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The way you go about project management in your organization can literally make or break the entire company.
What’s the point of spending countless hours and resources on an important project just to have it killed because you didn’t properly manage your team’s performance?
This is something that a ton of executives face at least once in their career, and the best way to prevent it is by using project management software such as Jira.
By tracking project-related metrics and activities with Jira in a separate dashboard, you can also save a hefty amount of time by having a clear overview of your projects at any time.
In this report, we’ll show you how to create a dashboard in Jira by following a few simple steps.
Jira dashboards typically showcase data through various gadgets and can be very helpful in monitoring how a project or task is progressing (all on one page).
You can forward the dashboards to team members to let them know how the projects are developing and remind them to get started on other pending tasks.
Some companies even leverage them to create competitor analysis dashboards.
But, how to create a dashboard in Jira?
For starters, you’ll have to login into your account. And, remember that only the Jira Admin has permission to customize the dashboards and pick out the included elements.
Without further ado, let’s go over the exact steps you can follow to set up and maintain a Jira dashboard.
Our first step will be to click on the ‘Dashboards’ icon in the main menu and press ‘Create Dashboard’.
In the pop-up window, you can enter all the relevant dashboard details.
For instance, choose a name for the dashboard (‘Name’ field) and include a short description (‘Description’ field).
If you press the drop-down button beneath ‘Access’, you can choose one of the requirement-based options. This is the place where you can grant access to different employees in your company.
Lastly, click ‘Save’ to open up a blank Jira dashboard.
Without a doubt, gadgets are Jira’s most valuable dashboard tools. This is because they are the primary data indicators.
To add gadgets, simply click the ‘Add Gadget’ tab in the right corner of the blank dashboard screen.
You will see a window that contains dozens of different gadgets that can be added to the dashboard – simply choose the ones that you deem fit.
Each gadget comes with an ‘Add Gadget’ button on the right side of its name.
Once you finish cherry-picking the gadgets, just press ‘Close’ to return to the main window.
No matter which gadget you add, each one has its own unique settings that can be altered and customized.
By customizing the gadgets, you can choose the way in which they display data and information.
To start editing, click the ellipsis on the right side of the gadget.
As you can see in the image, you have the option to change the gadget’s color, rename it, delete it, and more.
To change the gadget settings, click the ‘Configure’ option.
Don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button after you’re done making changes.
You can change your Jira dashboard’s layout by pressing ‘Change Layout’ in the right corner of the main dashboard menu.
There are five layout options that you can choose from.
Once you do, the dashboard will automatically change in accordance with the layout.
After you’re finished creating your Jira competitor analysis dashboard, you will probably want to share it with your team.
To do this, click the ellipsis on the right side of the dashboard and press ‘Edit and Share’.
Choose which employees you want to receive the dashboard by clicking the drop-down arrow beneath ‘Access’. Here, you’ll see a full list of project members, teams, and your overall organization.
That’s it!
Related: Project Management Report: 6 Best Practices for Writing One
While Jira dashboards do provide users with some great utility, they come with certain limitations that simply can’t be overlooked.
For starters, the integration and migration process is far too complex.
Connecting data from a certain source can even take hours of your time, and many users have pointed this out as a major drawback.
Next, we have file upload issues.
Each time you want to upload a file or image that is larger than 10MB, something triggers an avalanche of issues in Jira.
This is pretty surprising considering that most of their advanced features are rock-solid.
Lastly, we have the not-so-simple user interface.
While some more experienced users might have an easier time getting to know the ropes, a beginner will face huge issues navigating through Jira.
Considering all of this, Jira probably isn’t the ideal solution for your project management software.
Databox provides a much more streamlined experience in all of the above-mentioned things.
In terms of integrations, we have over 70 data sources that you can connect with literally a few clicks of a button. Just choose which one(s) you want, and the data will automatically populate.
Next, you can drag and drop all of the metrics that are the most relevant to your data dashboard and organize them by simply moving the datablocks around.
No hassle, no stress.
Our interface is designed to provide the best possible user experience, and all of the sections are concisely organized. You won’t have to waste any time finding the options you need.
Project management is all about juggling: resources, expectations, people, data, and much more. And as a project manager, you not only have to know where your projects are at any given moment, but you also have to be aware of where they’re going and where they need to be in the future. To do that using a project management system, you need an actionable dashboard that allows you to monitor metrics like:
Now you can benefit from the experience of our project managers, who have put together great plug-and-play Databox templates showing the most important KPIs for tracking your team’s performance. It’s simple to implement and start using as a standalone dashboard or in management reports, and best of all, it’s free!
You can easily set it up in just a few clicks – no coding required.
To set up the dashboard, follow these 3 simple steps:
Step 1: Get the template
Step 2: Connect your project management tool with Databox.
Step 3: Watch your dashboard populate in seconds.
Now that you know how to create dashboard in Jira, we want to show you a way to streamline the process.
One of the best methods is by using Databox.
Let’s go over the exact process of building a Jira dashboard in Databox and show you one of the most popular free templates among our users.
This is pretty straightforward.
Just open up ‘Data Manager’ and click ‘New Connection’. Type in Jira in the search bar and press ‘Connect’.
You’ll see an Authorization window appear. Here, you will have to type in your Jira login information and authorize Databox.
Remember, to connect your Jira account, you need to have ‘Global’ Jira permission. Check out this page on how to get it.
When you connect a Jira data source, you will be able to upload 24 months’ worth of data.
Open ‘Databoards’ > ‘Public Templates’.
In the drop-down list of data sources, choose Jira.
Next, click ‘Use Template’ to pull one into your account and populate your dashboard with Jira data.
Once you connect your Jira account with Databox, you should click on the ‘Metric Library’ tab on the left side of the Dashboard Designer.
There is a list of pre-built Jira datablocks included that you can drag and drop onto your dashboard.
Some of the most popular Jira metrics included are:
Finally, visualize the metrics!
This step is just as simple as the previous ones.
Simply click on the ‘Visualization Types’ icon that’s located under the ‘Metric Library’ icon.
Here, you’ll find a list of all the available Databox visualizations. Select the ones you want to include and just drag and drop them onto the dashboard.
To stay on top of your most important custom Jira metrics and monitor your team’s efforts and efficiency, you can use this free Jira Software Template.
With this template, you can track the development of all of your projects and measure how productive your team is.
Once you connect your Jira account, you’ll be able to learn:
If you’ve noticed that some of the metrics you want to track are missing on this dashboard, don’t worry!
This template is just an example, you can customize it in any way you want. You can connect additional data sources, include/exclude the metrics, and change the visualizations to something that better suits your style.
Using project management tools like Jira is one of the best ways to measure the performance and progress of your key projects.
Not only does it help you handle current projects, but you will have a much easier time strategizing future ones as well.
While Jira does offer some cutting-edge tools and options for effective project management, there are certain limitations that can make the process much more complicated than it has to be.
Assuming that you don’t have hours (and nerves) to waste, you’ll be much better off using advanced software like Databox.
Databox automates project management reporting by simplifying the process to the bare bones.
You can connect a data source, cherry-pick the relevant metrics, and then make them come to life with visually engaging charts and graphs.
No matter which type of project you’re working on, connecting all the puzzle pieces together will become much easier once you have the data in one place.
While this process only takes a couple of minutes, we know that even that can be a lot of time for busy executives.
That’s why we also have a team in place to build the dashboard for you. Simply contact our support and explain which metrics you want to be included.
Want to experience some of our dashboard magic? Sign up for a free trial and automate your project management reporting today!
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At Databox, we’re obsessed with helping companies more easily monitor, analyze, and report their results. Whether it’s the resources we put into building and maintaining integrations with 100+ popular marketing tools, enabling customizability of charts, dashboards, and reports, or building functionality to make analysis, benchmarking, and forecasting easier, we’re constantly trying to find ways to help our customers save time and deliver better results.
Filip Stojanovic is a content writer who studies Business and Political Sciences. Also, I am a huge tennis enthusiast. Although my dream is to win a Grand Slam, working as a content writer is also interesting.
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