Track and Manage IT Projects in Jira

The IT Planning and Communication Office uses Jira to coordinate and manage IT projects in partnership with departments and teams across the university. The goal is to improve teamwork, transparency, and efficiency across all phases of project management. When Jira is used in a structured and consistent way, the Department of Information Technology can better track progress, enhance communication, and keep projects aligned from initiation through completion.

Section Overview:

1 Jira Project Structure and Workflows
2 Project Stakeholder Responsibilities and Expectations
3 Task Management and Communication
4 Jira How-To Guides

Jira Project Structure and Workflows

Jira is a project management tool that helps us break down work into structured, manageable components. Below is an overview of how we organize projects within Jira:

Task Issue Numbers

Every Epic, Story, Task, and Subtask will have a unique issue number. This helps you reference tasks easily.

Example: A project/epic assigned as CIOIT-552 → broken into Stories (CIOIT-553) → further broken into Subtasks (CIOIT-554).

Project Stakeholder Responsibilities and Expectations

phases, deliverables, and user stories. As part of this process, the PM will work with relevant stakeholders to build out the full project plan in Jira prior to the official kickoff. This ensures that all major tasks and deliverables are clearly defined and accounted for.

User stories will typically be assigned to project or team leaders. During planning meetings, the PM will also create related sub-tasks under each story, in collaboration with project lead(s).

Project/team leaders are responsible for overseeing the completion of the project deliverables, and are expected to:

Review and validate that all subtasks accurately represent the work required to complete their deliverables.
Notify the PM of any missing, incorrect, or additional subtasks that need to be created or updated.
Maintain communication with the PM throughout the project to ensure task accuracy and alignment.
Complete any tasks or subtasks to which they are assigned.

Project Participants and Task Assignees are typically assigned tasks or subtasks within the project to complete as part of a larger deliverable or story. These assignments are based on the project scope and defined during the planning phase.

These project members are expected to:

Review assigned tasks and understand the scope, requirements, and deadlines.
Follow the task management process outlined in the section below to ensure consistent tracking and completion.
Communicate any blockers, dependencies, or scope questions to the Project/Team Lead and/or the PM promptly.
Update task status and log time worked in Jira (where applicable) to ensure project visibility and reporting accuracy.

Task Management and Communication

To make task updates easier and reduce administrative work, the IT Planning and Communication Office has set up a simplified, automation-friendly workflow in Jira. This allows project participants to focus on doing the work, rather than spending time filling out complex forms.

Most fields in the task workflow are automatically updated by the system. In most cases, the only fields that require manual input are Planned Start Date and Planned End Date. Having these dates in place is important for tracking progress and reporting accurately.

Field Name	Field Description

Field Name	Field Description
Assignee	The individual responsible for completing the task or subtask.
Task Description	A detailed explanation for the work required.
Planned Start Date	The target date to begin the task.
Planned End Date	The expected completion date for the task.
Actual Start Date	Automatically populated when the task status is changed to In Progress.
Actual Completion Date	Automatically populated when the tasks status is changed to Done.
Time Tracking	Displays all time logged against the task and its subtasks. This is updated via the time logging pop-up screen.