The Jira Align support guide provides an overview of the various help resources available for Jira Align, as well as guidelines for creating and monitoring support tickets, feature requests, and test instance refresh requests. We recommend reading this guide to assist you in creating better cases and getting issues resolved as quickly as possible.

Check it out in the Atlassian Community here.

Note: This article has been republished. This method is used to provide notification emails to users subscribed to feature release note updates. This article has been updated to provide a new timeline for two features originally scheduled for release in version 11.6.

The Atlassian Jira Align team is pleased to announce Jira Align v.11.6. 

• Coming soon
• Enhancements and features
• Performance improvements
• Bug fixes

Last updated: December 6, 2024 to include bug fixes delivered in maintenance release 11.6.1

Coming soon

Future changes to Jira Align API token availability

In version 11.5.X, we gave you the ability to enable Atlassian Guard as your authentication method with Jira Align cloud. Enabling Atlassian Guard authentication also allows you to use the Atlassian API tokens with the Jira Align APIs, while taking advantage of the enhanced security features within Atlassian Guard such as auditing, revoking, and blocking of API tokens.

In the future, we plan on deprecating the Jira Align API tokens when you have configured Atlassian Guard as the authentication method with Jira Align. If you have enabled Atlassian Guard authentication and are using Jira Align API tokens, we recommend that you switch to Atlassian API tokens as soon as you can to prevent any disruptions with your integrations. Below is a timeline of the availability of Jira Align API tokens when Atlassian Guard is enabled with Jira Align cloud.

Custom room filters and strategic driver allocation report update scheduled for 11.7

In these notes, we previously reported that enhancements to filtering inside of custom rooms and an updated version of the strategic driver allocation report would be included as part of the 11.6.X release cycle. To ensure both of these features meet our standards for quality, we're delaying the launch to version 11.7.0, which first deploys to environments on the continuous release track on December 20, 2024.

Enhancements and features

These features for 11.6 were released to environments on the continuous release track on November 22, 2024, in version 11.6.0. The features will be released to environments on the bundled release track on December 6, 2024, in version 11.6.1.

Action required: Additional changes to Jira connector endpoints for Jira Data Center

Starting with the 11.6.0 release, Jira connectors connected to Jira Data Center will make use of a new endpoint: GET /rest/agile/1.0/sprint/{sprintId} .

Over the next few releases, we will begin using the following endpoints as well:

• PUT /rest/api/2/issue/{issueid}
• POST /rest/agile/1.0/epic/{epicIdOrKey}/issue
• GET /rest/agile/1.0/board/{boardId}/sprint
• GET /rest/agile/1.0/sprint/{sprintId}
• POST /rest/agile/1.0/sprint/{sprintId}/issue
• PUT /rest/agile/1.0/issue/rank

If you’re syncing Jira Align with Jira Data Center, make sure these endpoints are allowlisted in your proxy, API gateway, WAF (Web Application Firewall), or any other technology that filters access to your Jira Data Center instance. If you have already allowlisted wildcard endpoints, no action is required on your part.

Please ensure that the following wildcards are present in your allowlist so that all endpoints used by the Jira connector can be properly accessed:

• /rest/agile/1.0/*
• /rest/api/2/*

The Jira integration guide contains the different URLs we require for Jira Data Center integration.

If you have questions about how to allowlist the necessary endpoints or how to check if they're already allowlisted, raise a support request.

Removal of program room capacity-based widget and calculations toggle

In version 10.130.X, we introduced a toggle at the top of the program room page, which enables a new widget, forecast vs. capacity. This new widget focuses on forecasted work vs. available program increment capacity, and replaces the program PI load (estimates view) widget. The toggle also streamlines the calculations for the program PI load (actual view) and team load widgets by utilizing information from the new capacity page and removing the need for manual overrides.

This toggle has been removed, making the new widget and streamlined calculations the default behavior for the program rom.

Note: You no longer have the ability to override program PI velocities from widgets.

New Jira Align API token security setting

We’ve added a new security feature that allows you disable access to Jira Align API tokens. The Enable Jira Align API tokens setting in security settings allows your Jira Align administrator to disable the ability for users to generate Jira Align API tokens, and disable existing Jira Align API tokens. By default, the dropdown is set to enable the Jira Align API tokens, however, we recommend that you disable Jira Align API tokens if you are not using the Jira Align REST APIs, or are using Atlassian API tokens (which requires enabling Atlassian Guard with Jira Align).

Password fields only display when manual login is enabled

To help simplify security setup in Jira Align, password-related options will only display when using the following authentication settings:

• Manual sign in is selected in the Authentication method setting.
• SAML single sign-on (SSO) is selected in the Authentication method setting, and No is selected in Disable Manual Sign In setting.

The following fields are no longer visible when manual sign is disabled or Atlassian Guard is enabled as the authentication method:

• Minimum Password Length
• Minimum Password Uppercase
• Minimum Password Numeric Characters
• Temporary Links Expiration (Hours)

Removal of ability to create Jira Align API 1.0 tokens

The ability to generate a Jira Align API 1.0 token has been removed from the user profile page. If you are using a Jira Align API 1.0 token, we strongly recommend that you switch to using Atlassian API tokens (requires enabling Atlassian Guard with Jira Align) or Jira Align API 2.0 tokens to improve performance and management of your Jira Align API activities.

Milestone limit increased to 30

We’ve increased the amount of milestones you can create within epics, capabilities, and features from 20 to 30. This new limit lets you add additional milestones to track the progress of a work item with more granularity.

Removal of theme burnup chart in portfolio room

As previously announced, the theme burnup chart has been removed from the theme program increment progress widget in the portfolio room. This chart was increasing page load times and had far less utility than the program increment progress report. Note that the theme program increment progress portion of the widget is still available.

OKR hub improvements

We’ve streamlined the search and filter capabilities on the OKR hub to enable quick navigation and filtration of the objectives that are important to you.

In addition, the Search bar now also allows searches by tags.

New API for dependencies grid default column configuration

Similar to the APIs announced in release 11.2.X, we have added an endpoint to define the default columns for the dependencies grid. Setting column defaults ensures new users see key fields, and promotes common language and views across your organization. Default columns are displayed when selecting the Restore Defaults button from the Columns Shown menu.

You can modify the column defaults by using the new endpoint: GridConfigurations/dependency/ColumnConfigurations .

Note that you will need Super Admin permissions to edit these endpoints. Review our community announcement for more details on how this customization option can help your users collaborate better and onboard faster.

Removal of temporary portfolio room landing page

In version 11.1.X, we introduced a temporary portfolio and program room landing page for a subset of customers experiencing room performance issues. We are happy to share that over the last quarter we improved the portfolio room page load time by roughly 90% (from 13 seconds to 1.7 seconds). In this release, we’ll be removing the portfolio room landing page. The program room landing page will be removed in a future version.

Note: This removal was initially announced in the 11.5.X release, but due to technical constraints was not enabled at that time.

Performance improvements

Improved performance in accepted spend panel from portfolio room

We’ve made additional enhancements to loading the accepted spend panel from the financials view of the portfolio room. After investigating the root cause of lengthy loading times, we modified multiple internal queries and stored procedures. As a result of this work, our testing shows this panel now loads up to 95% faster.

Improved performance of Jira Cloud and DC connectors

We improved performance for the Jira Cloud and Jira Data Center connectors by increasing parallelism and updating the HTTP client. This should reduce issue sync times for issues syncing with Jira.

Bug fixes

Last updated: December 6, 2024 to include bug fixes delivered in maintenance release 11.6.1

This list of resolved bugs will be updated weekly to reflect changes from maintenance and bug fix releases. You can see the contents of individual bug fix releases in the Bug fix release notes section.

Internally-found issues

We’ve corrected the following bugs that were discovered while investigating related issues, building new enhancements, and performing maintenance:

11.6.0

• Azure DevOps connector: Custom terminology choices were not reflected in a warning message when mapping programs.
• Azure DevOps connector: Internal alerts were received and resolved for SQL deadlocks related to work item sync.
• Backlog: Users without valid permissions could rank stories or defects in the small view.
• Backlog: Users without valid permissions could access the page.
• Forecast: Epics selected in page filters were still displayed when switching to the capability view.
• Forecast: Custom terminology choices were not reflected in the audit log for programs.
• Forecast: Custom terminology choices were not reflected in the Configure Columns menu for strategic drivers.
• Ideation: External ideas displayed the incorrect user in the audit log.
• Ideation: Not all ideation groups were displayed in the Feedback Group Assignment dropdown.
• Objective status by sprint: Incorrect terminology was displayed for objectives.
• Program board: The red indicator and planning issue description was not displayed for features with misaligned dependency commitments.
• Themes: Start/Initiation and Target Completion fields were cleared when creating a new theme.
• The Program Increment dropdown in the navigation sidebar would not retain selections when navigating across pages.
• Identified and closed an API permissions issue related to objective creation
• Identified and closed a vulnerability related to sprint terminology.
• Identified and closed a vulnerability related to setting blended rates.

11.6.1

• Jira connector: Some environments would fail to sync when multiple values were found in headers.
• Jira connector: New connectors using OAuth would fail to activate.
• Reports: The actions menu found in the upper-right corner of charts has been disabled.

Below is our upcoming release schedule. Sandbox and production environments will be unavailable during our maintenance window, which starts at 11:00PM EST on the day listed below and ends at 2:00AM EST on the following day.

Note: Jira Align is moving from version 10.X to 11.X, and simplifying our numbering. See more details about these changes

Release tracks

Production environments are set to use the bundled release track, while sandbox environments use the continuous track. We recommend using this default setup for your environments, as it allows you to test new features released in a .0 feature release for two weeks in your sandbox environment. Those changes will then deploy to your production environment in a .1 maintenance release. 

Due to the nature of continuous software development, some changes are applied to environments outside of our normal release schedule. In order to urgently remedy reported issues, the following changes were added to version 11.6.0.1126 via a hotfix, which was deployed to environments on the continuous release track on the morning of Wednesday, November 27. 

Bug fixes

Due to the nature of continuous software development, some changes are applied to environments outside of our normal release schedule. In order to urgently remedy reported issues, the following changes were added to version 11.5.1.1126 via a hotfix, which was deployed to environments on the bundled release track on the evening of Tuesday, November 26. 

Bug fixes

The 11.5.1.1122 bug fix release was deployed to environments on the bundled release track on November 22, 2024. Bug fix releases contain high-priority fixes for any reported issues and for features deployed in version 11.5.X.

Bug fixes

Internally-found issues

• "Whoops" error would display when navigating across enterprise pages after selecting a program increment and snapshot.
• "Whoops" error would display when creating dependencies with multiple program associations

Jira Align's Enterprise Insights (EI) version 11.6 was deployed to environments on the continuous release track on November 22, 2024. It will then be deployed to environments on the bundled release track on December 6, 2024. The following changes are included in version 11.6:

• Release highlights

Release highlights

Enhancements and features:

New columns have been added to the About view to support additional versioning information. Our support team may ask you to look up version numbers stored in these columns when assisting you with an issue: 

• • EI Version
  • Cloud ETL Version
  • On Prem ETL Version

In version 11.6, the following changes were made:

• The Matric Measured Increment column in the Success Criteria view was removed and replaced by a new column, Metric Measure Increment.
  • Please update reports and queries to use the new Metric Measure Increment column. 
• Views removed as a result of the removal of all skills functionality, and the Time/Skills tab from epic details panels:
  • Epic Skill 
  • Epic Skill Allocation 
  • Skill 
  • MAP User to Skill
  • Epic Schedule
• Views removed as a result of the new milestones tab available for capability details panels:
  • Capability Milestone (replaced by Capability Milestones)
• Columns removed from the Epic Milestone view as a result of the new milestones tab available for epic details panels:
  • Completed Flag
  • Date Portfolio Ask
  • FK User Created By ID
  • FK User Completed By ID
• Views removed as a result of new capacity functionality in Jira Align:
  • Forecast Capacity
  • Forecast Buffer
• The Date Portfolio Ask column was removed from the following views as a result of the future removal of portfolio ask from Jira Align:
  • Capability
  • Capability History
  • Epic
  • Epic History
  • Feature
  • Feature History
  • Theme
  • Theme History
• Views removed as a result of planned removals from Jira Align in version 11.5:
  • Assessment
  • Assessment Answer Set
  • Assessment Answer Set Value
  • Assessment Participant
  • Assessment Question
  • Assessment Result
  • Assessment Schedule

Bug fixes:

• JIRAALIGN-7474: Valid to and Description field values are not updating properly in Epic and Feature history.

Below is our upcoming release schedule for Enterprise Insights (EI). Sandbox and production environments will be unavailable during our maintenance window, which starts at 11:00PM EST on the day listed below and ends at 2:00AM EST on the following day.

See the Release calendar article for the schedule of releases for the Jira Align platform. 

Check out the latest news on new Jira Align features and development efforts we’re working on. Our Q4 2024 Product Roadmap presentation is now available.

Note that you will need to be logged into our Help Center site to be able to access the recording. If you don’t already have a login, select the Sign up link to create a new one. This account is not tied to your Jira Align user credentials.

We’re removing the Portfolio Ask field from themes, epics, capabilities, and features in Jira Align. Although we do not have exact timing for removals yet, the field will remain until at least November 22, 2024, when we first deploy version 11.6.X to test environments. We are letting you know now so that you have ample time to prepare, and will provide another notice once an exact version for removal is confirmed.

We are removing portfolio ask as part of our work to evolve the roadmap page and simplify the product. This removal is part of our broader effort to streamline the user experience.

Portfolio ask does not surface on the roadmap today, nor will it in the future. Instead, we are working to more prominently display milestones on the roadmap and across Jira Align. We believe milestones effectively solve the need of portfolio ask while also offering more information and functionality.

As such, we are planning to migrate all portfolio ask dates that are part of work items to milestones. This migration will take place in the version that we set for future removals. We will create new milestones for environments with portfolio ask dates with the following information:

For accepted work items:

• Name: Portfolio ask
• Description: Migrated by Jira Align
• Category: None
• State: Completed
• Start date: None
• Due date: The portfolio ask date

For all other work items:

• Name: Portfolio ask
• Description: Migrated by Jira Align
• Category: None
• State: On track
• Start date: None
• Due date: The portfolio ask date

We understand this change may require process adjustments for some organizations. To ask more about our migration, please raise a support ticket titled, “Portfolio ask migration.” We also recommend updating your queries and custom reports that use portfolio ask data in Enterprise Insights (EI) over the next couple of months, as the field will also be removed from EI.

You can subscribe to three Help Center sections to receive notifications the instant release note articles are published:

• Main Release Notes: These articles contain compiled information on a Jira Align version, initially published for the 10.X.0 feature release and updated each additional release through 10.X.3.
• Supplemental Release Notes: These articles contain information on individual supplemental releases, published each release from 10.X.1 through 10.X.3.
• Enterprise Insights Release Notes: These articles contain release notes specific to Jira Align Enterprise Insights (EI).

We recommend subscribing to both the Main and Supplemental Release Notes sections to get weekly notifications on the latest Jira Align version.

What you need to do

To receive real-time release notes publication notifications, you'll need to create a Help Center account and follow the section or sections you want to receive notifications about. Please note, this will most likely be a different username and password than your Jira Align and Atlassian username and password. 

 To create an account (or reset your password if an account already exists), click the SIGN IN button on the Help Center (see the pink arrow).

Next, click the Sign up link, enter your name and email, and then click the Sign up button. You'll receive an email to finish setting up your account. If you receive a message that says a user has already signed up with the given email, click the Forgot my password link to reset your password.

Once logged in, from the Help Center home page, click the WHAT'S NEW section (bell icon).

Then click the header for the section you want to follow. Finally, click the FOLLOW button and then the New articles link.

That's it! As soon as we publish new release notes, you'll receive an email notification with a link!