Workflows are the engine of JIRA. And this engine is extremely flexible. Atlassian are constantly trying to strike a balance between flexibility and simplicity. In my view they’ve done a great job. But still it takes time to really understand and configure a JIRA workflow.
JIRA Workflows have many moving parts, many layers, and therefore plenty of opportunities for novices and experts alike to trip themselves up.
We wanted to try to help other JIRA admins and so we put together this free 7 part email course.Get it now!
The course will take you through setting up and customizing workflows in JIRA. Here is a list of the modules you will receive.
Part 1 – Primer – How JIRA Workflows Help You Work Smarter
This is a primer on Workflow concepts as they are used in JIRA. It will cover what a workflow is, states and transitions, and common workflow patterns. We will also discuss:
Workflow Concepts and Definitions
The JIRA Agile Simplified Workflow
Modelling Business Processes with JIRA workflows
The relationship between Workflows and Boards.
Workflows and JIRA Service Desk
Part 2 – Creating Workflows – Workflow Schemes, Screens And The Graphical Editor
So how do you create workflows? In this module we’ll talk about the various items that make a JIRA workflow. We’ll discuss how Workflow schemes are used to link workflows to the issue types in your project. Included are:
Workflow Schemes
Status Labels, States, and Transitions
Common and Global Transitions
Workflow Screens
How to use the workflow editor.
Part 3 – Use Workflow Conditions To Satisfy Your Inner Control Freak
Controlling when a workflow transition can be executed and by whom is vitally important. Workflow conditions act as gatekeepers and can help formalise your business process rules. We’ll look at the out-of-the-box workflow conditions and how to use them, and we’ll also begin our journey around the Atlassian ecosystem by looking at some commonly used plugins. We’ll cover:
Workflow Security using conditions
Blocking on Subtask and Linked Task Status
Combining Conditions
Marketplace Add-ons like Suite utilities for JIRA and JIRA Misc Workflow Utilities.
Part 4 – Advanced – Customize Your Workflow Behaviours With Validators And Post Functions
JIRA is an event driven system and workflows are no exception. As items transition through states in a workflow, events are triggered. These events cause certain actions to be performed. You can harness this event mechanism to trigger your own actions. In this module we show you how. We also explain what you can do with Workflow validators and provide recommendations for several add-ons.
Adding Validators.
Making workflow screen fields mandatory.
Using Post-functions to route issues.
Using post-functions to update issue fields automatically.
Post-functions, Webhooks and the JIRA Automation Plugin
Using Marketplace Add-ons to add additional post-function types.
Part 5 – More Advanced – Fine Grained Control With JIRA Workflow Properties
In this module we look at workflow properties. These provide various customizations for states and transitions. The properties allow us to change how workflow buttons look and what we have permission to do when issues are in certain statuses. We’ll look at some common problems and solutions including:
Restrict access to certain functions (e.g. comment editing)
Making resolution values unavailable
Change the sequence and name of the workflow buttons
Prevent editing of issue when it is closed
Part 6 – These 10 JIRA Workflow Best Practices Can Help You Work Smarter
JIRA has been around a long time now and a certain body of knowledge has built up around using JIRA Workflows. We’ll look at best practices including:
Workflow Design and Planning
Reuse Workflows
Using Transition Screens
Using Permissions vs Restrictions
Think about Reporting
Version Control
Minimize or Make Obvious Side Effects
Naming of Workflows, States, and Transitions
Use Auditing Controls and Logs
Using Coarse and Fine Grained Processes
Part 7 – Become A JIRA Workflow Ninja – Learn From This Case Study.
In this module we will pull together all we’ve learned in the previous modules by implementing a realistic workflow example. We begin with a simple workflow, but as we layer on extra requirements we quickly see the limitations of the workflow. We show how the workflow can be split, how JIRA linking can help us manage tasks that need to be executed during different stages of the workflow, and how we can automate different steps and decisions.
Our plan is to create a premium version of the above course but we are offering this for free to our early customers. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to drop me an email or use our live web chat. Or if you need support with your JIRA configuration don’t forget to check our support packages.