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.

The Atlassian Jira Align team is pleased to announce Jira Align v.10.118. Please note that the 10.118.0 feature release was not deployed, as our developers worked to ensure the release met our standards for quality. As a result, the feature release for 10.118 is version 10.118.1.

• Enhancements and Features
• Defect Fixes

Enhancements and Features

These features for 10.118 were released to environments on the continuous release track on March 17, 2023, in version 10.118.1. The features will then be released to environments on the bundled release track on March 24, 2023, in version 10.118.2:

Changes coming next week to support a new Jira Software epic field

Later next week, Jira Software Cloud will begin rolling out changes to epic fields in company-managed projects. 

If your Jira Align instance is currently connected to one or more Jira Software Cloud projects, you will see the following changes as of Tuesday, March 21:

1. On the Admin > Jira Settings > Jira Setup connector settings page, the Feature name custom field custom field mapping will be renamed to Jira epic name custom field and will be made optional. Existing mappings will not be removed.
2. Inside of Details panels for Jira Align features, the Summary field will be renamed to Jira Epic Name and will be made optional.
3. The Jira connector will begin syncing the Summary field of Jira Software epics with the Title field of Jira Align features. The connector will also begin syncing the Epic Name field of Jira Software epics with the Jira Epic Name field of Jira Align features.

See our announcement, Upcoming changes to support a new Jira Software epic field, for full details of the change and steps you can take to prepare. 

Removal of Collaborate pages, Trello connector, and Rational connector

As previously announced, we've removed the remaining pages that make up the Collaborate menu inside of Jira Align. We've also removed access to the Trello and Rational Team Concert (RTC) connectors. Pages removed include:

• Blogs
• Communities of Practice*
• Feeds
• Forums
• Newsletters
• Trello connector settings
• Jira Align Power-Up inside of Trello (removed March 10, 2023)
• Rational connector settings

If you attempt to visit these locations through a previously-saved link, bookmark, or Favorites entry in Jira Align’s navigation, you’ll be redirected to a new page that informs you the functionality has been removed. Select the Learn more link from the page to see more info about recently removed functionality, as well as instructions on how to clear old entries from Favorites.

Notes:

• *The Communities of Practice (CoP) page and the ability to create a new CoP were removed. You may still create a new team with a Type field set to Community of Practice. For a short time after removal, you may associate these types of teams with a previously-created CoP. We recommend leaving this field blank in those situations, as the field no longer provides any functionality. Existing CoP-type teams that are associated with a CoP will show the association. This can be removed manually by editing the team’s Details panel. Sometime later in 2023, these associations and fields will be removed from Jira Align.
• For a short time, you may still be able to access individual blog posts through their direct URLs. We recommend working with your teams to ensure any links or bookmarks to specific blog posts are removed from your internal websites, intranet, and wikis.

API 2.0: Consistent method support, consistent object coverage, and complete property coverage

We’re kicking off an effort to ensure consistency in our API coverage. This means making sure that all objects have consistent method (GET, POST, PUT/PATCH, DELETE, etc.) support, consistent coverage (support for audit logs, acceptance criteria, links, etc.), and that all object properties (epic field financial fields, release sync sprints, etc.) are available.

This release includes:

• GET, POST, PUT, and PATCH support for capability acceptance criteria
• POST, PUT, and PATCH support for capability links
• GET, POST, and PUT support for epic acceptance criteria
• POST, PUT, and PATCH support for epic links
• PATCH support for releases
• PUT and PATCH support for value streams
• GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE support for Jira connector product mappings
• Copy endpoints for capabilities and features
• Audit log endpoints for value streams, products, customers, and cities

Upcoming removal of legacy reports

In version 10.121.0, we’ll be removing six legacy reports from Jira Align:

• Build Status By Sprint
• Connections
• Escalation Report (not accessible)
• Enhancement by Owner (not accessible)
• Enhancement by Age (not accessible)
• Program Increment Roadmap (also known as PI Forecast Report)

See our announcement, Upcoming removal of legacy reports, for full details of these planned removals.

Defect Fixes

The list of defect fixes will be updated to reflect changes in weekly maintenance releases. You can see the contents of individual maintenance releases in the Supplemental Release Notes section.

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.

Release tracks

By default, production environments are set to use the bundled release track, while sandbox environments (previously known as test instances) 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 .2 maintenance release. 

You may change the release track from bundled to continuous in your production environment by submitting a request to our Support Team. Note that we do not guarantee a timeframe to make a release track change, but will strive to complete the request as quickly as possible. 

Jira Align's Enterprise Insights (EI) was updated and deployed to 10.115.X instances on the continuous track on February 1, 2023, and will be deployed to instances on the bundled track on February 17, 2023. The following enhancements were made:

• Release highlights
• New tables
• Updated tables

Release highlights

• New content:
  
  • JIRAALIGN-4664 - Added Employee Classification table to current_dw & export_dw schemas to enable cost center hourly rate.
  • JIRAALIGN-4545 - Added Theme Rank for Epic & Feature objects.

New tables

Updated tables

In version 10.121.0, we’ll be removing six legacy reports from Jira Align.

After reviewing recent usage data, it became clear that this functionality was not providing significant value. Some of these reports were not fully developed or were made inaccessible during our transition from Jira Align version 9X to 10X. By removing these reports and streamlining our codebase, we’ll have more capacity to address defect fixes across the product. These changes will also reduce our testing overhead, which will allow us to build and ship enhancements more rapidly.

Reports that will be removed include:

• Build Status By Sprint
• Connections
• Escalation Report (not accessible)
• Enhancement by Owner (not accessible)
• Enhancement by Age (not accessible)
• Program Increment Roadmap (also known as PI Forecast Report)

System role permission toggles related to these pages will also be removed from Admin > Roles.

If you have used this functionality in the past and would like to make a record of your entries, please visit the reports prior to version 10.121.0 to archive your data. You can use screenshots and Save options from your browser to capture the contents of an accessible report.

Later this month, Jira Software Cloud will begin rolling out changes to epic fields in company-managed projects. Review Jira's Upcoming changes to epic fields in company-managed projects for more details.

If your Jira Align instance is currently connected to one or more Jira Software Cloud projects, you will see the following changes as of Tuesday, March 21:

1. On the Admin > Jira Settings > Jira Setup connector settings page, the Feature name custom field custom field mapping will be renamed to Jira epic name custom field and will be made optional. Existing mappings will not be removed.
2. Inside of Details panels for Jira Align features, the Summary field will be renamed to Jira Epic Name and will be made optional.
3. The Jira connector will begin syncing the Summary field of Jira Software epics with the Title field of Jira Align features. The connector will also begin syncing the Epic Name field of Jira Software epics with the Jira Epic Name field of Jira Align features.

Notes:

• These changes will be made outside our normal release practices. You will not see your version change in Jira Align environments on both the bundled and continuous release tracks.
• After these changes are released, the Jira connector will not automatically resync all items, only those that are recently created or updated. You can trigger a custom sync from Jira to Jira Align to ensure consistency.
• If your Jira Align instance is only connected to Jira Software Data Center projects, you will not see these changes. We will release updates to those environments at a later time.

What you need to do to prepare 

Wait for Jira Align version 10.118.2 before removing Epic Name

Important! In the 10.118.2 release, which will deploy on March 24, 2023, we’re including additional changes that will allow you to remove the Epic Name field from your Jira Software issue screens without any connector sync issues. Please wait until then to remove the field from your screens.

Move field values in Jira Software

Per the article from our Jira Software Cloud team, if you’d like to move your Epic Name field values to your epics' Summary fields, you can do so by:

1. Exporting your values to CSV.
2. Updating the Epic Name and Issue Summary values in Excel or Google Sheets.
3. Importing this data back into Jira Software.

Note: If you’re updating your issue summaries, keep in mind that the names displayed on the board and backlog have a max limit of 19 characters – longer names will be truncated.

For more detailed information on how to export and import your epic field values, see: Import and export your data to and from Jira Cloud | Atlassian Support

In version 10.119.0, we’ll be removing the pages and settings that make up the Time Tracking module inside of Jira Align.

The Time Tracking module was accessible through a paid entitlement that has not been offered for purchase for two years. After careful evaluation, we’ve determined the existing module no longer aligns with our vision for the future. If you’re looking for a time-based tracking solution with Jira Align, we recommend checking out our integration with Tempo Timesheets.

By removing these features and streamlining our codebase, we’ll have more capacity to address defect fixes across the product. These changes will also reduce our testing overhead, which will allow us to build and ship enhancements more rapidly.

Functions that will be removed include time projects, timesheets, and all reports enabled through Time Tracking. For more details, see our Time sheets/tracking and Time administration sections. 

If you have used Time Tracking functionality in the past and would like to make a record of your entries, please visit these pages prior to version 10.119.0 to capture your data. You can use one of the many reports, such as the Timesheet Export report, to export your data in .xls format.

Note: Work codes, which are financial fields that can be associated with epics and features, will continue to be available. The Time Tracking module is not required to create and use work codes. You can manage work codes from the Admin > Time Tracking settings page. In a future release, we will update the settings page to remove references to time tracking.

Note: This article has been deleted and re-published to send a new notification, as the release timeframe for these changes has been updated.

For versions 10.100.1 and later, we'll be making some big changes to objective statuses that will also affect the API:

What’s coming in version 10.100.1

In this release, we will be adding three new statuses to objective tracking in Jira Align. These statuses will provide more nuance to the status of objectives than our current option (In Progress) allows. The new statuses will be:

• On Track: Indicates that an objective is likely to reach its desired outcomes.

• At Risk: Indicates that an objective has uncertainty around reaching its desired outcomes. For example, work needed to complete the objective may be behind schedule, or risks might pose a future threat to completion.

• Off Track: Indicates that an objective is unlikely to reach its desired outcomes if action is not taken.

In version 10.100.1, the new statuses will become available in the Jira Align UI, and will not change any existing status values. API users should also note that the status endpoint will include the new statuses, and no statuses will be removed or changed for this release.

We strongly recommend that you review your in-progress objectives and update any objectives that are at risk or off track, as the In Progress status on objectives will be migrated in a future release.

What’s coming later

In a future release, any remaining In Progress objectives will receive the On Track status. At this time, the API status value for In Progress will also be removed.

What this means for the API

Any objectives with the In Progress value will now return as On Track. There are also two new values: Off Track and At Risk. In any scenarios where the In Progress value is specified, there would need to be a change to specify On Track and depending on the use case, include the new status values as well. Otherwise, there is no action needed with this change.

Why are we making this change?
This change is in preparation for a new end-to-end objective experience including a new creation workflow, a cleaner Details panel, and a more powerful objective tree experience. As we continue to respond to feedback, it has been evident that we need the ability to provide better status updates around objectives.

For our customers utilizing OKRs, the objectives often appeared to be “at risk” when they had low scores, even if it was just too early in measuring. These new changes, along with the updates to the objective tree around the corner, will provide a much clearer picture of which objectives need attention (and which don’t) when reporting on status.

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!