflow = The steps required to complete a task
Task / Issue = Work that needs to get done
Project = Collection of tasks
Project Board = a way to view the work that needs to get done for a specific project and that the status for each of the tasks associated with that project
Dashboard = Summary of all on going projects

What I don't Understand

What schemes are and why I would need them
What a screen is and why I would need it
What an issue type is and why I would need it

And Most Importantly...Do you build the system from the bottom up (workflow ->project ) or top down (project -> workflow).

Thanks so much!

[Carlos Garcia Navarro]

Hi Laurent,

There is a lot of good documentation to read out there.  I recommend:

https://confluence.atlassian.com/adminjiraserver073/defining-a-project-861253214.html

in addition to the Atlassian documentation I'd suggest the book 'Practical JIRA Administration' by Matthew B Doar (easy to read and covers your questions and more

These are my comments to your questions which you can find in the Confluence page above and also the book:

1) What schemes are and why I would need them

Schemas are a collection of configured values that can be used by one or more projects. 

2) What a screen is and why I would need it

JIRA allows you to display particular pieces of issue information at particular times, by defining screens. A screen is simply a collection of fields. You can choose which screen to display when an issue is being created, viewed, edited, or transitioned through a particular step in a workflow.

3) What an issue type is and why I would need it

JIRA enables you to keep track of different types of things — bugs, tasks, helpdesk tickets, etc — by using different issue types. You can also configure each issue type to act differently, e.g. to follow a different process flow or track different pieces of information.

4) And Most Importantly...Do you build the system from the bottom up (workflow ->project ) or top down (project -> workflow).

Workflows and project can exist independent of each other. When you create a project a generic workflow may be associated to the project but then you can create a new workflow and link it to your project Keep in mind that several projects can share a workflow, so if you change a workflow that is associated to more than one project you impact all the projects. What I like to do is to copy an existing workflow and make sure that my project is linked to that workflow so I can make the changes I need without impacting others.  In some cases though it makes sense to share the workflow among projects, and this can minimize maintenance.

I hope this helps. Please read the documentation I recommended (at least the Confluence page) and let me know if you have questions or comments, I'll be happy to help.

Carlos 

[Matt Doar]

Thanks for the recommendation!

[Lauren Hunt]

Thanks for all the information.  I will look into this and let you know if I have other questions.