Is there an agile project management tool more suitable than another? How to get the most value from such a tool? What are the assets and the constraints to consider? Here is an analysis of Azure Boards and Jira.
Azure Boards | Jira | |
---|---|---|
Developed by | Microsoft | Atlassian |
Platforms | Cloud, SaaS On premises: part of Azure DevOps Server | Cloud, SaaS Data Center (on premises): new license can't be bought anymore; support will end on the 2nd of February 2024. |
Accessibility | Web-based Integrated with Teams | Web-based Desktop application Mobile application Integrated with Teams, Slack, and many other tools |
Plans and pricing | Cloud: - Basic plan: First 5 users free, then $6/user/month - Basic plan + Test plans: $52/user/month Server: - A 3-year commitment is needed; clients can also move to the cloud whenever they choose to for free. - A 3-year commitment is not mandatory if the payment is made through Azure platform monthly, Visual Studio ($45/user/month for Professional or $250/user/month for Enterprise) and one of the plans for the Cloud are purchased. Details about the plans and pricing: here. | Cloud: - Free for up to 10 users - Standard plan: $7/user/month - Premium plan: $14/user/month - Enterprise plan: personalized offer based on discussion with their sales team. Details about the plans and pricing: here. |
Support | Basic support included for all Azure customers: 24/7 self- help resources, ability to submit as many support tickets as needed, Azure Advisor (a personalized guide for best practices), and Azure health status and notifications. Support plan can be upgraded for an additional fee per month. | Support via email, help desk, forums, FAQs, knowledge base, phone, 24/7 live rep and chat. |
Training | Included for the Professional direct support plan, which costs $1.000 per month. | Free tutorials and courses; paid courses, on demand for individuals or teams (virtual or onsite). Prices range depending on the option chosen from $100 to $10.000. |
Project templates | By default, the organization contains 4 types of project templates, called processes: Basic, Agile, SCRUM and CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration). Details: here. Custom processes can be created by the admin of the organization. | For Software Development, there are 3 types of custom templates: Kanban, SCRUM, and Bug tracking. Other project templates are available for Service Management, Project Management, Marketing, Human Resources, Personal, Operations, Legal or Sales departments. Details: here. Custom templates can be created by the admin of the organization. |
Item types supported | Configurable for each project. The layout is also configurable: epic, feature, impediment, bug, product backlog item, task, test case, test plan and test suite. | Configurable for each project. The layout is also configurable: epic, story, bug, idea, task, subtask. |
Roadmap | Not available. | Jira has a roadmap feature integrated that shows a breakdown of all the epics and their user stories and the dependencies between them. It lets you see progress in a timeline view (weeks, months, or quarterly) and export it in a PDF version. An advanced roadmap feature is available for Premium and Enterprise plans, which allow planning and tracking work across multiple teams and projects based on capacity, manage dependencies and competing priorities and explore alternative scenarios. |
Sprints | Started by default. | Have to be started by the user. The configuration allows multiple sprints to run in parallel. |
Capacity | Capacity can be set for each team member in a sprint for any plan. | Available only for plans that support the advanced roadmap feature (Premium and Enterprise plans). |
Workflow | Editable in both text and diagram mode. | Editable in both text and diagram mode. |
Automation | Processes can be automated with Microsoft Flow. | Directly from Jira. Processes can be automated (e.g., when a pull request is merged, the ticket can be automatically assigned to a QA). |
Documentation | Integrated Wiki. Text can be customized as needed. | Additional product must be installed: Confluence. It comes with its own plan and pricing model. |
Source control | Only Git and TFVC are supported. | Plugin must be installed for the tool used (e.g., BitBucket/Git/GitHub). |
Reporting | Reports can be generated on the Dashboard, in customizable widgets. | Separate section for reports included in each plan. |
Status updates | Status updates and progress tracking is in real time and visible to the entire team. | Status updates and progress tracking is in real time and visible to the entire team. |
Feedback | Communication can be done on each particular task, visible to each team member, including giving feedback, sharing a status update or asking questions. | Communication can be done on each particular task, visible to each team member, including giving feedback, sharing a status update or asking questions. |
Security | Different users with different permission levels can be configured by an admin user. | Different users with different permission levels can be configured by an admin user. |
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