Synchronization between PLANTA project and Jira

General

Information

• This topic describes exchange of data between PLANTA project and Jira when using the hybrid planning method. For a description of the underlying operation principle, please click here.

Synchronization from PLANTA project to Jira

Information

• The synchronization of planned data from PLANTA project (tasks) to PLANTA pulse is initially done via the Synchronize button in the Attributes/parameters area of the Project Core Data module.
• Changes can be synchronized via the

  

   button in the Schedule module or via the Synchronize button in the Task module.

A project must meet the following requirements in order for it to be synchronizable with Jira:

• The project is
  • active (Status = active)
  • unlocked (Locked = No)
  • not synchronized with another external system
  • The functional ID of the project must comply with the Jira ID rules, i.e. the functional ID of the project must start with a letter, followed by one or more letters or numbers. A maximum of 10 characters is permitted. Special characters are not permitted.
  • The project name must not have been allocated in Jira yet.

Synchronization procedure

• Select the "Jira" entry in the External system field in the Project Core Data module of the required project.
• Click on the Synchronize button next to the External system field in order to open the Synchronizable Tasks dialog module. 
  • Activate the Relevant for external system checkbox for tasks which are to be synchronized.
    • As a result, only tasks which have not yet been synchronized will be displayed.
  • Click on Synchronize.

• As soon as the synchronization is completed, a message is displayed which informs you on whether the synchronization was completed successfully or whether problems occurred.
  • If errors were reported after completion of the synchronization, all transactions which have not run through will be displayed in the Open Configurations module (PLANTA link). By opening the log file on the required transaction, you can retrace closely which errors have occurred.

Implications in Jira 

• If the synchronization has been completed successfully,
  • the PLANTA project project is created as a project in Jira.
    • the name of the project in Jira corresponds to the name of the project in PLANTA project.
    • the key of the project in Jira corresponds to the functional ID of the project in PLANTA project.
  • the PLANTA project task is created as an issue of type = epic in Jira.
    • the functional task ID and the name of the task from PLANTA project become the epic-name in Jira. If the task to be synchronized has no functional ID in PLANTA, the technical task ID will be used.
  • the project manager of the project from PLANTA project becomes the assignee of the epic in Jira.
    • Since in Jira only one person can be assignee of an epic at a time, no task-resource assignments from PLANTA project can be synchronized with Jira.

• • If errors were reported after completion of the synchronization, all transactions which have not run through will be displayed in the Open Configurations module (PLANTA link). By opening the log file on the required transaction, you can retrace closely which errors have occurred.

Implications in PLANTA project

• For tasks that are already synchronized with Jira, the

  

  button is displayed in the schedule next to the task name, which can be used to open the corresponding issue in Jira.

Restrictions

• Only projects can be synchronized with Jira. Ideas, proposals, and programs cannot be synchronized.
• As soon as at least one task has been synchronized with Jira, the External system parameter can no longer be empty or be changed to another external system. The user is informed by a respective message.
• (Master) milestones and summary tasks can no longer be synchronized with Jira. If the user tries to activate the Relevant for Jira field for a (master) milestone or for a summary task, or if he/she tries to convert a task synchronized with Jira into a (master) milestone, a respective message is displayed.
• For the task which is to be exported to Jira, the Jira checkbox can no longer be deactivated. The user is informed by a respective message.
• Projects/tasks which are synchronized with Jira (and exist in Jira) cannot be deleted in PLANTA project. The user is informed by a respective message.
  • Just like resynchronized load records, resource assignments which are resynchronized from Jira, i.e. those that stem from Jira or have already received loads from Jira, cannot be deleted either.

Re-Synchronization from Jira to PLANTA project

Information

• The resynchronization from Jira to PLANTA project will be carried out automatically as soon as the data has been saved in Jira via so called webhooks.

Caution

• Data which has been recorded in Jira and has already been resynchronized with PLANTA project must not be deleted, since information on data deleted in Jira is not transmitted to PLANTA project.

Which data will be resynchronized?

• If the assignee of an epic is changed in Jira, the respective person is assigned to the respective task in PLANTA as a new resource assignment.
• If hours are recorded on the epic in Jira by a person who is assigned to the respective task in PLANTA project as a resource, loads are created for this resource in PLANTA project.
• If hours are recorded on the epic in Jira by a person who is not yet assigned to the respective task in PLANTA project as a resource,
  • a resource assignment is created on the task in PLANTA project first and
    • then the loads recorded in Jira are assigned to it.

Details

• In Jira it is not only possible to record hours worked on epics which directly correspond to the tasks in PLANTA project, but also on the elements, stories, which are directly subordinate to the epics. In resynchronization, hours from stories are assigned correctly to the respective task in PLANTA project.
• If an hours worked record created in Jira contains a comment, it will be transmitted to PLANTA project as well.
  • In PLANTA, the comment field has 80 characters. If a longer comment is written in Jira, it will be shortened to the length applicable in PLANTA project upon transmission.
• In order to see the hours transmitted from Jira, open the With loads module variant in the schedule. If this module variant has already been opened, the display must be refreshed after transmission.
  • In order for the loads transmitted from Jira to be considered in effort data on the resource assignments and on tasks, the schedule must be recalculated.

Technical information

• In resynchronization, the data from Jira is loaded in pool tables first. In the pool tables, the following is checked:
  • the affiliation of data, i.e. to which task the hours of which epic or story belong
  • the admissibility of data collection in PLANTA project, like e.g. key date, work reporting into the future, etc.
    
    • Only the data for which the check result is positive will be loaded in PLANTA project tables and then be displayed in the respective modules as well. If particular expected data from Jira is not received in PLANTA project, missing data can be checked in the pool tables, or the information on the respective transactions can be retrieved in the Requests module.