Now you can enjoy KRONOS, Jira’s worklog add-on also in Data Center environment! KRONOS allows you to easily record and manage your working hours, in addition to logging work you can create meaningful reports which support the work of managers and the efficiency of the projects!

 

 

What is the challange?

Jira is an excellent agile project management software which focus on tracking issues arise during the projects. However, as a user we can often run into difficulties, this can be caused by Jira’s complex UI or missing features like efficient time tracking! If users can easily log time they spent at work and the project management can create team or individual reports, the success and efficiency of the projects will increase!

 

This is the solution!

KRONOS Timesheets – Worklogs and Reports add-on provides an easy-to-use, calendar-like interface for logging work, in addition, KRONOS features also relieve the daily lives of admins. You can easily specify who, when and for how long worked on a task. Managing holidays and travel time should never be a problem again! There is no need to run a separate time-tracking software, this can be done in Jira with the help of KRONOS. Different views make the time spent on projects perspicuous and the efficiency of employees can be monitored. You can create reports and than export them to Excel. For example, with automatic reports we can easily fulfill the monthly reports required by HR management.

 

Make the complex simple with JExcel. Check out the seven effective features that only JExcel’s UI has to make your Jira experience friendlier and more intuitive.

Despite being one of the most popular, if not the most popular, bug tracking and agile project management software out there, Jira is plagued with criticisms about its user interface (UI). The software’s complexity of projects, boards and dashboards, issue types, custom fields, permission schemes, roles, workflows, and more, is definitely a lot of things to keep track of, especially for the inexperienced user. Combined with a hard to use interface, you can see why the complaints keep rolling in.

That said, one might argue that Jira is quintessentially just a framework. It’s an effective task and issue management platform that is very open to customization. Just browse on the Atlassian Marketplace and see the number of add-ons available for the purposes of improving the UI of whatever activity you need to perform in Jira.

When that “whatever activity” happens to involve working with spreadsheets, use JExcel. Provided by an Atlassian Marketplace Top Vendor, MORESIMP, JExcel enhances Jira and offers an Excel-like interface for users who may not be familiar with Jira or just prefer to use something more intuitive. If you’re looking to use Jira, need to involve spreadsheets, and want a more-friendly UI, read on to learn about the seven effective features that only JExcel’s UI has.

Just quickly though, why is UI important?

Not to be confused with UX, UI is the actual design of the space where humans and computers interact. The focus of UI is on aesthetics, so how things look and what the actual layout of a website, application, or program interface is.

When you’re using a new or complicated piece of software it’s all the more likely to select the wrong option or not find what you’re looking for. And when that happens, it’s incredibly frustrating. This is why companies hire people to specifically work on UI and ensure users are happy with what they’re working on.

Because UI facilitates the interactions between users and space, the way a platform looks, as well as its responsiveness, efficiency, and accessibility, are important factors when it comes to the considerations of UI. You want your audience to be able to clearly see what they’re doing and this is exactly what JExcel provides for Jira users as an Excel-like issue editor that provides you an Excel-like UI with extra features.

Features of the JExcel UI Experience

From extremely fast issue editing to enhanced import and export functions, JExcel makes it easy to complete actions otherwise made complicated by Jira’s UI. Depending on which version of JExcel you use, LITE or PRO, extra features make the program even more helpful.

Feature #1: Extremely fast issue editing

When you need to edit an issue on Jira, it proves difficult just simply locating where and what you can edit. From an edit issue dialogue to then a modify issue dialogue, jumping from one place to the next is a pain. In JExcel, you can just simply click on the desired cell and edit it inline as an in-place function.

Feature #2: Quick copy-paste action to and from MS Excel

Have lots of data you need to get from one place to another? Copy and paste values, or even whole issues internally and/or to and from MS Excel. Press CRTL+C over the values you need, and then press CRTL+V to insert where it should go. Just make sure you check the right format!

Feature #3: Speedy calculations

Making calculations on JExcel is as seamless as it is on MS Excel. Select your range of cells and see the already calculated average, count, and sum at the bottom of the page. Also, quickly see aggregated data like the minimum, maximum, average, or sum from a given row. An additional fast calculation feature available in JExcel PRO is calculated columns where you can create simple calculations with numeric columns or constant numbers

Feature #4: Easier filtering

Take advantage of JExcel’s easier, Excel-like filter methods for quicker results. Just hold ALT and then left-click in any given cell and select “Fast Filter” for, well, a no-fuss and fast filter of your data!

Feature #5: Better collaboration

If you’re looking for a way to work with your teammates in a more transparent way, look no further than with JExcel PRO. Invite colleagues and partners via email with a permalink to collaborate with you on workbooks and see who is working. Also, see the history of a cell and any previous changes made to track what’s happened when. In both JExcel PRO and LITE, utilize quick links to column comments and attachments and see them in special JExcel columns for better viewing.

Feature #6: Visualization

JExcel’s visualization makes it easier for you to see and organize data just by looking at it. Unlike Jira where there’s only one color to work with, in JExcel you can flag rows in four different colors to instantly see what type of data is in which row. Speaking of colors, group your workbook title by colors for easy recognition.

Also, see your numeric columns with databars, or hide and unhide columns individually so you can view your workbook without the data irrelevant to what you’re doing at that time. The hide/unhide column function lets every user have a unique view of their workbook without affecting other users of the given workbook as well.

More technical visual changes like renaming, resizing, or freezing columns is easy to do in JExcel so you can set up your table in a way that works best for you. Keep from impeding your table’s layout with extra JExcel specific columns that show you the number of comments and attachments there are.

Feature #7: Import and Export

Perhaps the most welcomed feature of JExcel for Jira is its convenient import and export functions. Something that doesn’t even exist in Jira, you’d be foolhardy trying to look for it on its interface. Export issues from JExcel to MS Excel or to HTML with comments, images, and attachments with a simple click in the export prompt. Use the dropdown menu and click “import” to create new lines from the content of your clipboard

Make Jira work for you with JExcel

Instead of being frustrated with Jira’s interface, realize its capabilities as a powerful software that you can customize to suit you. Think of Jira’s barebones as an advantage, a canvas for you to integrate whatever programs you want to use and create the experience you’re looking for in Jira.

Include JExcel to enhance your UI experience and have extra capabilities Jira doesn’t already provide. With two versions of JExcel available, LITE and PRO, compare their features to see which one fits your projects more. Regardless of which you choose, enjoy a better and more intuitive UI experience.

Have you been using JExcel to enhance your Jira software’s capabilities? By providing more useful features and having an intuitive interface, JExcel gives Jira that extra oomph to make it even more powerful than it already is. Read on and discover 7 tricks you can use in JExcel to get the most out of your software.

As the name might have you think, JExcel is an issue editor with features similar to the popular Excel program. By highlighting Excel’s UI attributes, JExcel makes Jira more familiar and accessible to those who know Excel, but not Jira. JExcel offers a whole host of popular actions, like Excel-like editing, sorting, and filtering, tracking change history of cells, bulk issue creation, importing and exporting, and collaboration. And to top it off, as a plugin JExcel is easy to integrate with Jira.

Do more with JExcel

There are seven tricks, some of which are only available in JExcel’s PRO version, you can use do to make the most of the program. Save time and energy with features specifically created so users can have a seamless experience when working with Jira.

1. Excel-like filtering

If you’ve tried filtering in Jira, you already know that involves using long and sometimes complicated codes. Although Jira provides a friendlier filtering method that involves checkboxes and searching, more time than not you’ll still need to resort back to those dreaded codes. In JExcel, avoid that hassle and quickly select from a dropdown menu that shows what needs to be filtered.

2. Creating calculated columns (Only in PRO)

Create calculated columns in JExcel to operate fast calculations. Doing this in Jira requires making a new custom field that involves the help of an administrator. Skip the extra steps and create your own calculated fields by giving your column a new name, refer to the “Time Spent” column, and then multiply it with a constant number. A quick snap of your fingers and the new calculated column is ready.

3. Cell history (Only in PRO)

Make the information you need from a cell’s history more digestible by filtering irrelevant information. In Jira, the activity menu includes the entire history of a particular issue and extra details that make understanding data complicated. In JExcel, right-click the cell and select “Open cell history” to have a clear idea of what’s happened with just a particular cell. View the history of it without seeing the history of the entire issue.

4. Fast Filter (Only in PRO)

Speaking of making information more accessible, use super-fast filtering for a single value by using pressing ALT and left click at the same time.

5. Bulk change with copy-paste

Editing more than one issue is time-consuming and a long four-step process in Jira. In JExcel, quickly copy your issue type and paste it for a fast and easy experience. Transfer data between programs couldn’t be any easier.

6. Importing – creating bulk issues

JExcel easily creates bulk issues with a copy-paste function. Simply copy your data from Excel (Crtl + C), open the import dialog in JExcel (Ctrl + M), and just paste (Crtl + P). Talk about a quick and seamless operation.

7. Exporting issues

Exporting issues is a challenge when it comes to Jira. JExcel alleviates these problems by allowing you to export more than 1000 issues, export to XLS, and export comments and attachments. Check the drop-down menu and select “Export,” check the appropriate details and voila, your issues are ready to export. With JExcel Pro have the option to export comments, images, and attachments as well.

Enhance Jira with JExcel

Created by MORESIMP, a top vendor on the Atlassian Marketplace, JExcel is used by a range of companies, from small local businesses to international conglomerates. Notable users include Disney, T-Mobile, Cisco, Deloitte, and Microsoft to name a few. By making Jira more accessible to non-Jira users, JExcel offers an opportunity for companies to keep their teams involved and on the same page while honing the powerful capabilities of Jira.

JExcel is offered as two types of editions, JExcel Pro and JExcel Lite. While both make it their goal to make Jira more familiar to Excel-using business users and to make it easier to perform bulk editing or filtering tasks, JExcel Pro gives you even more options beyond technical capabilities. From easier project or workbook creation to exporting to enhanced import and export capacity to collaboration, JExcel Pro also features priority support from a friendly and reliable service team.

Explore Lite versus Pro options to see what you need, use the above seven tricks, and see the full potential of JExcel for yourself. Try it today.

International conglomerates are businesses and brands recognized all over the world and their success is attributed to their abilities to adapt, change, and develop with the right people and right tools while maintaining their core missions to be world leaders in the ind
ustries they’re in. Read on to see why larges businesses and international conglomerates chose JExcel as the right tool to contribute to their ongoing success.

Successful companies are careful to invest in the right tools and take considerable measures to help build their brands and empires. Being a powerful presence definitely does not happen overnight. It takes trial and error, adaptability, and perseverance to establish an impressive operation.
In order to run and maintain any multinational conglomerate, you need a clear vision, a strong team, and the right tools. Creating a vision and building a team are complex and demanding endeavors so we won’t get into it here, but when it comes to the right tools there’s one in particular that comes recommended.
There are many companies, a lot of which are household names, that use Jira, probably the biggest bug tracking and agile project management out there in both terms of capabilities and popularity. And these companies enhance their Jira software by integrating JExcel PRO by MORESIMP, an Atlassian Solution Partner and an official Top Vendor of the Atlassian Marketplace.
JExcel PRO integrates an Excel-like interface to edit, sort, and filter issues with an easier to use import and export function. It’s no wonder as to why JExcel should be selected over its competitors. From accessibility to transparency, here are the 5 reasons why the businesses and your company should use JExcel.

1. Accessibility

JExcel PRO is designed with an Excel-like interface making it accessible to business users who are used to using Excel and unfamiliar with Jira. In a huge company, there’s no doubt that not every employee of said company will know how to use Jira from the get-go and will be happy to see familiar concepts with Excel. JExcel bridges the gap between software developers and less than IT knowledgeable team members.

2. Capability

As powerful as Jira is, that doesn’t mean it can do everything without some help. JExcel is a great alternative to Jira’s lack of an import and export function to Excel. Enhanced export options with attachments, images, and comments make the program even more versatile. Something tells us lots of businesses probably work with other companies that don’t use Jira and will need to be able to share crucial information via Excel and other platforms. Learn more about how JExcel PRO can solve problems with Jira here.

3. Communication and Collaboration

Collaboration is made easy with JExcel PRO since the program offers communication features to facilitate it. With JExcel, company teams can see who is working on what and when, contact other users, and invite more. Quicklinks for comments also make collaboration more effective since you’re able to know what belongs to what immediately. Being able to do this all in almost real-time makes it so people can know about important changes as soon as possible. One of the keys to being a successful company is being able to communicate!

4. Delegation

When you’re running an international conglomerate or major business there are a lot of things to be done and they definitely can’t be done by one person or even one team. JExcel PRO is handy in that you can delegate tasks and enable non-admin users the ability to create projects on their own. What a relief for the person at the top.

5. Transparency

Working with a lot of people means room for confusion and some chaos. With JExcel PRO, teams can keep track of workflow and see what’s happened by checking cell history. When you’ve got such a big team it can be tedious to always ask what’s going on. Skipping that step and just seeing the information for yourself not only saves time, but gets everyone on the same page.

The Right Tool for All Jira Using Businesses

JExcel PRO is the right tool for businesses that use Jira because it makes a powerful, but complex piece of software accessible to a wider audience, has important features Jira isn’t capable of, and in general assists in making workflows run more smoothly. For such a famous and reputable companies to actively decide and choose JExcel PRO as an enhancement to their Jira software only reaffirms how helpful and useful the program is.
Just because a company isn’t a large corporation doesn’t mean they can’t take advantage of JExcel PRO. If anything, following in the footsteps of companies you know are successful and selecting the same right tools could take a business to the next level and beyond.
Check out JExcel PRO for yourself and see all of its capabilities and why businesses are using the program here.

Before we start convincing you to choose Jira as your project management software there are some basic definitions and technicalities to go over. And when we say basic, we mean really basic. If someone were to ask you how to define project management, what would your response be? The words project management tends to float in our minds as a word we use as a definer not one that we actually define.It’s thrown around in a variety of industries and often times serves as a catchall phrase to describe a large ambiguous task. Project management though, means something very specific and actually defines the process of getting said task done.A broader definition of project management is “the application of processes, methods, skills, knowledge and experience to achieve specific project objectives according to the project acceptance criteria within agreed parameters.” The key words to take are “within agree parameters.” Parameters are predefined depending on what type of methodology you’re using. Project management isn’t just one type of process. There are different ways of project managing depending on the different tasks at hand.

Agile Project Management

To make things a little more complicated, there isn’t just one method of project management. When it comes to software development, agile is the bees’ knees. According to Atlassian, agile project management is “an iterative approach to managing software development projects that focuses on continuous releases and incorporating customer feedback with every iteration.” What on earth does that mean?

In layman’s terms agile project management is a methodology that ensures flexibility and adaptability during the development and maintenance of software. Essentially, large tasks are broken down into smaller ones to allow for problems to be fixed as you go instead completing an entire task only to come back to the problems. Spearheading problems as they occur is certainly beneficial for the purposes of more effective planning, forecasting, and management.

Just like there are different project management methods, there are different agile frameworks. Two frameworks, Scrum and Kanban, practice agile management by splitting tasks differently. Scrum uses fixed-length iterations of work, referred to as sprints. It requires a four step process or as it’s referred to in lingo, ceremonies. These ceremonies are planning, demo, stand-up, and retrospective phases. There’s an emphasis on the importance of backlogs and referring to them. The Scrum framework also involves having teams with specific roles like Scrum master, product owner, and the Scrum Team, who focus on their relevant tasks.

The second framework used in agile is Kanban. In the Kanban framework work is matched to the team’s capacity and emphasizes getting things done as quickly as possible. Like Scrum, there are four components of Kanban which are a list of work or stories, columns or lanes, working progress limits (WIP), and continuous releases. Significance is placed on the “To Do” column to ensure a focus on continuous releases.

Agile project management is by far the most commonly used methodology of project management when it comes to software. If you’re interested in practicing agile or using a software that utilizes agile, consider reaching out for expert help to get you started. MORESIMP specializes in Jira software which exercises agile project management.

More Project Management Methodologies

With all that’s been said about agile, we don’t want to leave you with limited information. There many more other types of project management methodology. For those concerned with cleaning out systems use Lean. Lean focuses on the elimination of waste within a manufacturing system in a systematic way.

Another type of project management is Waterfall. Imagine a cascading waterfall, the water can only go one direction and that’s down. Waterfall project management is a sequential and linear process. This means no phase begins until the prior phase is complete. Then there’s the Traditional methodology where running projects run in a sequential cycle of initiation, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing. This method is for projects where activities are completed in a sequence with rarely any changes.

When it comes to project management, you need to determine which methodology works best for you and your team. Different methodologies work well for certain industries or projects, while others not so much. We do know that agile is used by quite a few premier software like Jira.

Jira and Agile

Let’s get back to Agile and why it’s so commonplace and its importance. Agile project management provides rapid responses to changes in an organization. It ensures the quality of any given project since testing is done during a development cycle. Working in steps means being able to predict costs. Overall agile provides opportunities for adaptability and development and better planning.

If you’ve read our other blog posts, you’ve seen the words adaptability and development before when we were talking about Jira.  Although Jira is designed for software development, it has a Kanban workflow management system making it a versatile tool that already incorporates agile. Jira’s incorporation of agile is like killing two birds with one stone. In this case you can have your cake and eat it with a powerful software and a popular project management method.

Jira for Project Management

Jira is a software development tool created by Atlassian which is used for the purposes of bug and issue tracking and project management. It’s available as a cloud service or can be hosted on a company’s own server. Jira is offered in three different packages: Jira Core, Jira Software, and Jira Service Desk. Jira is used to manage projects, monitor details, measure performance, and keep a team organized.

The fact that Jira can be self-hosted is unique from other project management systems that only provide an online solution. The benefits of using Jira for project management lay in its customization where information is easy to access, logged in a central database and distributed through workflows or processes.

Why use Jira for project management? There are four distinct reasons to use Jira, with the first already mentioned, its customization. From changing its board to match a team’s specific needs to the software’s integration capabilities, Jira is a software you can change and build upon to make better. The availability of plugins, plus its compatibility with other Atlassian software also allows you to create an even better and more powerful system.

The second reason to use Jira for project management is transparency. Each task and who’s assigned to it is made clear so everyone knows who’s doing what and can be kept accountable. The third reason is about flexibility. Since Jira utilizes agile practices, changes can occur at any time and when they happen, a team member can create a new ticket to notify and assign a person the task. The fourth reason is Jira’s user experience. Jira’s high quality interface uses an easy to use drag and drop feature. The ability for users to comment also makes it simple to communicate with others while letting the rest of the team follow the thought process.

Customization, transparency, flexibility, and experience, there’s a reason why Jira is so popular.

Who can use Jira for project management?

Although originally development for software developers, Jira is adaptable and flexible for a large selection of different industries. Jira is used in professional services, healthcare, IT/technology, finance, retail, and more. It’s provided for free to open source projects that are non-academic, non-commercial, non-government, non-political, non-profit, and secular. If you’re not one of those categories, the full source code is available for academic and commercial customers.

Certain industries can benefit from using Jira as a project management software. Marketing companies that need to create or monitor campaigns and have various freelance writers, designers, engineers, et cetera to keep track off can easily communicate with one another through Jira. Companies that already use Jira for marketing purposes include household names like Twitter or Uber.

Within the compliance industry, trading and banking firms can used Jira to track accurate workflow and keep consistent records of documentation in case they are ever audited. Financial firms BlackRock and Capital are listed as using Jira as a part of their internal systems. Remote companies and teams in general would find Jira useful as a way to be organized and communication despite distance or time zones.

How does Jira work as a project management system?

Jira incorporated agile methodology right into its software and follows the agile framework’s four main principles. These four principles are:

1. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
2. Working software over comprehensive documentation
3. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
4. Responding to change over following a plan

As a powerful and extensive piece of software it’s absolutely necessary to be familiar with the core components of Jira: workflows, time and progress tracking, permissions, phases, components, and subtasks. Understanding the components of Jira is a task in it of itself and we suggest you check out MORESIMP’s article on Jira for additional information.

What really makes Jira the optimal project management system is making it work for you and your team. There is an abundance of add-ons and plugins available to customize your team’s Jira experience. Plugins for remote work, mobile development, product management, DevOps, and Support can assist in broadening your team’s capabilities.

MORESIMP is an Atlassian Solution Partner who specializes in developing add-ons, introducing, maintaining, and hosting Atlassian product. They offer a variety of products in the Atlassian Marketplace. There are a couple of favorite apps for you to check out like JExcel PRO. JExcel PRO gives Jira an Excel-like user interface and vocabulary for instant familiarity. It’s particularly useful for those who haven’t used Jira before or if demonstrating something to someone who hasn’t used it.

Another useful MORESIMP app is ImpEx. Impex is a tool for exporting and importing issues easily. This app is great for importing issues into Excel since Jira no longer offers this option on their own since the release of Jira version 7.2.X. It’s an alternative that’s way more business-friendly and allows stakeholders who don’t know how to use Jira to be more involved.

For those interested in enhancing agile capabilities, MORESIMP’s Plangle is a hierarchical issue editor that utilized agile planning features. Plangle offers Excel like editing capabilities, quick Jira issue creation, flexible estimation of stories and sub-tasks, and more. Answer questions like what would the ideal team structure be or how much a project will cost you.

Enable you non-admin users in Jira to create projects on their own without the risk of creating unnecessary configuration objects with MORESIMP’s Easy Project Creator (EPC). You’ll be able to see which user groups have the right to create easily in your admin panel. Create more opportunities with task delegation and accountability.

With the help of apps, plugins, or add-ons Jira can become the project management tool you and your team need and want.

The Flip Side

One size doesn’t fit all and this is certainly the case when it comes to project management. What’s most important is making the decision to select a system that works for you and your team. There are some considerations to make when making decisions even if it’s whether or not you should go with Jira.

There is no doubt that Jira is a powerful piece of software and with power comes complexity. Sometimes a company just doesn’t need everything Jira has to offer and needs something a little simpler.  If this is the case, online solutions like Asana are a viable option. If your team doesn’t already know how to use Jira, then it will take time to get them to the point of being able to. This downfall is quite a negative as you’d think though. It could instead be an opportunity to ensure your team learns and uses best practices.

Don’t forget that there’s only so much the software can do and it’s up to you and your team to have product management, project management, and software development methods and processes. In the end, Jira is a tool there to assist you and further optimize your operations.

Why Using Jira for Project Management is the Best Option

If there was a mantra for referring to Jira it would be “customization, transparency, flexibility, and experience” over and over again. This mantra also works well with the agile project management framework, which we’ve already explained as the preferred methodology in project managing. Jira’s already optimized for agile with Kanban and Scrum boards meaning a few different things.

Practicing agile means keeping customers involved. Cost can be lowered since problems are found along the way so you don’t need to change an entire project once supposedly completed. Breaking things down which mean easier evaluations so quicker changes can be made when needed.

There’s a reason Jira is one of the most used pieces of software and that a large variety of companies from varying industries use Jira. Its reputation and reliability has withstood the test of time. Jira has changed with the times in realizing the need for an effective project management software that also includes its original features. It’s a multi-tool.

The fact that your developers are probably already using or have used Jira before is a serious consideration in being able to move forward with the software. Speaking of which, using a software that other companies are using could result in better partnerships and collaborations. It makes things way easier to transfer or develop a process or framework to do things in together.

And if it’s the case of no one having used Jira, think of it as an investment not just for you, but the individual members of your team, broaden your team’s skill base.

Get started with Jira today and your team’s project management tool with the help of MORESIMP.