Documentation
Set up a view once, then keep it true in five minutes a week.
1. Before you start
- Confluence Cloud and Jira Cloud on the same site. The view lives in Confluence and reads its figures from Jira.
- Epics in Jira. Each work item shown in the view is a Jira epic; its figures are the issues inside it.
- Readers only need Confluence. People who read the page need no Jira licence. Only the person who sets up the view needs a Jira account, to choose the epics.
2. Install the app
- A site administrator installs Project Pulse from the Atlassian Marketplace. The app is installed in Confluence.
- When asked, also connect the app to Jira. Without Jira the view can still be set up, but every figure shows as unavailable.
A free trial starts with the installation. When the trial or the subscription ends, the view is replaced by a notice asking readers to contact their administrator; nothing is deleted, and the view comes back as soon as the subscription is active again.
3. Add the view to a page
- Edit a Confluence page, type / then Project Pulse, and select it.
- Publish the page. It now says No projects to show: the view is empty until it is set up.
You can place several views on different pages, for instance one per team or per client. Each view is independent.
4. Set up the view
The buttons only appear while the page is in edit mode. Readers never see them. Open the page, click the edit (pencil) icon, and the view shows Set up this view (empty view) or Update and Refresh figures.
- Click Set up this view, then open the Setup tab.
- Click Add a project. Give it a Project name and a State: Upcoming, In progress or Done.
- Click Attach work items, choose a Jira project, tick its epics and add them. Only the epics your own Jira account can see are listed.
- Rename each work item if its Jira name means nothing to a reader: the Name shown for this work item is what appears on the page.
- Reorder projects with Move up and Move down, then click Save.
The first time you open the setup, Atlassian may show an Allow access screen. It is asked once per person, and lets the app check that you may edit the page and list the epics your Jira account can see. Readers never see it.
Only people who can edit the Confluence page can change the view. A view holds up to 30 projects, and a project up to 100 work items.
5. The weekly update
This is the only recurring task, and it takes about five minutes. Put the page in edit mode, click Update, and stay on This week's update. For each project:
- Project health: On track, At risk or Blocked.
- Date being announced: free text, for example "end of October". No exact date needed.
- One comment per work item, in plain words.
- What you can tell the client: one or two sentences the sales team can repeat as they are. Optional, but it is what readers look for first.
Then one Save for everything.
Comments that go stale
A comment not changed for more than 10 days is flagged Not changed for N days. If it is still accurate, click Still accurate: it is confirmed without retyping it.
A work item that slips
In the Setup tab, tick Show this work item as delayed. The page then labels it Delayed and shows its remaining part in yellow.
6. What readers see
For each project: its health, the date being announced, how many work items are done, the project manager's comments and the sentence for the client. Under it, a bar with one segment per work item:
- Colours show Done, In progress and To do issues.
- The width of a segment is proportional to the number of issues. It measures neither effort nor time, and the legend says so.
There is no percentage, on purpose. A percentage invites a rule of three on the time left, and that estimate is wrong. The view gives plain counts instead, and a work item where nothing has started says so rather than suggesting a date.
Figures are read from Jira when the page is opened, at most every 30 minutes. To update them right away, put the page in edit mode and click Refresh figures. The view states when the figures were last read.
The view follows the language of the reader: French, or English for every other language.
7. Messages you may see
| Message | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Not broken down yet | The epic contains no issues. | Add issues to the epic in Jira. |
| Work item not found in Jira | The epic was deleted or moved. | Remove the work item, or attach the right epic. |
| Figures unavailable | Jira did not answer. Comments stay visible. | Wait and reload. If it lasts, check that the app is connected to Jira. |
| Incomplete counts | The epic holds more than 10,000 issues; only the first 10,000 are counted. | Split the epic into smaller ones. |
| One of the attached work items is not visible to your Jira account | You tried to attach an epic you cannot see in Jira. | Ask someone who can see it, or ask for access in Jira. |
| This view requires an active subscription to the app | The trial or subscription has ended. | A site administrator renews it in Atlassian Administration. |
8. Questions
Can a reader see Jira issues through the view?
No. Only counts are sent to the page: no issue key, no summary, no description, no person's name.
Does the app store personal data?
No. It stores no name, e-mail address or account ID, and nothing leaves Atlassian. See the privacy policy.
What happens to a project I remove?
It disappears from the page when you save. It is kept 30 days, then deleted.
Something else?
Write to support@johna.app.