Assignee
The person responsible for progressing and updating the item. The assignee is usually the person completing the work or managing the next action.
Board health
How current, accurate and complete a board is. A healthy board has up-to-date statuses, no overdue items and all required fields completed. Managers are responsible for keeping their board healthy.
Boards
Boards are the main workspaces in Jira. They group related work together and help teams organise tasks by topic, project area or workstream. The boards align with SharePoint folders.
Checklist
A simple list of actions or items that need to be completed within a task or sub-task. A checklist can be used to keep track of smaller requirements without creating additional sub-tasks.
Comment
A note added to a task or sub-task to record progress, decisions or correspondence. Comments are timestamped and visible to everyone with access to the board. Use the comment field to log approvals and outcomes, particularly for external reviews.
Components
The field that links an item to its board. Each board is set up to show a specific component, so selecting the correct component is what makes an Epic or task appear on the right board. Choose from the existing component values rather than creating new ones.
Editor
A user who can create, update and move items on a board. Most pilot users are Editors. Roles are assigned by PIIT.
Epic
The overarching piece of work or heading for a group of works. Also referred to as a “container” that groups related tasks together. Think of an Epic as the overall project, activity or deliverable.
External review
The item is being reviewed by someone outside VIDA or the Alliances who does not have access to Jira. The task should stay assigned to an internal owner, who is responsible for managing the external review, leaving updates in comments and moving the task forward when feedback is received.
For You page
A personalised view showing all the items assigned to you across every board in one place. It is read-only, so update items from the board rather than from this view.
Internal review
The item is being reviewed by someone within VIDA or the Alliances who has access to Jira. Reviewers may be assigned to a sub-task while the parent task remains in internal review status.
Kanban
The default board view in Jira. Kanban shows work as task cards that move across status columns from left to right, helping the team see what is planned, in progress, in review, on hold or complete.
List view
An alternative way to view Jira items as a list rather than cards on a board. List view can make it easier to see all Epics, tasks and sub-tasks in one place, check details quickly, or create and update items.
Manager
A user with additional access permissions in Jira. Managers can complete actions that general users cannot, such as deleting tasks. Manager access will be controlled by PIIT at the start.
On hold
Work has paused and is not currently progressing. This may be because the team is waiting for information, a decision, feedback, approval or another dependency before the item can move forward.
Parent/child item
Shows how items are connected. The parent item sits above, and the child item underneath. For example, an Epic is the parent item of a task, and a task is a parent item of a sub task.
PIIT
The team that manages the Jira platform. PIIT looks after setup, user access and permissions, and is the only team that can add new users, provision external access or create dropdown values. Contact PIIT (or your Manager) for anything that needs platform-level action.
Reporter
The person who created, requested or oversees the item. The reporter may not be completing the work day to day, but they need visibility of progress and updates.
Required fields
The information that must be completed when creating or updating an Epic or task. Required fields help make sure work is clear, searchable and easy to manage.
- Name
- Description
- Assignee
- Reporter
- Alliance
- URL
- Due date, where known or relevant
TIP: A task must be linked to a “parent item” Epic. An Epic must have at least one “child item” task for it to appear on the Kanban board. Both the Epic and task also need the correct Component set - this is what places them on the right board.
Sandbox
A practice area in Jira where you can try creating items, navigating and testing workflows without affecting real data. Anything you do in the sandbox stays there and does not appear on the live boards.
SharePoint
The Microsoft platform where the team’s files and folders are stored. Jira boards are aligned to SharePoint folders so work in Jira maps to where the related documents live.
Status
The stage an item is at in the workflow. Statuses show what is happening with the work, such as whether it is in progress, being reviewed, on hold or complete.
Sub-task
A smaller step within a task. Sub-tasks break down the work into the actions needed to complete the task, such as drafting copy, completing an internal review, sending content for approval or uploading a final version.
Task
An individual work item that needs to be completed as part of an Epic. A task should have a clear output, owner and status so the team can see what needs to be done and who is progressing it.
Viewer
A user who can read and comment on items but cannot create or move them. Roles are assigned by PIIT.
Watch task
A way to follow an item and receive updates without being the assignee or reporter. Select the eye icon on the task card to watch the task.