Introduction

Selecting the most suitable app for your business requirements can be challenging. With over 5000 apps available on the Atlassian marketplace, you might need assistance.

I have written an article on this topic, guiding you on how to choose the best app from the Atlassian marketplace.

However, the question remains: which apps are the best for this year?

Many new and exciting apps are available, making it difficult to choose. Therefore, I have selected some of the best apps based on my knowledge and experience, considering factors such as innovation, value for money, improved work efficiency, smooth functionality, good reviews, and more.

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Tricentis Test Management for Jira

Tricentis Test Management for Jira is a relatively new testing application. I had the opportunity to meet the Tricentis team at the Atlassian Team 2023 event in Las Vegas and could see firsthand this app's capabilities. I found it quite impressive and decided to install and review it independently. After experimenting with it, I wrote an article about my experience with the app titled Leverage your testing process with AI, published in the Atlassian community.

One of the app's main features is its use of AI technology, which can save time and increase ROI. For example, the AI engine can generate execution steps, allowing you to focus your time and energy testing your product.

I suggest exploring the world of AI by testing processes with this app. It's free for up to 10 users and comes with a 30-day trial. It's more cost-effective than other testing tools and can sometimes provide better value.

ScriptRunner for Jira

As a Jira administrator, your primary responsibilities include customizing and automating tasks. You can use Jira without any additional apps by utilizing automation rules and providing solutions for simple tasks. However, using an app from the Atlassian marketplace may be necessary for complex requests. To learn about your options for automating your Jira instance, check out the article Simplifying Jira Tasks: Review of automation apps and tools that provide detailed information and compare the different options to create and maintain automation.

The well-known ScriptRunner app provides limitless possibilities for automation. By offering additional tools to leverage Jira automation, such as  Script Listeners, Workflow Extensions, Behaviors, and more, it offers a comprehensive solution for automating your Jira instance.

Let’s look at an example: Jira issue-type schemes are not very flexible in the sense that you cannot limit the available issue types in a project. If someone has permission to create an issue in a project, they can create an issue type in its issue type scheme. This is something you can resolve with ScriptRunner: A specific role member will be able to create only the following issue type.

However, other role members can create more issue types on the same project with the same scheme.

This is something you can achieve with the following script:

Configuring changes using ScriptRunner is considered an advanced configuration change. Therefore, I’d recommend using a DevOps tool such as Salto to manage configuration and script changes. Salto enables you to search, compare, test, deploy, and track changes across your environments and supports configuration and script changes made by ScriptRunner.

If you are new to ScriptRunner in the cloud, I recommend taking the ScriptRunner for Jira Cloud for Beginners course to get the basics. Check also the Best Practices doc about writing code, logs, REST APIs, and more.

Salto Configuration Manager for Jira

When discussing DevOps, we usually refer to merging and implementing code through production. However, what about configuration changes? They also require a platform for DevOps processes, tracking, merge capabilities, and more, just like code changes.

In the case of Jira, the Jira administrator is responsible for making many configuration changes, which can sometimes include scripts like Groovy code in ScriptRunner. Without proper tools, the Jira administrator has to perform these configuration changes manually and directly on the production environment, which can impact Jira users without any way to track changes, perform quick rollbacks, and more.

Salto Configuration Manager for Jira is a powerful app that brings DevOps processes into Jira configuration changes. It allows you to cherry-pick merge changes from a testing environment into the production site, making it easy to work quickly and safely and track your progress over time. This app supports both cloud and Data Center installations.

If you make configuration changes on a Sandbox or other testing environment, you can test your work before moving it to the production site. Once you're ready to move the changes, you can do it with just one click, and if something goes wrong, you can quickly roll back the changes.

Read Introducing Salto for Jira Cloud and Jira Data Center and Configure Jira faster and cleaner with DevOps to have all the information on how to start with the Salto app.

Salto also allows you to explore all your elements and check out dependencies between them. It is handy when your Jira instance becomes more complex and you want to map all the dependencies between elements.

Read about exploring the Jira configuration with Salto for more information.

In addition, Salto offers the ability to explore all your elements and check dependencies between them. This functionality becomes particularly important when your Jira instance grows and you must map all the dependencies between elements. For more information, read the article  Exploring the Jira configuration with Salto.

Recently, Salto announced support for ScriptRunner. This means simultaneously merging code changes with configuration changes from testing to production. You can read more about this feature and its use cases in the article: Why Your ScriptRunner Scripts Deserve Code Treatment.

Salto has also announced its support for Jira Service Desk. This feature provides the same functionality as Jira. You can read more about it in the article Salto now supports Jira Service Management Cloud.

In summary, Salto provides an excellent tool for implementing DevOps processes into your configuration changes. It is a dream come true for every Jira administrator!

Xporter - Export issues from Jira

Exporting Jira data into a custom report is a frequently asked task. While Jira provides an option to export issues into a file, this method does not offer customizations. You can search for issues by JQL and export the results into one of the available formats, but you won't be able to control the final report.

Xporter - Export issues from Jira is an app that allows you to generate personalized reports, design templates, and schedule reports, among other features. Once you install the Xporter app, you can create reports directly from issues or a single search.

Here is a sample Excel sprint report you can create and share with others. Xporter allows you to insert code into templates for customizing results.

Xporter also has many templates on the Xporter Template Store that are ready to use.

You can download a template and immediately use it or change it to your needs.

I recommend this app if you need to export your data from time to time for release notes, sprint reviews, customer requests, or any other need. Check the 4-minute demo for a short tutorial about this app's capabilities.

Jira Workflow Toolbox

Every Jira administrator knows that as Jira scales up and becomes more complex, it's crucial to have the best tools to assist in building solutions. One of the biggest challenges is managing workflows. While Jira offers good workflow customization options, the Jira Workflow Toolbox app provides additional capabilities for managing complex workflows when things become more difficult.

By offering custom conditions, validators, and post functions, Jira Workflow Toolbox extends the native workflow functionality available in Jira Cloud.

After installation, you will be able to access additional conditions, validators, and post functions that enhance your workflow capabilities:

Three new conditions

• Compare two values condition
• Fields required
• Jira expression condition

Three new validators

• Compare two values validator
• Fields required or changed
• Jira expression validator

Seven new post functions

• Add comment
• Create issue
• Execute remote action
• Send email
• Transition issue
• Update fields
• Update linked issue or sub-task

The app adds a robust expression parser with a constantly expanding library of built-in functions. Instead of creating and managing scripts, you can use easy-to-understand and thoroughly documented functions like subtask() or count(). Moreover, the field codes are reliable, making accessing and processing any issue data effortless.

For instance, if you want to create a new sub-task once your story moves to in-progress,  you won't find the "Create Issue" option in the default Jira post function. However, if you install Jira Workflow Toolbox, you'll be able to enjoy this new functionality.

You can also explore the  Use Case Library for hundreds of examples and more information.

Alternatively, you can use the Jira automation rule to fulfill this request without installing any app. However, if you choose the automation rule option, please note that you are subject to the Automation service limits and the number of executions per month, depending on your plan (on the cloud). Please check the usage calculation and limitations to learn more about usage calculation and limitations.

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Summary

Utilizing apps is an effective way to maximize Jira's potential. Typically, the benefits and return on investment are evident, and the installation and configuration process is straightforward.

This article highlights five apps among the vast range available on the Atlassian marketplace, representing less than 0.1% of the total apps. You should remain up-to-date with new apps, compare them with existing ones, and choose the most suitable app that meets your requirements!