Integrating Jira with Microsoft Teams

1. Introduction

Jira is one of the best-known project management tools with a loyal customer base of nearly 1,46,971 companies across the globe actively using Atlassian’s JIRA product. 

Atlassian’s Jira Cloud is generally used by companies having an employee strength of 50-200 Employees and an annual revenue of $1M to $10M. Research indicates that nearly 51% of the JIRA customers are based out of United states, followed by United Kingdom (8%), Canada (5%), India (3%).

(Source: Enlfyt.com > Atlassian Jira >Country-wise Split)

Looking at Atlassian JIRA customers by industry, we find that Information Technology and Services (21%) and Computer Software (15%) are the largest segments followed by Financial Services (9%), Internet First Companies (8%), Marketing & Advertising (6%) followed by other industries.

Lastly, of all the customers that are using Atlassian JIRA, 39% are small enterprises (with less than 50 employees), 47% are medium-sized and 14% are large enterprises (with 1000+ employees) 

(Source: Enlfyt.com > Atlassian Jira >Industry-wise and Company-wise Split)

On the other end of the Spectrum, Microsoft’s Teams product is a business chat platform which saw a huge uptick in users during the pandemic of 2020, rising from 20 million users in November 2019 to 44 million in March 2020 and then 75 million users by April 2021. 

Microsoft Teams’ key advantage over competitors is its deep integration with Office 365 which is by far the industry leader for day-to-day business applications. It natively integrates with Word, PowerPoint and Microsoft 365 helping Teams be one stop business chat solutions. 

From a Country wise split point of view, 60% of Microsoft Teams customers are in the United States, 13% are in the United Kingdom and 6% are in Canada.

(Source: Enlfyt.com > Microsoft Teams >Country-wise Split)

Looking at Microsoft Teams customers by industry, we find that Information Technology and Services (14%), Computer Software (6%) and Higher Education (5%) are the largest segments.

(Source: Enlfyt.com > Microsoft Teams >Industry-wise Split)

Of all the customers that are using Microsoft Teams, 21% are small (<50 employees), 47% are medium-sized and 32% are large (>1000 employees).

(Source: Enlfyt.com > Microsoft Teams >Company-wise Split)

Thus, since these enterprises are operating both JIRA and Microsoft teams independently, it would be extremely efficient for them if they can integrate JIRA Cloud within Microsoft teams. This would help them ease out day to day operations and manage just one platform at a time.

2. Case Study – with and without Integration

Let us consider a case of an IT Services or Computer Software development company, since they are the major stakeholders using both JIRA cloud and Microsoft Teams but in Silos. Project Managers, Product Managers, Development Managers, Developers or Quality Assurance Analysts, Tech Analysts, Business Analysts actively use JIRA on a day to day basis.

Typically following steps occur:

1. Reporter of an Issue logins to the JIRA Cloud Portal > Finds the Project Dashboard > Relevant Epic > Story > Task or Subtask or Bug
2. The automatic notification is received to the assignee via email or in-app notification.
3. Assignee logs in Jira Cloud and visits the relevant project dashboard.
4. They check the Epics, Stories, Tasks, Sub-Tasks or Bugs that are raised by multiple stakeholders. 
5. Based on limited descriptions, screenshots, improper user mapping, unrealistic due dates, repeat issue mentions the concerned Issue Assignee is left with no option but to contact the Issue Reporter.
6. The discussion between Reporter and the Assignee happens over a Teams call or through chat where-in the conclusive decisions are made.
7. The Reporter must login the Jira Cloud Dashboard and must then revisit the JIRA issue and make the delta changes which were discussed on Teams call or chat.
8. After making the relevant changes/tweaks in the Jira Issue, the Reporter or Assignee is notified again through Teams chat or call or through an email.

A close observation for the above case scenario helps us identify that there is constant switching between JIRA and Microsoft teams. This can be complete avoided by integrating JIRA Cloud itself within Microsoft teams.

With the power of two tools in one view, conversations have instant clarity and context, creating better alignment and shorter delivery time. An Integrated JIRA Cloud Window within Microsoft Teams helps in the following way:

1. Users can convert a Teams chat message to a new Jira issue without logging into Jira Cloud.
2. User an even add a comment to an existing Jira issue in just 4 clicks without logging into Jira
3. One can visualize the Jira tickets in a Teams meeting in the side panel and sort by one of the following statuses
   • worked on
   • viewed
   • assigned
4. Search Jira or view recent Jira issues directly from a Teams chat, so that two parties who are discussing can stay focused on the context at-hand.
5. Include multiple Jira tickets in a message while discussing a scenario. These multiple Jira Tickets expand into digestible link cards.
6. Within, Microsoft Teams tab, reporters can view and edit existing issues and create new issues directly.

3. How to Integrate Microsoft Teams with Jira Cloud?

Integrating Microsoft teams with JIRA Cloud involves 6 simple steps:

Step 2 - After finding Jira Cloud from the Search option Click Add Option to add it Microsoft Teams. There might be an Option of Add to a team in newer versions. 

When you add Jira Cloud to a Team Channel or a Chat, you will be able to add a Jira filter within a tab to easily reference issues within your projects.

Adding a Jira tab to a Chat or Team Channel

• Click > + button in the top right.
• Select > Jira Cloud
• Select your Cloud site.
• Select your saved filter.
• Click > Save.

Adding Jira to a Meeting

• Click > Calendar in the left menu.
• Click > New Meeting
• Create a meeting title and add required attendees.
• Click > Send and you will see the meeting on your Calendar.
• Open the meeting and click > + in the top right.
• Select > Jira Cloud 
• Click > Add.
• Select your Jira Cloud site.
• Click > Save.

Once this is done, there will be a tab created with all activities performed on Jira Cloud. They include issues user must’ve worked on, recently viewed, or are assigned to.

• After following the prompts for permissions and logging in, User can see some notifications in the Chat tab using a bubble to help the user know that the bot has been installed.

• On Selecting any of the above options, users can see a card sent from Jira Bot confirming the installation like below.
• The first step is to sign in followed by setting personal notifications.
• Users can take a tour to know the offering which Microsoft Teams and Jira integration can provide.
  

The Personal Notifications can be setup following the steps below.

• Navigate to the Jira Cloud app within Teams.
• Type "notifications" to the bot
• Select which notifications you want to receive.
• Click > Save.

After the notifications are set up, there will be a chat message from Jira Cloud which confirms these choices.

Step 6 - Setting up Jira Tabs and Meeting by clicking on the chat tab through bot

To add the bot a Team Channel or a Chat and start seeing issues for a specific filter:

• Click on the "Get Started" button below.
• Choose to "Add to a team" or "Add to a chat".
• Select the team or chat you would like to add it to.
• Choose "Set up".

Your integration between Microsoft Teams and Jira is now complete.

4. Permissions during JIRA Cloud Microsoft Team integration

This integration with Microsoft Teams will have permission for the following actions:

• Receive messages and data that the user provides to it.
• Send the user messages and notifications.
• Access any profile information such as username, email address, company name and preferred language.
• Receive messages and data that team, or chat members provide to it in a channel or chat.
• Send messages and notifications in a channel or chat.
• Access information from this team or chat such as team or chat name, channel list and roster (including team or chat member's names and email addresses) - and use this to contact them.

5. Cards sent by Jira after integration

Once the integration is completed Jira Cloud send the card like the one displayed below:

6. A Shortcut Tip to Add Jira Issue or Comment on Jira Issue

Once this Jira setup is completed, even during the chat in a group or one to one chat, the content can be easily converted to an issue or a comment with just a right click.

Automatically on clicking the link, the chat window for Jira appears and user can select the project.

7. Integration FAQs

Yes, Attachments can be added directly through Microsoft Teams to the respective Projects, Tasks and Bugs. User can also edit or add to any fields such as:

• Assignee
• Labels,
• Priority
• Start date 
• Due date
  

and any other customized field defined in the form.

Is there any additional cost for integrating Jira cloud with Microsoft teams?

No, the integration is free as long as the user has the respective subscriptions

Yes, it is possible. The step-by-step guidance can be found here in this link.

Some of the popular products like Confluence, Trello, ChatOps, Bitbucket, Assist can all be integrated with Microsoft teams

This integration is built and maintained by Atlassian. If you need support, visit https://support.atlassian.com 

How to uninstall the Jira Cloud from Microsoft teams?

• Click on the Jira logo in the left panel as one of the bots contact
• Right-click the icon
• Select > Uninstall
• Confirm > Uninstall
  
  
  

Any additional references for the integration?
Microsoft Teams and Jira Integration Use Case for IT Service Management: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rpk5GhsawsA&t=3s
Microsoft Teams and Jira integration Use Case for IT Project Management: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUlVpbrxi7Y&t=1s
Atlassian Jira Cloud Market Share: https://enlyft.com/tech/products/atlassian-jira#:~:text=We%20have%20data%20on%20146%2C971,1M%2D10M%20dollars%20in%20revenue.
Microsoft Teams Market Share: https://enlyft.com/tech/products/microsoft-teams

8. In a Nutshell