There are two options for sharing components across projects in Jira:
- Creating components with the same name across the projects manually
- Use Jira app to synchronize components automatically
Let's have a look at these in more detail.
First of all, what are Jira Components?
Components are a great tool that helps you organize your work in Jira. They allow you to break your projects in smaller parts by linking issues to them. The actual magic starts happening with JQL (Jira Query Language). Components are supported as searchable fields so you can get creative - create filters of issues linked to certain components, dashboards with charts or filtered Kanban boards.
Let's take an example of using Components in the application development project where you can create components like Database, APIs, UI-library, Login, etc. But you can also use them in non-technical departments like HR with these components: Recruitment, Training, Benefits, Legal, etc.
And now, how to use components cross-project?
Jira components are a subsection of projects and by default, you can't link issues from one project to component from other projects.
This is a limitation for many companies as they need to be able to share components between the projects. Let's take an example of application development. Mobile and Web app are managed in two different Jira projects and they're sharing a Login APIs component.
Create components across projects manually
One of the solutions is to create a component with the same name in all projects you need. Then when you use JQL search to look for issues assigned to these components just don't specify the project. This way you will be able to get cross-project results you're looking for.
But there is a downside when you need to do any changes to these components, it becomes too much manual effort. You would need to go to every project separately and apply the change there.
That might be a real pain when you need to do this in tens of projects. And let's not forget - manual tasks are always error-prone.
Use app to synchronise changes automatically
In Octo - Component management for Jira you can create Cross-project components, add more projects to the components or merge existing components.
Octo in the background creates component in each selected project and keeps any changes to them in sync. Easy and no manual updating.
Octo also gives you a table view of all components in your Jira instance. You can filter by projects to get a view you need quickly and also access details of the component where you find the issue progress insights.