Jira: Project Management
Jira is a web-based tool for managing projects, building plans, managing resources, and allocating time.
You can use Jira to accomplish your tasks and bring visibility to your collective projects. Jira lets you create project plans, organize and assign tasks, share files, communicate with colleagues, get updates on your team’s progress, create graphical roadmaps or plans to see at a quick state where your project is at, and more.
Jira is used by Human Resources (HR) and Tufts Technology Services (TTS). For project management software used in other departments at Tufts, please expand the Jira vs MS Planner vs MS Project section below.
To get started with Jira, go to https://tuftswork.atlassian.net/
Different departments at Tufts use different project management software – Jira, Microsoft Planner, and Microsoft Projects. The basic functionality of these applications is very similar, including the ability to create projects, organize and assign tasks, link to files, communicate with collaborators, and track your team’s progress.
- HR and TTS use Jira, which this guide covers.
- For everyone else at Tufts, Microsoft Planner is available for free and can be accessed at https://tasks.office.com. Microsoft has created comprehensive training videos surround Microsoft Planner here.
- If you do not have access to Jira and Microsoft Planner is not sufficient, Microsoft Project is also available. Learn more about Microsoft Project.
- MS Project is available primarily for faculty and staff, although students have access via computer labs on campus.
- The MS Project software can only be installed on Tufts managed/owned computers and is only available for Windows.
- MS Project must be paid for by the requestor's departmental budget.
- MS Project for Office 365 costs $70 per license per year and must be renewed every year on June 30th.
- MS Project Pro 2016 is a perpetual license which costs $110 per license.
- To request Microsoft Project, email it@tufts.edu.
- Navigate to the login page for Jira: https://tuftswork.atlassian.net/
- Enter your Tufts email address (e.g. John.Jumbo@tufts.edu) and click Continue.
- A Tufts login window will appear. Log in with your Tufts username (e.g. jjumbo01) and password. You may also need to complete DUO two-factor authentication.
- Click on your profile icon in the top right corner of the page and select Log out.
- A new page will load. Click Log out again to confirm.
Below are some of the most commonly used terms in Jira. For more detail on a term, please refer to that specific page in the menu.
- Project: A department or team’s workspace in Jira. Not to be confused with what you might traditionally think of as a project in the real world, which in Jira is called an "Initiative". A Jira Project might be: “Event Professionals Team Workspace”.
- Plan: An individual workspace for a project manager to create and administer their project plans. In Human Resources (HR), this is used as a person’s main page.
- Issue: The term “Issue” in Jira isn’t necessarily used how we think of it in the real world – as a “problem” or “obstacle”. Instead, Issues in Jira are used for tracking work and allow users to create a hierarchy of items within their project. The main issue types are, in order of breakdown:
- Initiative = Traditional “projects” as you might be used to (e.g. Hosting a wedding)
- Epic = A “milestone” within a project (e.g. Feeding Guests)
- Story = A “task” that must be completed in order to successfully complete an epic/milestone (e.g. Booking a Caterer)
- Sub-task = A "smaller task” within a task (e.g., Taste testing restaurants)
The Jira mobile app is available on both iOS and Android. Most features from the standard website are available on the mobile app, such as creating and editing issues. Download the Jira mobile app here.