What is most valuable?
<ul> <li>Customizable workflows</li> <li>Agile / Scrum compatibility and offerings</li> <li>Granular access/security settings</li> <li>Large selection of add-ons</li> <li>Ease of use </li> </ul>
How has it helped my organization?
Since our service is customized to each client, the ability to customize workflow for each project's specific needs has improved productivity simply by streamlining our efforts.
For how long have I used the solution?
We switched to JIRA this past February. So 7 months.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
There is a steep learning curve for administration. While the tool is fairly easy for our users to understand and use, what it takes to set up the system to MAKE it easy for end users is fairly complex. There is a large amount of information to know and many interdependent layers.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We did not encounter any stability problems due to the JIRA itself. The problems we ran into were server-based and improved significantly after upgrading our server.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Not yet. =)
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service: I would give it high marks. From an account service standpoint, all of my questions and requests have been replied to quickly and thoroughly.Technical Support: Medium-high. It mostly takes the form of Q&A within their Atlassian Answers forum that then leads to links of posted documentation on their Confluence pages. So there is a wealth of information and people able to offer advice and help. But it has a very "self-help" feel when trying to track down answers.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did previously use a competing solution. We decided to switch based on several factors: cost, (lack of) support from the previous tool, and mostly we felt the strengths and weaknesses of the prior tool did not match up well with our needs and processes.
How was the initial setup?
It was complex, but in a good way. We used a vendor called Service Rocket to help us through the process and they were magnificent. We spent several weeks with them as they got to know our process and needs to help tailor the setup solution. So it was complex in that we spent a lot of time closely examining our processes and workflows to make sure the solution fit accurately.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We looked at numerous other products. Some were more well-traveled offerings like Rally, AtTask, Clarizen, and Basecamp. Others were newer to the game like 10,000ft.
What other advice do I have?
The most frustrating part of implementing a new management system is "you don't know what you don't know", so it's easy to miss which questions to ask or requests to make. JIRA has a LOT of knobs and levers to pull and is many layers deep in it's setup. If you're not intimately familiar with its offerings, I highly suggest using a consultant or vendor to help step through the implementation. I also suggest being specific in needs and wants. We’ve found JIRA is flexible enough to adapt to our needs more often than we have to adapt to its offerings.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
JIRA has been developed primarily as an issue and project tracker out of the box, you can use JIRA for requirements management in conjunction with Confluence. Issue Level Requirements
You're able to create a JIRA issue type specifically for requirements with it's own workflow, custom fields and reporting. Subtasks offer a quick way to add and manage your requirements, and you can link related requirements together or with feature requests. I hope this helps.