Data Import How to Find an Issue in JIRA
Before proposing new functionality or reporting a bug, it’s important to search Jira to see if it’s already been captured there.
Jira can be difficult to search. There are numerous issues or “work items” in Jira from the beginning of the FOLIO project, and there are methods for naming and categorizing issues that you may not be familiar with, but which are crucial to finding the info you’re looking for.
Here are some tips for successful Jira searches:
Relying on keyword alone won’t be helpful; learn to use filters to reduce the noise.
Project names refer to the functionality or module that the Jira work item is associated with, and the project name is used as an umbrella to group all Jira work items pertaining to that module. For instance, Data Import work items in progress will often be part of the UIDATAIMP project. New feature requests, by contrast, always start out in the UXPROD project, and get moved by the developers into the more specific project names as work is planned. This means some Data Import work items will be in the UXPROD project as well.
Status indicates where the work item is in terms of development. For instance, the status “Closed” means the work item is considered complete.
The Filters tab on the left-hand navigation sidebar also has some useful built-in selections, including “Open work items.” So you could start there before you even put in search terms.
Check the Data Import SIG’s dashboard called View All Issues
Dashboards are another way of filtering out noise and focusing on a particular area of Jira. This dashboard isolates Jira work items with the Data Import SIG’s Jira label (which we try to assign to all DI SIG Jira items).
See our Participation and Development Guide for more details on how dashboards can be customized and how DI SIG is putting that to use.
The session recording embedded below, “Creating Bugs and Searching in Jira” from WOLFcon 2023, has some tips on how to search Jira which are still relevant and useful. (NOTE: The other content is less up-to-date and shouldn’t be considered a reliable guide to current practice.)
I can’t find a relevant feature request or bug in Jira. What now?
If you felt your search was pretty thorough (or even middling thorough), it’s probably time to create a new Jira work item for your topic.
The SIG’s current processes for tracking new topics is outlined in our Participation and Development Guide. This is a good place to start, especially if you aren’t familiar with creating new items in Jira.
We also have guidance for Reporting a Bug if you are ready to create a new Jira work item. You’ll need to tag the relevant product owner in your new Jira. For information on what FOLIO modules belong to which development teams and which Product Owners, see this FOLIO wiki page.
We understand that sometimes dashboards and looking through Jira can be overwhelming. You may not be able to find what you’re looking for. In these cases, DI SIG can help!
If you have a practical problem using current Data Import functionality, and you need to solve it, then you can post in #folio-data-import-sig-lab to get recommendations and possibilities from other folks familiar with DI operations.
If you have a theoretical problem or just aren’t sure where to begin the discussion, you can also post your question on #folio-data-import-sig.
If you post to either channel, it is helpful to @here which will ping everyone.