View issues across multiple sites

[Bradford]

Based on the recommendations in the Jira docs (https://support.atlassian.com/organization-administration/docs/how-many-instances-of-a-product-does-my-organization-need/), we have separated our various departments into multiple sites in a single Jira organization. 

We are using Jira Access to allow SSO and managed accounts (this works great!)

Now that this is rolled out, we're running into issues for users who can span multiple sites. It is easy to give them access to each site. However, we are stumped in how to build a more comprehensive view for these users across multiple sites. For instance, we have executives who want the line of sight across multiple sites.

Another instance is users who work across sites have no central way to view all their open issues. 

Any direction on this would be appreciated. We are moving our entire organization over to Jira and now that it is scaling we are starting to see some of these use cases appear. 

Thank you in advance! 

[Matthias Gaiser _K15t_ · Accepted solution]

Hi @Bradford

I'd usually advise to keep everything in one instance, if possible. This way, it's easy to create your own JQL filters, gadgets, etc. so that you can pull that set of issues together which you'd like to have.
I guess, the biggest downside using one big instance is when it comes down to marketplace apps - and you need to pay for all users of your instance for your app where maybe only one team is using it. Separate instances would allow separate (smaller) billing for apps.

If you already have separate instances, there are still ways to work across instances together. This article is about Jira Data Center, but many arguments/methods are also valid for Cloud.

I'd start with setting up Application Links to the other Jira instances. This way, you can easily link issues across instances together and express the dependencies between them.

For keeping the overview of issues across multiple sites, I basically see two options:

• Issue syncing apps. They provide the possibility to sync issues from one instance to another so that you e.g. could built up a reporting instance for your executives or for collaborating between projects.
• Dashboard apps (alternative search). These apps provide views across multiple instances and pull the data together in one dashboard.

It might be easier to start with the dashboard apps to get an overview - and dig deeper if you also need issue synchronization.

Cheers,
Matthias.

PS: I'm part of the team behind Backbone Issue Sync - and I'm happy to tell you more how that could look like with an issue sync app. If you'd like to discuss it in private, reach out to help@k15t.com.

[Bradford]

Combining everything into one instance was the way to go. I'll have to keep a closer eye on marketplace apps, but otherwise this provides a much nicer approach. 

[Gorka Puente _Appfire_]

Hi @Bradford ,

Adding to the previous suggestions, we provide a commercial solution called Dashboard Hub for Jira. It allows you to create reporting dashboards with data from any number of instances. You can even display data from Cloud and Data Center instances in the same dashboard. Besides that, you can share externally your dashboards in case you need to send the information to external stakeholders. Have a look to these sample dashboards: 

• Agile Team dashboard 
• DevOps Team dashboard
• ITSM dashboard 

Hope this helps!

[Syed Majid Hassan -Exalate-]

Hi @Bradford

This is Majid, pre-sales engineer @ Exalate. 

From the looks of it, your best bet would be to have issues synchronized between the Jira instances. Exalate specializes in this bi-directional sync which can be set up in seconds using a no-code configuration approach. Please feel free to book a demo with us if you are interested in seeing a customized demo of how Exalate can help to achieve your use case.  

Thanks

Majid 

[Josh Costella]

Hi @Bradford

This view is a system feature but it can get you started in the right direction. You may need to look into third party plugins that can sync issues across the different sites.

But going to this link allows a consolidated view of the various Atlassian sites your account is part of.

https://start.atlassian.com/ 

[Bradford]

Josh, thanks for the option. But for most of my users seeing a huge list of projects would likely blow their minds. And this would still limit collaboration across projects. The more I am reading the more the documentation seems like the wrong advice with multiple sites. 

[Bradford]

@Josh Costella Okay, now that I added myself to that organization, how do I remove myself? There seems to be no easy to to unjoin.