Configure Jira for Scheduling

Before proceeding with Golive’s Scheduling Configuration, ensure your Jira instance is set up with the necessary custom fields, issue types, screens, and workflows. These best practices are based on our experience with leading organizations.

Info

Scheduling processes may vary across organizations, so tailor the configuration to meet your specific requirements.

Quick Setup

The Quick Setup feature creates a new Jira project pre-configured for scheduling with just one click. It also generates any missing issue types, custom fields, screens, and workflows as described in the Custom Setup instructions.

Requirements

• To proceed with the Quick Setup, you'll need Jira Administrator permission on your Jira instance.

Quick Setup Steps

1. Open Golive.

2. Click the Golive Settings menu (represented by a gear icon).

3. Select Scheduling Configuration from the dropdown menu.

4. Click the Quick Setup button on the onboarding banner at the top of the page.

5. Follow the instructions.

Tip

If the Quick Setup banner doesn't appear, disable the Booking, Change, and Blackout toggles in the respective tabs and save your configuration.

Custom Setup

The Custom Setup documentation is intended for Jira Administrators familiar with Jira Administration concepts. Before proceeding with this configuration, ensure that you have a solid understanding of:

• Jira Projects.

• Custom Fields.

• Screens.

• Screen Schemes.

• Workflows.

• Workflow Schemes.

• Issue Types.

• Issue Type Schemes.

• Issue Type Screen Schemes.

• Issue Linking.

Tip

Atlassian University offers complimentary courses for aspiring Jira Administrators.

Requirements

• Jira Administrator permission on your Jira instance.

Best Practices

1. Jira Project

We recommend creating a dedicated company-managed Jira Project specifically for scheduling your Environments, such as naming it “Test Environment Management” (TEM). While team-managed and Jira Work Management projects are also compatible, it's important to note that in these cases, distinguishing between creation and edit screens is not possible. Consequently, you'll have the ability to modify the environment field as well as start/end time fields post approval of your Event types (Booking, Change, Blackout).

2. Issue Types

Create one Issue Type per Event Type in your Jira Project:

• Environment Booking Issue Type.

• Environment Change Issue Type.

• Environment Blackout Issue Type.

Customize the names and avatars as needed. For example, you can use the Freeze Issue Type to track Blackouts.

3. Custom Fields

Create three mandatory custom fields for each Issue Type:

• Golive Custom Field to store the Environments linked to your Events. You can name it “Environment(s)”.

• Jira Custom Field of type Date Time Picker to store the beginning of your Events. You can name it “Start time”.

• Jira Custom Field of type Date Time Picker to store the end of your Events. You can name it “End time”.

Info

Golive also offers support for Date Picker fields rather than Date Time Picker fields. However, we recommend utilizing the Date Time Picker due to its greater flexibility. It's important to ensure uniformity in the type of scheduling fields across all event types (Booking, Change, Blackout).

Info

If you're using a team-managed Jira Project, the type of your date fields should be Time stamp (recommended) or Date.

4. Exclusive Field (Optional)

Optionally, you can schedule Exclusive Bookings and Changes to ensure that no other Booking or Change can be scheduled for the same slot. To enable this feature, a new Exclusive field should be added.

• Jira Custom Field of type Single Select List with two options: Yes and No. You can name it “Exclusive”.

Info

If you're using a team-managed Jira Project, the type of this field should be Dropdown.

5. Environment Field for Dependencies (Optional)

Optionally, you can automatically book dependent Environments. To enable this feature, add an additional Dependent Environment.

• Golive Custom Field to store the dependent Environments linked to your Events. You can name it “Dependent Environments”.

6. Jira Screens

After creating the required custom fields, you can create 4 different screens:

• Scheduling Creation Screen.

• Scheduling View Screen.

• Scheduling Edit Screen.

• Scheduling Transition Screen.

And add the fields according to the following table:

7. Workflows

Booking, Change, and Blackout workflows should align with your scheduling processes. To illustrate, here's a straightforward workflow that several of our customers have adopted:

All statuses have a Reschedule transition pointing to In Review, which is the trigger status for the Golive conflict checker.

8. Issue Link (Optional)

Optionally, Golive can automatically link conflicting scheduling events together. For that, we recommend creating a new Issue Link (Jira Settings > Issues > Issue linking) with the following information:

• Name: Conflict

• Outward Description: Conflicts with

• Inward Description: Conflicts with

9. Scheduling Configuration

Once the setup is complete, proceed with your Golive Scheduling Configuration as explained in the Scheduling Environments article. This configuration example is based on the guidelines provided in this article.