Configure your Jira links to automatically import milestones from Jira into Meisterplan. This keeps you up to date without having to maintain data twice.
Prerequisites
To import milestones from Jira into Meisterplan, your Jira instance must be connected to Meisterplan via the Jira Connector.
You also need to know which Jira issue type your teams use for milestones.
Required User Rights
Under Manage > User Groups, your user group needs to have the following rights:
- To access the Jira link configuration, you need to have the Manage Task Connector right under Integration Rights.
- To import milestones into Meisterplan, the Jira Link Owner needs to have the following rights in addition to the Manage Task Connector right:
- Under Project and Program Rights > Edit Project and Programs, at least the Projects with Logged-In User as Project Manager right.
- Under Detailed Project and Program Rights, the Add, Change, and Delete Milestones and Milestone Dependencies right.
- Under Integration Rights the Import Data right.
Jira Link Owner
You need to set a Jira Link Owner for your links to be able to configure the milestone import.
The user who created the Jira link is automatically set as the Jira Link Owner. We recommend creating a dedicated user account in Meisterplan that has the required user rights for this purpose. To set the dedicated user as the Link Owner, log in to Meisterplan with the Link Owner's user account and in the respective Jira link, click Assign Logged-In User as Link Owner.
Milestones in Jira
Although Jira does not offer predefined milestones, there are various ways to work with milestones, visualize dependencies on other issues, and display them in Jira boards.
Learn more about working with milestones in Jira in this Jira Community article.
Requirements for Importing Milestones into Meisterplan
You can import Jira milestones into Meisterplan if they are set up in one of the following ways:
- Custom Issue Type: You have created a separate issue type for milestones and defined a date field as the milestone date. The issue type must not be a sub-task but should be at the same level as stories or epics (corresponds to the the work type hierarchy level 0)
- Epic as Milestone: If you are already working with epics and do not want to create an additional issue type, or if you prefer to link severals epics to a Meisterplan project using JQL, you can also use the epic as a milestone. You also need a date field for the milestone date; for example, you can use the epic's due date as the milestone date.
Configuring Milestone Import from Jira
Under Integrations > Jira Connector, open a Jira link and check the box for Import Milestones in the middle tile. Next, select a Jira Issue Type and a Jira Issue Date in the dropdown fields:
- Jira Issue Type: Select the issue type that is used for milestones in your Jira instance. You can select from all issue types except subtasks. Issues of this type are not displayed in the Task Timeline or the Task Insights in the Information Panel.
- Jira Issue Date: Select the date field that is configured in your Jira milestone issue type. You can select from all fields of the ‘Date’ or 'Datetime' type.
The drop-down list displays the available fields from the linked Jira instance, sorted by fields from team-managed and company-managed projects. Learn more in this Jira article.
This activates the automatic import of Jira milestones to Meisterplan, and all milestones of the linked projects are imported into the Plan of Record. This also applies to Jira milestones that were already created before the import was activated.
What Will Be Imported
Meisterplan automatically imports all milestones (i.e., all issues of the issue type you selected in the configuration) that belong to the issue or epic linked to the Meisterplan project:
If the milestone was already imported, but details changed (e.g., date, status), the corresponding milestone in Meisterplan will be updated.
The following information is imported from Jira and updated along with the milestone:
- Summary: Name of the milestone
-
Date: Date
- If the date is after the project finish date, the project in Meisterplan will be extended
- If the date is before the project start date, the milestone will be set to the start date in Meisterplan
- Status Category: When the milestone in Jira is marked as Closed, the corresponding milestone in Meisterplan is marked as Done.
If you have selected Epic as the issue type in the Jira link and linked a Meisterplan project to a Jira epic, only the epic will be imported into Meisterplan as a milestone. The epic is also imported as a task and displayed in the Information Panel and Task Timeline along with the other tasks from the epic.
In the Change Log, an entry will be created for each imported or updated milestone entry, under the name of the Jira Link Owner.
Naming
Milestones imported from Jira are named after the Jira project together with the name (summary) of the Jira milestone, e.g., “Product Development - Release.”
When Will Milestones Be Imported
By default, milestones from Jira will be imported into the Plan of Record in Meisterplan every night. Additionally, they are also imported and updated when you select the project in Meisterplan or click Refresh Data in the toolbar of the Information Panel.
Only milestones in Meisterplan that were previously imported from Jira are updated.
Updating Imported Milestones in Meisterplan
Milestones imported from Jira will be added to the linked project and can be viewed where milestones are displayed, e.g., in the Portfolio Designer or the Roadmap. You can edit the imported milestones in Meisterplan, but the details will be overwritten with the next import from Jira.
You can edit the imported milestones in Meisterplan and further edit them, like assign a phase and status. However, details such as the name and date will be overwritten with the next import from Jira. The status will only be overwritten once the milestone has reached the Done status in Jira.
Updating a Milestone
If a milestone in Jira changes (e.g., name, date), the corresponding milestone in Meisterplan will be updated with the next import. Only milestones in Meisterplan that were previously imported from Jira are updated. Manually created milestones in Meisterplan cannot be linked or updated.
When you deactivate the checkbox Import Milestones from Jira, or unlink the project, the imported milestones will remain unchanged in Meisterplan.
Deleting a Milestone
If you delete one of the milestones imported from Jira in Meisterplan, it will be restored with the next import.
Milestones imported from Jira are deleted in Meisterplan if they have been deleted in Jira or if the Jira account used to authenticate the Jira link no longer has access to milestones in Jira.