JIRA Tutorial: What is, How to use Jira Testing

Software Tool
By Thomas Hamilton Updated July 15, 2022

What is JIRA?
JIRA is a tool developed by Australian
Company Atlassian. This software is used for
bug tracking, issue tracking, and project
management. The JIRA full form is actually
inherited from the Japanese word “Gojira”
which means “Godzilla”. The basic use of this
tool is to track issue and bugs related to your
software and Mobile apps.

It is also used for project management. The JIRA dashboard consists of many useful
functions and features which make handling of issues easy. Some of the key features are
listed below. Now in these Jira tutorials, let’s learn JIRA Defect and Project tracking software
with this Training Course.

In this Jira tutorial for beginners, you will learn Jira basics-

What is JIRA?
What is JIRA used for?
How to Use JIRA?
JIRA Scheme
JIRA Issues and Issue types
What is JIRA Issue?
JIRA Issue Types
JIRA Components
JIRA Screen
JIRA Issue Attributes
Issue Security Schemes
System Administration
H t t i i JIRA
 How to create an issue in JIRA
Sub-Task
WorkFlows
Plug-ins in JIRA
JIRA Agile
Creating issue in Agile
How to create an Epic in Agile
Use of Clone and Link in JIRA
Reports in JIRA
Kanban Board and Managing issues
JIRA Scrum Vs JIRA Kanban

What is JIRA used for?

Jira software can be used for the following purposes:

Requirements and Test case management

In Agile Methodology
Project Management
Software Development
Product Management
Task Management
Bug Tracking

How to Use JIRA?

Here is a step by step process on how to use Jira software:

Step 1) Open Jira software and navigate to the Jira Home icon
Step 2) Select Create project option
Step 3) Choose a template from the library
Step 4) Set up the columns as per your need from Board settings
Step 5) Create an issue
Step 6) Invite your Team members and start working

JIRA Scheme
Inside JIRA scheme, everything can be configured, and it consists of

Workflows

Issue Types

Custom Fields

Screens

Field Configuration

Notification

Permissions

JIRA Issues and Issue types

This section in this Jira tool tutorial will guide you through JIRA Software Issue and its types.

Best Staffing Agency Software OPEN

What is JIRA Issue?

JIRA issue would track bug or issue that underlies the project. Once you have imported
project then you can create issues.

Under Issues, you will find other useful features like

Issue Types
Workflow’s
Screens
Fields
Issue Attributes

Now in this Jira Agile tutorial, let us see JIRA Issue in detail

Jira Issue Types

Issue Type displays all types of items that can be created and tracked via Jira testing tool.
JIRA Issues are classified under various forms like new feature, sub-task, bug, etc. as shown
in the screen shot.
There are two types of Issue types schemes in Jira project management tool, one is

Default Issue Type Scheme: In default issue type scheme all newly created issues will be
added automatically to this scheme

Agile Scrum Issue Type Scheme: Issues and project associated with Agile Scrum will use
this scheme

Apart from these two issue type schemes, you can also add schemes manually as per
requirement, for example we have created IT & Support scheme, for these we will drag and
drop the issue types from the Available Issue type to Issue type for current scheme as shown
in the screen shot below

JIRA C t
JIRA Components

Jira Components are sub-sections of a project; they are used to group issues within a project
into smaller parts. Components add some structures to the projects, breaking it up into
features, teams, modules, subprojects and more. Using components you can generate
reports, collect statistics, and display it on dashboards and so on.

To add new components, as shown in the above screen you can add name, description,
component lead and default assignee.

JIRA Screen
When issue is created in JIRA, it will be arranged and represented into different fields, this
display of field in JIRA is known as a screen. This field can be transitioned and edited
through workflow. For each issue, you can assign the screen type as shown in the screen-
shot. To add or associate an issue operation with a screen you have to go in main menu and
click on Issues then click on Screen Schemes and then click on “Associate an issue operation
with a screen” and add the screen according to the requirement. Now in this Jira tutorials,
we will learn about Jira Issue Attributes.
Jira Issue Attributes
Issue Attributes encompasses

Statuses
Resolutions
Priorities

Statuses: Different statuses are used to indicate the progress of a project like To do,
InProgress, Open, Closed, ReOpened, and Resolved. Likewise, you have resolutions and
priorities, in resolution it again tells about the progress of issue like Fixed, Won’t fix,
Duplicate, Incomplete, Cannot reproduce, Done also you can set the priorities of the issue
whether an issue is critical, major, minor, blocker and Trivial.

Issue Security Schemes

This function in JIRA allows you to control who can view the issues. It consists of a number of
security levels which can have users or groups assigned to them. You can specify the level of
security for the issues while creating or editing an issue.
Similarly, there is a Default Permission Scheme any new project that are created will be
assigned to this scheme. Permission Schemes allow you to create a set of permissions and
apply this set of permission to any project.

System Administration
Some of the useful features that JIRA admin provides to users are:

Audit Log

Under Audit Log, you can view all the details about the issue created, and the changes
made in the issues.

Issue Linking

This will show whether your issues link with any other issue that is already present or
created in the project also you can de-activate Issue linking from the panel itself

Mail in JIRA

Using Mail system in admin you can mail issues to an account on a POP or IMAP mail
server or messages written to the file system generated by an external mail service.

Events

An event describes the status, the default template and the notification scheme and
workflow transition post function associations for the event. The events are classified in
two a System event (JIRA defined events) and Custom event (User defined events).

Watch list

JIRA allows you to watch a particular issue, which tells you about the notifications of
any updates relating to that issue. To watch an issue, click on the word “watch” in the
issue window, and if you want to see who is watching your issues, you have to click on
the number in brackets.

Issue Collectors

In the form of JIRA issues, an issue collector allows you to gather feedback on any
website. In administration if you click on Issue collectors an option will open asking Add
Issue Collector. Once you have configured the look and feel of an Issue Collector, embed
the generated JavaScript in any website for feedback.
 Development Tools

You can also connect your Software development tools to JIRA tool using this admin
function. You have to enter the URL of the application to connect with JIRA.

How to create an issue in JIRA

Here is step by step process to create, edit, and Summary an issue in JIRA

Step 1) Open Jira software and login with your ID and password

JIRA Dashboard will open when you enter your user ID and password. Under free JIRA
dashboard you will find option Project, when you click on it, it will open a window that list
out options like Simple Issue Tracking, Project Management, Agile Kanban, Jira Classic and
so on as shown in screen shot below.

Step 2) Provide issue details

When you click on option Simple Issue Tracking, another window will open, where you can
mention all the details about the issue and also assign the issue to the responsible person.
Step 3) Provide detailed information to create an issue

When you click on “Submit” button, a window will open where you can perform a list of work
like creating issues, assigning issues, check the status of issues like- resolved, In-Progress or
closed and so on.
Once the issue is created a pop-up will appear on your screen saying your issue is created
successfully as shown in the screen shot below

Step 4) Open the Issues menu to search and perform multiple functions on issues

Now if you want to edit an issue or you want to export the issue to XML or Word document,
then you can hover your mouse on main panel and click on Issues. Under Issues options
click on search for issues that will open a window from where you can locate your issues and
perform multiple functions.
When you select the “search for Issues” under Issues, a window will appear as shown in the
screen shot

1. Search for issues option will bring you to a window where you can see the issues
created by you like here we have issues ST1 and ST2
2. Here in the screen shot you can see the issue “Bug detected while User Acceptance
Testing” and all the details related to it. From here, you can perform multiple tasks like
you can stop the progress on issues, edit the issues, comment on the issues, assigning
 you can stop the progress on issues, edit the issues, comment on the issues, assigning
issues and so on

3. Even you can export issue details to a XML or Word document.

4. Also, you can view activity going on the issue, reviews on the issue, work log, history of
the issue and so on.
5. Under the time tracking option, you can even see the estimation time to resolve the
issues

In the same window, you can set a filter for the issue and save them under Favorite Filters, so
when you want to search or view a particular issue you can locate it using the filter.

Step 5) Click on the Summary option to view the details about issues

To view the summary of the issue, you can click on options summary, this will open a
window which will show all the details of your project and progress on this chart. On the
right-hand side of the summary window, there is an Activity Stream which gives the details
about the issues and comments made by the assignee on the issue.

Sub-Task
Subtask issues are useful for splitting up a parent issue into a number of smaller tasks that
can be assigned and tracked separately. It addresses issues more comprehensively and
segregates the task into smaller chunks of task to do.
segregates the task into smaller chunks of task to do.

How to create Sub-Task

Sub-Task can be created in two ways

Create sub-task under parent issue

Creating an issue into a sub-task

To create sub-task in JIRA, you have to select an issue in which you want to assign the sub-
task. Under the issue window, click on Assign more option, and then click on create sub-task
as shown in the screenshot below. You can also select convert to sub-task under same tab to
convert the parent issue into a sub-task.

Once you click on Create Sub-Task, a window will pop up to add sub-task issue. Fill up the
details about the sub-task and click on Create as shown in below screen-shot,

and this will create sub-task for the parent issue.

It will create a sub-task under parent issues, and details will appear about when to complete
the task on the issue type page as shown in the screenshot below. If you would like to add
more sub-task, you can click on the plus (+) sign on the corner of the sub-task panel.
Likewise, if you want to note down the time spent on the present task, click on (+) plus sign
in the corner of the time tracking and put down the details in the log sheet.

Some important points to remember while creating Sub-Task

 You can have as many sub-task as needed under an Issue
You cannot have a sub-task for a sub-task
Once a sub-task is created under a parent, parent cannot be converted into a sub-task
A sub-task can however be converted into a parent issue
You can work on your sub-task without having navigating away from the parent issue

WorkFlows
A JIRA workflow is a set of statuses and transitions that an issue goes through during its
lifecycle. JIRA workflow encompasses five main stages once the issue is created.

Open Issue
Resolved Issue
InProgress Issue
ReOpened Issue
Close Issue

While workflow in JIRA comprises of Statuses, assignee, resolution, conditions, validators,

post-function’s and properties

 Statuses: It represents the positions of the issues within a workflow

Transitions: Transitions are the bridges between statuses, the way a particular issue
moves from one status to another
Assignee: The assignee dictates the responsible party for any given issue and
determines how the task would be executed
Resolution: It explains why an issue transitions from an open status to a closed one
Conditions: Conditions control who can perform a transition
Validators: It can ensure that the transition can happen given the state of the issue
Properties: JIRA recognizes some properties on transitions

You can assign the status of the issue from the window itself, when you click on the check
box for IN Progress status as shown in screen shot below, it will reflect the status in the issue
panel highlighted in yellow.

For the issue that we have created, JIRA will present a workflow which maps the progress of
the project. As shown in screenshot whatever status that we have set in the Issue panel it will
be reflected in Workflow chart, here we have set the issue status in “In Progress” and same
status is updated in the workflow, highlighted in yellow. Workflow can give a quick overview
of the work under process.
Plug-ins in JIRA
There are plug-ins available for JIRA to work more effectively, some of these plugins are
Zendesk, Salesforce, GitHub, Gitbucket and so on. Some of them enables support team to
report issues directly into JIRA, creates unlimited private repositories with full featured issue
and test management support, etc.

JIRA Agile
Agile or Scrum method is generally used by development teams who follows a roadmap of
planned features for upcoming versions of their product. Agile follows the same roadmaps
to track their issues as in other JIRA methods To do -> In Progress -> Done , as shown in the
screen shot below, we have one issue in To do and the second issue in In Progress. Once the
issue in In Progress will be resolved, it will move to Done status and in the same way the
issue in To do will move to the next stage In Progress.

Creating issue in Agile

To create agile issue, go to main menu under Agile tab, click on “Getting Started”, when you
click on it, it will ask to create new board for the issues for Scrum or Kanban. You can choose
your option as per your requirement, here we have selected Scrum method.

How to create an Epic in Agile

In JIRA Agile, an epic is simply an issue type. The epic captures a large body of work. It is a
large user story which can be broken down into a number of small stories. To complete an
epic, it may take several sprints. You can either create a new epic in agile or either use the
issue you have created in normal JIRA board. Likewise, you can also create a story for agile
scrum.

Plan Mode in Agile:

Plan mode displays all the user stories created for the project. You can use the left-hand side
menu to decide the basis on which the issues need to be displayed. While on the right-hand
side menu clicking on the issue, you can create subtasks, logwork, etc.

Work Mode in Agile

It will display the active sprint information. All the issues or users stories will be displayed
into three categories as shown in the screen shot below To do, In Progress and Done to show
the progress of the project or issues.

Use of Clone and Link in JIRA

In JIRA, you can also clone the issue, one advantage of cloning an issue is that the different
team can work separately on the issue and resolve the issue quickly.
There is another useful function is JIRA Link, Issue linking allows you to create an association
between two existing issues on either the same or different JIRA servers. As shown in the
screen shot, we have linked the current issue “ST-6 Drop down menu is not working” with
another issue ” ST-4 GUI is not responsive- retest GUI functions”.

Like here we have set sprint for 1 day and it will run sprint for that specific time period as
shown in the screenshot below. If you are working with scrum, and want to prioritize the
issue or rank the issue then you just have to simply drag and drop the issue into the backlog.

Apart from this there are multiple task that you can do, for instance if you click on the right
side corner of the window a list of function will pop up which you can use it as per your need.
Reports in JIRA
To track the progress in Agile, a Burndown Chart shows the actual and estimated amount of
work to be done in the sprint. A typical burndown chart will look somewhat like this, where
the red line indicates the actual task remaining while the blue line indicates ideal task
remaining during the scrum cycle.

Apart from Burn down chart there are other options available in JIRA automation like Sprint
Report, Epic Report, Version Report, Velocity Chart, Control Chart, Cumulative flow diagram.
You can also use different chart option to represent the progress of your project.
Like here in the screen shot above, we have selected a pie chart for issue priorities. It will
generate a Pie Chart representing the priorities and severity of the issues in percentage for
the whole project as shown below. You can view the pie chart from different perspectives
like Assignee, Components, Issue Type, Priority, Resolution, and Status and so on.
You can also configure how you want to see the scrum board. Scrum board gives various
options through which you can make changes into your board appearance. Various features
you can configure using scrum are Columns, Swimlanes, Quick Filters, Card colors and so on.
Here we have selected column management, and selected the options Issue count, and it
will show the total number of issue in progress, to do or done. In column management, we
can add an additional column as per our requirement likewise there are different features
that you can configure in board.

Filters

You can also set filters other than default filters to filter the issues. The filters that you can
use are date, component, priority, resolution and so on.

Kanban Board and Managing issues

Like Agile Scrum board, we can also create a Kanban Board, here we have created a project
name Cloud Testing. Kanban board is useful for the team that managing and constraining
their work in progress. Kanban boards are visible in Work mode but not in Plan mode.

Here we have created an issue ” Bug detected while load testing” and “Check issues related
to cloud server” in Kanban Board as shown in the screenshot below, it also shows their
status as well highlighted in red.
Kanban is considered as the best methodology for bug fixing and maintenance release,
where incoming task is prioritized and then worked accordingly. There are few measures
which can make Kanban more efficient.

1. Visualize your workflow

2. Limit the work in progress
3. Work on Issues
4. Measure the cycle time

JIRA Scrum vs. JIRA Kanban

Scrum Kanban

Reports
Reports

Burndown Chart: The chart shows all the Control Chart: It allows you to measure
changes and scope changed while the sprint is the cycle time for issues, showing the
still on, other charts include Sprint Report, mean time and actual time taken to
Velocity Chart, Epic Report, etc. complete issues

Agile Board

Constraints

It allows the team to see the progress of

Team can decide whether to increase or
sprints. This is the work mode, where you can
decrease the number of issues that
see the board itself broken down into different
should be displayed in each status.
statuses.
Scrum Kanban

Workflow

Backlog

You can map columns to the statuses of

This is where team will plan sprints and your workflow. Simply by adding or
estimate stories that will go into each sprint removing columns the workflow can be
changed when required.

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