A Planning Software Provider Optimizes Jira Align for Agile Portfolio Management

A leader in cloud-based connected planning solutions is well-known for helping businesses make better decisions through teamwork, analytics, and strategic planning. Ironically, they faced a common challenge for many organizations– figuring out how to optimize their tools for improved decision-making. 

The software company used Jira Align to manage their Agile portfolios, but the platform wasn't living up to its full potential. Leveraging our extensive expertise in Jira Align, they partnered with Praecipio to gain a deeper understanding of the tool, improve its data management capabilities, and seamlessly connect it with their existing business intelligence (BI) tools.

Part of Atlassian’s Strategy Collection, Jira Align boasts powerful capabilities for aligning teams and portfolios, but like many organizations, our client lacked the knowledge on how to make the platform work for their specific needs. They needed professional guidance from someone who truly understood the ins and outs of their Agile portfolio management tool. 

Getting the Basics Right

At the heart of the issue was the software company’s struggle with organizing their projects and portfolios within Jira Align. With multiple portfolios running in silos, critical dependencies were disconnected. This resulted in inefficiencies, duplicated efforts, and leadership lacked the clarity they needed to make informed decisions. Additionally, their teams did not understand roles within Jira Align or how to map work effectively.

The disconnect between Jira Align and Jira was another hurdle. Many organizations have trouble syncing Jira with Jira Align, which requires consistency in project setup. To enable seamless communication between the tools, the software company needed to ensure their Jira projects adhered to the strict guidelines for workflows and issue types.

Data Difficulties
Jira Align’s standard API, while functional, didn’t provide the level of data access our client needed. They required precise reporting tools to track dependencies and gain strategic insights, but the manual effort involved in tagging and organizing data was a drain on their resources.

When Praecipio stepped in, we took a straightforward approach, focusing on practical solutions, proven best practices, and recommendations that the software company could immediately action.  

Simplifying Portfolios and Objectives

One of our first recommendations was to consolidate the client’s multiple isolated portfolios into a single, unified portfolio. This made it easier to track dependencies and gave leadership a clear and comprehensive view of how work was tracking. We also encouraged our client to take advantage of Jira Align’s Objective Hub to clearly define their objectives following the OKR (Objectives and Key Results) framework. This step alone brought much-needed clarity and alignment for teams. 

Syncing Jira Align and Jira

To address the syncing issues between Jira Align and Jira, Praecipio shared best practices for project setup, emphasizing that issues in Jira Align must match those in Jira to ensure consistent workflows and seamless communication between the platforms.

Data Structuring and BI Connection

Praecipio walked the software company through how to effectively organize data in Jira Align and demonstrated how to use Enterprise Insights to connect Jira Align data with other sources. We also provided a data model tailored to their specific needs and recommended using the Alpha Serve connector to simplify the integration between Jira Align and the client’s BI tools. 

Training and Knowledge Sharing

To ensure the improvements were sustainable, Praecipio delivered hands-on training and detailed recommendations to help them confidently manage Jira Align long-term. We covered roles and responsibilities, clarified mapping functionality, and shared guidelines on how to make their tools work for their unique needs.

With Praecipio’s guidance, the software company laid the groundwork for better portfolio management and data-driven decision-making.

Clarity and Collaboration Across Portfolios

Consolidating portfolios made an immediate difference for our client. Teams could now see how their work connected to broader company objectives, and leadership gained clearer insight into dependencies and progress. The Objective Hub further improved organizational alignment, ensuring that OKRs were integrated into everyday workflows.

Improvement in Data Accuracy and Usage

Thanks to the data model Praecipio provided, the software company now has a way to effectively structure reporting data and can utilize its BI tools for advanced analytics and visualizations. Additionally, bridging the gap between Jira Align and Jira has given our client a solid foundation for consistent and reliable reporting. 

These small but impactful changes have allowed for real-time insights into portfolio performance, enabling faster, more informed decision-making. While our client handled the technical setup for the BI connection, Praecipio’s guidance saved them weeks of trial and error.

Solutions That Scale

By empowering their team with practical know-how, Praecipio helped the software company turn a complex platform into a manageable and valuable enterprise strategy and planning tool. The training and best practices we shared during the engagement meant our client could independently replicate and scale the solutions in the future.