Just Launched! — Enhanced Jira Integration Syncs Estimates and Work Done on Epics and User Stories
April 4, 2018

Just Launched! — Enhanced Jira Integration Syncs Estimates and Work Done on Epics and User Stories

by Jessica Groff

“Best integration ever!” and “You guys made my Aha! + Jira dreams come true.” Those are just a few of the messages you sent us when we recently launched our new integrations framework. We share these notes with the entire company — so thank you for sharing them with us.

A few of you also sent us notes like “Hey! I want to upgrade my Aha! + Jira integration, but I need time tracking to be supported first.” We heard you and we are excited to bring this important functionality to our 2.0 integration with Jira — we think you will agree it is better than ever.

You can now use our new integrations framework to sync metrics for tracking effort (in time or points) between Aha! and Jira — including estimates on master features, features, and requirements.

This enhancement makes it easy to capture your initial estimates in Aha! and automatically stay in sync with Jira as information is updated and effort is logged. This means you will always have a clear picture into the progress of work and how it impacts your roadmap.

You will need to turn on capacity planning in your Aha! product settings if you have not already done so. This allows you to set your estimation unit in time or story points, associate estimates by default with features or requirements, and set your remaining estimate preferences. Once enabled, Estimate and Log time fields will be visible in all features.

Here is how you can get started today:

Map estimates and work done between systems Set your integration mappings for master features, features, and requirements to include Estimate — original and remaining — and Work Done fields. Linking these fields for all three record types gives you the flexibility to set the estimate at the right level for each work item. The integration supports either time-based or story point estimates.

For each field mapping, you control the sync direction. Options include one way, one way (set once), and two way. For estimates, we recommend choosing two-way sync.

Enter estimates on master features, features, and requirements You decide the best way to capture estimates in Aha! for each work item. For example, you can manually enter a high-level estimate for each master feature or calculate the total estimate from the underlying features. The same applies to features — you can set estimates directly or calculate them from requirements. No matter how you capture your estimates, the integration keeps all of your records in sync with Jira.

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The bidirectional link between Aha! and Jira ensures that logged time and remaining estimates are automatically updated in each record as work is completed.

See real-time development progress in Aha! As the engineering team logs work done in Jira, you see the same information in the corresponding Aha! record. This gives you visibility into whether or not the team is on pace to meet the target release date. It also allows you to compare estimates with actuals to better understand the effort required for similar work in the future.

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As work is completed in Jira, the planning bar at the top of each release in Aha! automatically updates to show progress made in green versus the total effort required to complete the release.

If you have been waiting for our 2.0 integration with Jira to support this functionality before upgrading, now is the perfect time to make the transition. With bidirectional updates and support for master features, you have even more control over the way Estimate and Work Done fields are synced between the two systems.

Already using the new Jira integration? Please note that, after mapping your Estimate and Work Done fields, you will need to click the Update records button in your integration settings to pull in the current data from Jira. You need to be a product owner in Aha! to modify your integration settings.

Syncing your estimates and work done metrics with actuals in Jira gives you real-time visibility into development progress — without ever having to leave Aha!

Try out the enhanced integration today and let us know what you think. The team is looking forward to receiving more of your messages.

Sign up for a free Aha! trial — be happy The enhanced Jira integration is available to all Aha! customers. If you are not already an Aha! customer, you may want to sign up for a free 30-day trial of Aha! now to see why more than 150,000 users trust Aha! to set product strategy, create visual roadmaps, and prioritize releases and features.

Aha! is a trademark of Aha! Labs Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

Jessica Groff

Jessica Groff

Jessica was a product marketing manager at Aha! — the world’s #1 product development software.

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