Summary: What Are Jira Dashboards, Their Main Features, and How to Create One?
A Jira dashboard is a customizable homepage that displays a collection of visual elements related to your Jira projects. Jira supports various types of dashboards tailored to different project needs. Jira dashboards are a vital component of Jira, providing teams with insights and project visibility. They transform raw project data into actionable intelligence, empowering teams to stay organized, productive, and aligned with project goals. Dashboards in Jira are driven by JQL queries and use gadgets to display dynamic content, such as pie charts and bar charts, offering a high-level overview of project health and performance metrics. Jira dashboards are incredibly powerful, especially when enhanced with plugins or integrations. To create a Jira dashboard, users can use a template to streamline the setup process, define objectives, select and arrange gadgets, and configure layouts to best visualize key project data.
What is a Jira Dashboard?
A Jira dashboard is a customizable homepage that displays a collection of visual elements related to your Jira projects. It serves as the nerve center of project activity, offering a consolidated view of tasks, progress, and key metrics. A dashboard displays a lot of issue data at once as graphs, counts, trends, and charts. Dashboards can be based on different functionalities or tailored for specific roles or teams, allowing users to create dashboards that fit their unique needs and workflows. It gives stakeholders a centralized location to monitor project health, track progress, and make informed decisions. Jira administrators also use the system dashboard to oversee system health and performance.
Dashboards in Jira are driven by JQL queries. This means you can filter and display exactly the data you need for your team or project.
Now that we’ve defined what a Jira dashboard is, let’s look at its main components.
Introduction
Jira dashboards are a vital component of Jira, providing teams with insights and project visibility. This article is designed for Jira users, project managers, team leads, and anyone involved in project management who wants to understand how to leverage Jira dashboards for better project visibility, efficiency, and decision-making. Understanding Jira dashboards matters because they transform raw project data into actionable intelligence, helping teams stay organized, productive, and aligned with project goals. In this article, we will cover what Jira dashboards are, their main features, how to create and customize them, practical examples, and best practices for maximizing their impact.
What are the Components of a Jira Dashboard?
Gadgets
Gadgets are mini-visual tools that display key data, such as pie charts, bar charts, and lists of issues. Jira dashboards come equipped with built-in gadgets—pre-installed, ready-to-use tools that allow users to display and customize issue data, metrics, and charts. These modular components provide specific information and functionality, such as task lists, burndown charts, and activity streams. Users can add gadgets to their Jira dashboards to display key data such as pie charts and bar charts. There are several built-in gadgets in project management tools, such as filter results gadget, issue statistics gadget, and road map gadget. However, additional gadgets can also be downloaded from third-party marketplaces. Some of them are the pivot gadget and gauge gadget.
To build an effective project management dashboard, start with the essentials:
Overall progress
Work split by person or sub-section
High-risk issues front and center
This ensures that the most critical data is easily accessible and actionable. Here’s a list of must-have gadgets to consider:
Filter Results: Quickly access specific tasks or issues based on defined criteria.
Created vs Resolved Chart: Visualize the balance between new tasks and completed ones.
Issue Statistics: Gain insight into task distribution and progress. It’s recommended to add this gadget twice for comprehensive analysis.
Road Map: Plan and track long-term project milestones and goals.
Pie Chart: Visualize the distribution of issues or tasks by category or status.
Once you’ve added these key components, you’ll have a robust dashboard ready to streamline your project management workflow. Users can explore third-party apps from the Atlassian Marketplace to find additional dashboard gadgets.
Transition: With a clear understanding of the components, let's explore why Jira dashboards are used and their benefits.
Reports
Jira dashboards host various reports, including Jira reports, Jira reports dashboards, and reports dashboards, such as velocity charts, sprint summaries, and issue statistics, offering valuable insights into team performance and project trends.
Dashboards can display a lot of issue data at once as graphs, counts, trends, and charts.
Why is it Used?
Jira dashboards are used for several reasons:
Visibility: Dashboards offer stakeholders a real-time snapshot of project status and progress, promoting transparency and accountability by providing important information in a centralized location.
Decision Making: By providing access to actionable, real-time insights and performance metrics, dashboards enable data-driven decision-making, leading to more informed choices.
Collaboration: Dashboards foster collaboration by providing a centralized platform for teams to track tasks, share updates, and communicate effectively.
Efficiency: Dashboards streamline project management processes and enhance team productivity by consolidating project information and metrics in one location.
Trend Identification: Dashboards help identify trends in project data, allowing teams to monitor patterns and address emerging issues proactively.
With Jira dashboards, you can quickly gauge a system's health, view a team's workload, or detect trends in issue data.
Transition: Now that you know why Jira dashboards are essential, let's look at the default dashboard and how to create your own.
The Default Jira Dashboard
The default dashboard is also known as the system dashboard. It is the screen Jira users see the first time they log in. It includes gadgets from Jira's pre-installed selection and is limited to only one dashboard page.
Transition: Understanding the default dashboard sets the stage for creating custom dashboards tailored to your team's needs.
Creating Your Jira Dashboard
Creating custom dashboards requires careful planning and consideration of project objectives and team requirements. In Jira, users can create multiple dashboards to organize different views for various projects or teams. You can also copy existing dashboards to use as templates for new dashboards, making it easier to maintain consistency and save time. Additionally, Jira allows you to star favorite dashboards for quick access.
Step 1: Create a New Dashboard
Log in to your Jira account.
Go to the dashboard and click ‘Create Dashboard’.
Assign a name to your new dashboard—giving it a clear, descriptive name will help you quickly locate a specific dashboard later.
Step 2: Define Dashboard Objectives
Start by defining the objectives and goals of your dashboard page.
Determine what information is crucial for your team to track and monitor, and tailor your dashboard accordingly.
Step 3: Select Relevant Gadgets and Reports
Choose gadgets and reports that align with your project’s needs and objectives.
Use the 'add gadgets' feature to select and add visual tools like charts and issue lists to your dashboard.
Consider factors such as team workflow, project complexity, and stakeholder requirements.
Step 4: Opt for Your Preferred Layout and Configuration
Choose your preferred dashboard layout and configuration to ensure optimal visibility and usability for all stakeholders.
Arrange gadgets and reports in a visually appealing, logical, and intuitive manner to facilitate easy navigation and information access.
Step 5: Iterative Refinement
Embrace an iterative dashboard refinement approach.
Solicit helpful user and stakeholder feedback to improve its effectiveness and usability continuously.
Regularly assess and update your dashboard to reflect evolving project needs and priorities.
Step 6: Share the Dashboard with Team Members
Share the Jira dashboard with the team across the organization.
Grant appropriate permissions so they can view and interact with the dashboard and get real-time updates.
Transition: With your dashboard created, you can now tailor it for specific use cases, such as status meetings.
Creating a Status Meeting Dashboard: A Step-by-Step Guide
Imagine the power of walking into a status meeting and instantly knowing how projects are progressing without waiting for updates. Here’s how you can create your own project dashboard to monitor progress efficiently before any discussions start.
Key Features of a Status Meeting Dashboard
Real-time tracking of project metrics
Visual summaries of tasks
Customizable widgets that provide clear insights into project health
Project dashboards also enhance stakeholder alignment through customizable views tailored to different audiences.
Steps to Create a Status Meeting Dashboard
Step 1: Initiate a New Dashboard
Navigate to the Dashboard section on your software.
Select ‘Create Dashboard.’
Assign a relevant name to your dashboard—a name that reflects its purpose for clarity. You can easily rename the dashboard later by clicking on its title if you need to update it.
Step 2: Integrate Essential Gadgets
To ensure your dashboard gives you a clear picture of the project status, integrate these key components and take advantage of the features offered by various gadgets:
Set Up a Progress Roadmap: This provides an at-a-glance view, reflecting issues assigned to upcoming releases and their resolution status.
Ensure your roadmap focuses on a single Jira project for simplicity. This helps you monitor and manage Jira projects more effectively. Configure it to display the essential metrics that align with your meeting’s goals.
Final Touches and Review
Save your settings to lock in these configurations.
Track the status of unresolved issues and address them preemptively.
Transition: By following these steps, you’ll build a dashboard that empowers you to walk into meetings well-prepared and informed, streamlining discussions and decision-making. With the process for creating dashboards clear, let's explore some practical examples.
JIRA Dashboard Examples
Personal Dashboard
A personal dashboard is tailored to individual needs and offers various advantages in streamlining workflow management and improving productivity. It provides a centralized platform for organizing and visualizing user's tasks, different projects, issues, etc.
The workload dashboard, also known as the monitor resource dashboard, tracks the amount of work and capacity assigned to each team member and adjusts their workload accordingly. It helps identify workload patterns and plan resource allocation.
Jira dashboards help project managers optimize resource allocation by providing insights into team workload and capacity.
Ensuring Realistic Target Release Dates Based on Current Workload
To ensure that your target release dates are realistic, it's crucial to monitor the workload effectively and adjust your strategies accordingly. Here's how you can do that:
Visualize Workload Trends: Utilize project management tools that allow you to view and analyze workload data. Choose a dashboard that provides a clear comparison between work added and work resolved. This will help you visualize if current targets are achievable.
Set Up Custom Searches: Create custom filters or saved searches within your tool to drill down into specific project details. Begin by focusing on upcoming project versions and track issues pertaining to these versions. This specific view will help you see what needs to be prioritized for the next release.
Use Dynamic Parameters: Implementing dynamic search options, such as filtering by the earliest upcoming project version, can provide insights into whether the workload is aligned with your release schedules. These parameters should automatically reflect changes in the project scope.
Dashboard Insights: Link these custom searches to your main dashboard and use them to power visual gadgets, like charts that display created versus resolved issues. Regularly review these charts to ensure that the rate of completed work aligns with or surpasses incoming tasks.
Monitor Workload Discrepancies: Pay attention to situations where new tasks are increasing while resolved tasks stay the same. This imbalance may indicate a need for strategy adjustments or allocating more resources to meet deadlines.
Adjust and Communicate: If discrepancies arise, consider increasing team productivity or adjust timelines to reflect the current workload. Regular communication about progress and challenges will foster a realistic approach to meeting deadlines.
Transition: By following these steps, you can maintain visibility over your work progress and adjust timelines appropriately, ensuring that release targets remain feasible given the current workload.
Issue Tracking Dashboard
The issue tracking dashboard allows users to quickly identify and prioritize the most important issues. It focuses on providing visibility into the status and progress of issues or tickets within a project.
Identifying and Tracking High-Risk Items in a Project
In any project, some tasks inherently carry more risk due to their complexity or resource requirements. To effectively manage these, it's crucial to identify and keep track of them using project management tools. Here's how you can streamline this process:
Pinpoint Risks with Time Estimates
Start by scrutinizing tasks that demand extensive time commitments—these often signal complex challenges. A significant time estimate can indicate potential hurdles or even hidden intricacies, particularly when considering whether to estimate using story points or hours.
Use Filters to Narrow Down Focus
Access Your Task Tracker: Navigate to the section of your project management tool where you can search and filter tasks.
Create a Detailed Filter: Set up a new search query to identify tasks with a time estimate surpassing a predefined threshold. For example, search for tasks with an estimate of more than four hours to uncover potentially problematic areas.
Name Your Filter: Save this search with a descriptive title, like "Tasks Estimated Over 4 Hours," to facilitate easy access and tracking.
Visualize and Prioritize on Dashboards
Add to Dashboard: Integrate your filter into a central dashboard view. This helps ensure that high-risk tasks are always in sight and not ignored amidst the clutter of other ongoing work.
Customize Display: Include columns such as "Assignee" to quickly identify who is responsible for these tasks. This enables a swift understanding of workload distribution and accountability.
Transition: By maintaining a clear focus on high-risk tasks through strategic filtering and dashboard visualization, you ensure that potential issues are addressed proactively, reducing the likelihood of them derailing your project. With these examples in mind, let's discuss how to maximize the impact of your Jira dashboards.
Maximizing Dashboard Impact
To maximize the impact of your Jira dashboard, consider the following best practices:
Promote Transparency and Collaboration
Share your dashboard with relevant stakeholders to promote transparency and collaboration.
Encourage team members to actively engage with the dashboard and provide feedback to drive continuous improvement.
Leverage the Atlassian community to seek support, share knowledge, and discover best practices related to Jira dashboards.
Leverage Automation and Integration
Integrate your Jira dashboard with other tools and systems to automate data capture and reporting processes.
Jira Cloud offers robust integration options, allowing users to extract Jira data using the REST API, OData Feed, or Power Query for use in reporting tools.
You can automate data extraction from Jira Cloud by using Python scripts that connect to Jira's REST API, or manually export Jira data by creating JQL queries.
Leveraging the Jira API enables comprehensive retrieval of Jira data for reporting and analysis.
Use these integration capabilities to streamline workflow management and enhance productivity.
Encourage data-driven discussions and decision-making to drive project success.
Transition: By following these best practices, you can ensure your Jira dashboard remains a valuable asset for your team. Next, let's explore advanced customization techniques to further enhance your dashboards.
Advanced Dashboard Customization
Take your Jira dashboard customization to the next level with these advanced techniques and strategies for data integration and visualization:
Dashboard Filters and Contextualization
Implement filters and contextualization techniques to personalize the dashboard experience for individual users or specific project phases.
Allow users to tailor the dashboard view based on their preferences and requirements.
Setting Up a Filter to Track Progress Toward Your Upcoming Milestone
To effectively monitor progress towards your next project milestone, follow these steps:
Access the Search Feature: Begin by navigating to the search or issues section in your project management tool. Look for an option to switch to an advanced search mode if available.
Initiate Your Search: Start typing to see auto-suggestions that will help you narrow down your options. This makes it easier to customize your search to fit your project's needs.
Specify Project Details: Select the project you wish to monitor. Next, add a parameter for tracking upcoming releases, like “Fix Version” or a similar option in your tool. Use a dynamic function that highlights issues tied to future release dates. For instance, you might choose a feature that automatically identifies the next unreleased version of your project.
Name and Save the Filter: Once your filter is set up, save it with a clear and descriptive name. Use something intuitive, such as "Upcoming Milestone Issues," to ensure it's easily identifiable later.
Apply the Filter: Head back to your dashboard and incorporate this new filter into your existing charts or gadgets. Opt for a visual display that suits you, like a created versus resolved chart, and apply your customized filter. Keep the other settings at their default if you're unsure of adjustments.
By setting up this filter, you can maintain a clear view of your project's progress towards the next milestone, ensuring everyone on your team is aligned with the priorities.
Dynamic Dashboard Updates
Utilize dynamic updating capabilities to ensure that your dashboard reflects real-time changes and updates in project data.
Implement automated refresh intervals and notifications to keep stakeholders informed and engaged.
Custom Gadgets and Extensions
Explore the possibilities of custom gadgets and extensions to extend the functionality of your Jira dashboard.
Develop custom gadgets or integrate third-party extensions to address unique project requirements and enhance user experience.
Additionally, you can extract Jira data into tables using APIs or export features, enabling advanced reporting and analysis in external tools.
Transition: By incorporating these strategies, you can ensure that your project management dashboard remains a powerful tool for driving project success and adapting to the evolving demands of your release cycle.
How Typo's Sprint Analysis Feature is Useful for the Jira Dashboard
A well-designed Jira dashboard is a catalyst for project excellence, providing teams with the insights and visibility they need to succeed. By understanding its components, crafting a tailored dashboard, and maximizing its impact, you can unlock Jira dashboards' full potential and drive your projects toward success.
Furthermore, while Jira dashboards offer extensive functionalities, it's essential to explore alternative tools that may simplify the process and enhance user experience. Typo is one such tool that streamlines project management by offering intuitive dashboard creation, seamless integration, and a user-friendly interface. With Typo, teams can effortlessly visualize project data, track progress, and collaborate effectively, ultimately leading to improved productivity and project outcomes. Explore Typo today and revolutionize your project management experience.
Who Should Read This Article?
This article is designed for Jira users, project managers, team leads, and anyone involved in project management who wants to understand how to leverage Jira dashboards for better project visibility, efficiency, and decision-making. Understanding Jira dashboards is crucial for transforming raw project data into actionable insights, keeping teams organized, and ensuring alignment with project goals.
