If you are part of a team working on a project, you must know the importance of planning, keeping track of the progress, managing tasks, and getting reports on utilization and the project's status. Jira is a popular project management software that helps teams collaborate and manage their projects effectively. One of its most significant features is the Jira dashboard for project management. In this article, we will discuss what is Jira dashboard, its key aspects, how to create it, and why to use it.
Jira Dashboard: What is, Why to Use?
A key idea of the Jira dashboard is that it provides a customizable workspace where teams can monitor their projects, track their work progress, and keep an eye on their project's status. It provides a single point of access to all the vital project-related information, allowing teams to stay informed and make informed decisions. The dashboard offers a wide range of widgets that display various types of information, including charts, graphs, lists, and more. These widgets can be customized, added, or removed according to team needs.
One of the significant advantages of the Jira dashboard is that it allows teams to have real-time updates on their project status.
Key Aspects of the Jira Dashboard
Now that we have discussed what a Jira dashboard for project management is and why to use it let us delve into its key aspects.
Centralized View
Jira dashboards provide a centralized view of the team's progress, enabling them to track their work and prioritize their tasks.
Gadgets
Jira dashboard gadgets are the building blocks of the dashboard. They are small, configurable gadgets that display information from Jira projects, including the status of issues, sprint progress, and other project-related information. There are several types of Jira dashboard gadgets available, among them are popular gadgets including bar charts and wallboards. Teams can customize their dashboard view by adding or removing Jira dashboard gadgets as per their requirements.
Real-Time Updates
The dashboard provides real-time updates on the project's status, making it easier for a project manager, the entire team, and individual users to stay informed on a daily basis and make informed decisions.
Customization
Jira dashboards are highly customizable, so users can add and remove widgets as per their requirements, enabling teams to create their own dashboard layout and configure it according to their requirements. Teams can add or remove widgets, change the layout, and customize the colors and fonts to make it more user-friendly.
Improved Collaboration
With a shared dashboard, teams can collaborate more effectively and ensure everyone is on the same page. It allows team members to easily communicate, assign tasks, and share information.
Issue Tracking and Task Management
The Jira dashboards provide an issue-tracking system and an efficient and easy-to-use solution for task management. The issue tracking system provides an overview of tasks and issues. It allows teams to easily communicate, and share information, which allows them to quickly identify and address any problems or delays in the project.
Permissions
Jira provides granular permissions that allow teams to control who can access the Jira dashboards and the information displayed on them. Teams can configure permissions based on user roles and access levels, ensuring that sensitive information
How to Create a Dashboard in Jira?
Users may worry about how to use Jira dashboard, but there is nothing to worry about, as creating a custom dashboard in Jira is a simple and straightforward process. Here are the steps to create a dashboard in Jira:
Step 1: Creating a New Dashboard
Once you've logged in to Jira, navigate to the Dashboards page by clicking on the Dashboards link in the top menu bar. You will see a default system dashboard, and an option to create a new one. Click on the "Create dashboard" button.
After that, a creation dialogue will appear and you’ll need to provide its name, description, and permission details.
Step 2: Adding Gadgets to Jira Dashboards
In the next screen, you will be taken to the dashboard configuration screen. Here, you can add relevant gadgets to your blank dashboard by clicking on the "Add gadget" button. Jira provides a wide variety of gadgets that you can choose from, including charts, wallboards, and other visualizations to supplement your Jira reporting dashboard.
Step 3: Changing the Layout
You will be prompted to choose a layout for your dashboard. Jira provides several layout options to choose from, including two, three, and four-column layouts. Choose the layout that best suits your needs.
While adding a gadget, you will need to configure it to display the data you want to see. For example, if you want to have a Jira project dashboard to get a deeper insight into your key projects, just choose the "Projects" gadget to have quick access. You can also add a gadget that will show a list of issues assigned to you to access issues quickly and to make your issue management better. That helps to get a basic level of understanding of your workload status at any time.
Step 4: Customizing the Gadgets View
If you're curious about how to customize the Jira dashboard, you're in the right place. Users can customize the overall view of gadgets on their dashboard. Just click in the upper corner of the selected gadget and you will see the dropdown menu with options: change color, rename, delete, or configure the gadget to your taste:
Step 5: Reorder Gadgets
You can easily reorder gadgets on your Jira dashboards by clicking and dragging gadgets to a new location. This can be especially helpful if you want to group related gadgets together or if you want to move frequently used gadgets to a more prominent location.
The dashboard owners can edit their dashboard examples, create additional gadgets, and reorganize an entire dashboard at any time. Custom dashboard Jira management is very simple.
The Process of Sharing a Jira Dashboard
Users can share personal dashboards. Sharing a dashboard is a simple and straightforward process that allows team members to collaborate effectively and share critical project-related information. The Jira dashboards can be shared with other team members, stakeholders, or external partners, allowing everyone to have access to the same information and stay informed about the project's progress.
It's important to note that Jira provides granular permission controls that allow users to control who can access and modify the dashboard. These permission controls can be customized based on the needs of the team, ensuring that sensitive information is only accessible to authorized personnel.
Navigate to the Dashboard Page
The process of sharing Jira dashboards involves a few simple steps. First, the user needs to navigate to the dashboard page and choose the needed dashboard from the dashboards list:
Click on the button in the right corner of the needed dashboard, and choose from the dropdown menu “Rename or share dashboard“.
Rename or Share Dashboard
This will open the "Share dashboard" dialog box, where the user can enter the individuals, groups, or even the whole organization they want to share with the dashboard.
Choose the Permission Level of Viewers
Users can choose several permission levels from the menu. You can share it with:
- Users who are working on the same Project
- Share the dashboard with a specific Group (team)
- Share on the level of the whole Organization
- Share it with a certain User
- or make it Private.
Choose the Permission Level of Editors
Permission levels for the Editors are the same as for Viewers, except for the “My Organization” level, so you can make editors:
- Users who are working on the same Project
- A specific Group (team)
- Certain User
- or edit the dashboard Privately.
After all actions are taken don’t forget to save changes.
Best 4 Jira Dashboards Examples
Dashboards possess a high degree of flexibility, allowing for targeted sharing among specific groups or users based on their roles or involvement in particular projects. Depending on their needs, users can configure dashboards in different ways.
Let’s have a quick overview of some most popular ones.
1. Personal Dashboard
A personal dashboard is an invaluable tool that offers numerous advantages in streamlining workflow management and enhancing productivity. Tailored to individual needs, it provides a centralized platform for organizing and visualizing user’s tasks, projects, issues, etc.
2. Project Dashboard
Monitor the progress of projects. It allows teams to quickly identify the progress of a specific project, and any potential blockers or issues. It also helps teams identify any areas of improvement and optimize their processes. A project dashboard in Jira provides an overview of the key metrics and progress of a specific project. It helps stakeholders and team members stay informed about the project's status and performance. Here are some components commonly found in a project dashboard:
3. Issue-Tracking Dashboard
Track and prioritize issues with the help of the issue-tracking dashboard. It allows users to quickly identify and prioritize the most important issues they are facing. It also helps teams to isolate and track any potential problems.
An issue-tracking dashboard in Jira focuses on providing visibility into the status and progress of issues or tickets within a project. It enables efficient issue management and collaboration among team members. Here are some elements commonly found in this type of Jira dashboard for project management:
4. Workload Dashboard
Another dashboard Jira offers is resource workload monitor. This dashboard is incredibly useful for teams that need to track the amount of work that is assigned to each team member and adjust their workload accordingly. It visualizes the workload distribution across team members, indicating the number of assigned tasks or issues, and shows the historical trend of workload for individual team members or the entire team, helping identify workload patterns and plan resource allocation.
Tracking progress with dashboards is very comfortable as it helps to get a comprehensive view of the current projects and ongoing activity.
By the way, users may find various add-ons for Jira presented in the Atlassian Marketplace that provide advanced planning features and their own preset planning dashboards for even more effortless team/project/task management. Among them, we can name ActivityTimeline - a resource planning & time tracking tool for Jira, which offers a planning dashboard that provides an eye-bird view of the project & resource progress, as well as other useful features.
Planning with ActivityTimeline Dashboard
An ActivityTimeline for Jira, compatible with Jira Software/Jira Service Management, is an add-on that gives users an overview of their team's activity on Jira projects. It provides a high-level visualization with the help of user/team timelines with ongoing activities, allowing users to identify trends and patterns that are important for decision-making and improve issue management.
First of all, ActivityTimeline provides custom reports and timesheets that can be added to Jira Dashboard as gadgets. Below is an example of Jira dashboard with custom charts:
It synchronizes with Jira worklogs and provides insights on resource and team utilization, detailed worklog reports, planned with actual time spent on tasks, skills availability, and project progress. The reports and charts are customizable and refresh automatically. Here's a detailed breakdown on how to add the gadget you need on your dashboard.
Its own planning dashboard provides an easy-to-use graphical representation of the project's activities, allowing users to identify inefficiencies and make adjustments to optimize the project flow. The ActivityTimeline for Jira dashboard includes a range of advanced features that allow users to quickly analyze project activities.
The app also provides timesheets and reports to facilitate project reporting.
Among the features presented in the tool we can name:
Project and Task Management
The dashboard makes the planning process effortless. The tool helps to understand resource utilization across your organization, as it provides a cross-project perspective of shared resources and projects with tasks in a single place. You can easily understand the team workload, who is doing what, and when it will be done.
Projects with project backlog are visualized in the left panel:
Tasks can be scheduled from the issue list directly on the users' timelines with a simple drag-n-drop feature, or you even create new tasks directly from the dashboard, all data is fully synchronized with Jira and vice versa.
Users may also find custom internal events that are not synchronized with Jira but are very useful when it comes to activities or events not connected with Jira tasks, such as holidays, vacations, planning meetings activities, sick leaves, day-offs, etc.
Filters & Grouping
Filters are also available here, so users can filter and group the needed data by different values (by the team, user, project, issue statuses, issue type, etc.) and reflect it on the timelines in a few clicks:
Workload/Availability Management
ActivityTimeline offers unique indicators of user workload/availability to help you identify how best to allocate tasks. By creating personalized workload plans for your users, you can quickly see where resources may be over-allocated or under-utilized, allowing you to adjust accordingly. This data can also be used to make smarter decisions about resource allocation and help managers plan for upcoming projects more effectively.
You can select from a range of timeline views at either a detailed or general level. These timeline views allow you to allocate tasks to specific users or whole teams (such as epics and program increments), set deadlines and estimates, and monitor progress. Furthermore, there are indicators to show an entire team workload and availability:
Vise workload distribution makes resource allocation easy. Users can avoid problems that can arise during the resource allocation process, namely:
- Inadequate resources: When resources are not allocated properly, it can lead to a scarcity of the needed resources (material and human) and a failure to finish tasks punctually and within the allocated budget.
- Roles and duties that are not well-defined: Improper distribution of resources can make it hard to pinpoint who is responsible for what work and who is accountable for supervising the overall development of the project.
- Excessive use of resources: When resources are too greatly assigned, it can lead to inefficiencies and wasted effort and funds.
- Insufficient use of resources: Not providing enough resources can cause missed deadlines and lost opportunities.
- Ineffective team communication: If resources are not allocated properly, it can be difficult for those involved in the task to remain apprised and up-to-date on its advancement, as well as any modifications that might be required. This can result in perplexity regarding the objectives of the project and the way resources are being employed.
- Limited project visibility: Without an accurate allocation of resources, it is hard to track the progress of the project and affirm that tasks are being completed, which can have an unfavorable effect on the success of the project.
Effortless Reports & Timesheets Generation
ActivityTimeline also offers advanced reports and timesheets for accurate tracking and analysis. You can jump to the timesheet or report sections from the Jira dashboard:
The timesheet section offers progress, timeline, and detailed timesheets that are built like a Lego constructor with different timesheet templates. The user chooses all the needed values and generates timesheets in a few clicks!
The report section offers a wide variety of issues & project reports, resource reports to report on user workload/availability, etc.
Roles and Permissions
As well as Jira, ActivityTimeline has permission levels, so you can configure data access levels and assign permission roles to different users.
As far as we can see, it is comfortable to work with a such type of dashboard, as it is pre-configured, shows a comprehensive view of the ongoing projects and activities, gives quick access to reports and timesheets, and has various customization possibilities and permission levels.
Conclusion
The use of a Jira Dashboard for planning is a great way to stay organized and keep projects moving along in an efficient and productive manner. It allows for the tracking of progress, the sharing of information, and the visualization of data.
The Jira dashboards provide powerful tools for teams working on complex projects. Its customizable widgets, filters, and agile boards, combined with real-time updates, centralized view, and improved collaboration, make it an essential part of any team's project management toolkit. It provides a clear overview of the team's progress, enabling them to make informed decisions and prioritize their work efficiently. Users can also advance their planning with the help of the Jira add-ons and try their dashboard planning features for better performance and tracking.
