Requests from Consultants

[Stefan]

Hi!

We are new to Jira and just started with some tasks and bugs for our programmers.

We also want to use Jira (or some additional "tool") for the requests from our Consultants. Example: A Consultant comes back from a trip to a customer and the customer has several requests. Now our Consultant should record these requests in Jira (or some additonal "tool); it should not be a task or bug at that moment. The team leaders of the programmer or the department head should now evalute those request and give feedback to the request or maybe open a task or bug in Jira. If a request will become a task or a bug should not be the decision of the consultants.

We believe there are already "tools" or software to enhance Jira to fulfill our requirement.

Regards
Stefan

[brbojorque · Accepted solution]

This is a perfect example of a Change Management Process. Where you are evaluating the risk/reward and value that it will give if implemented, you then add a justification why it's not worth it to implement.

It should usually start with Confluence for capturing the data in tabular form and then condensed into a change issue type in every row.

--

TLDR, Create a new issue type called Change and in that issue type link the Confluence data that was gathered from the trip.

In the change ticket, there should be discussions happening if it's worth the time implementing it.

You can then create a task following the approval of the Change issue type and link it together saying that this Change is being implemented by a task.

If the Change issue type requires a large body of work then an Epic should be linked with a change saying that the change is being driven by an Epic.

[Stefan]

Bryan, I can follow your thoughts and suggestions. This would for sure be the best solution. I'll discuss that with the department head. We have to check if we have more benefits from using confluence than only the process I mentioned. If the answer is yes, we might buy confluence. Thanks!

Regards
Stefan

[Stefan]

Thanks Michael and Dmitry!

But it seems I don't have the choice to create a "next-gen" Project. We are using the server version 8.1. Maybe only possible in the cloud version of with version > 8.1?

Regards
Stefan

[Dmitry Mironov]

@Stefan you may create project of any type on your server. Just make sure it has needed issue types, or you may easily add one you need.

Next-Gen - is a cloud only (at the moment) project type.

[Michael Kuhl {Appfire}]

@Stefan - Consider the project management project template.  It's very simple to use and can be a good start for managing a product backlog.

[Stefan]

@Michael

We will give this a try. We would like to start as simple as possible, and this project type seems good for that. Thanks!

[Dmitry Mironov]

Stefan - May be Jira Service Desk can help with your requirements. Consultant create a request in JSD project and dev head can create a linked issues in their corresponding dev projects.

Or as Michael advised - a separate project, but I would not go with Next Gen as there are many limitations comparing to the standard projects.

Or you can create an issue type in your existing project like "CustomerRequest" and then dev head can change issue type to story or bug depending on their decision.

[Michael Kuhl {Appfire}]

@Dmitry Mironov Agreed next-gen projects are limited, but for a new Jira team needing a simple backlog it's easy to get started with and can always be moved to a standard project if users grow out if it.  

[Michael Kuhl {Appfire}]

@Stefan - The simplest way to start is to create a new Jira Software project using the next-gen template.  Have your consultants create the requests there and then the team can use the issues in the project as a backlog of potential new features or enhancements.

To get more sophisticated you would recognize that you are describing a product management process.  In that case you should check the resources from Atlassian about using Jira (and Confluence) for product management.  The content is quite good, but may be more than you need right now.