JIRA is used by many organisations as a Helpdesk system to keep track of their user queries and requests. Over time, it becomes a valuable Knowledge Base. These solved cases will have details on:

• how to replicate the error,
• what was the root cause and
• the desired solution

By opening up the Knowledge Base, it improves productivity by enabling end users to search for the solution first. If it is available, the end user will get his/her issues fixed and the Helpdesk team can handle difficult cases.

For organisations already have this arrangement, it can be further enhanced by tapping onto Confluence.

When tackling FAQs that require a detailed write-up, a new page can be created in Confluence via a standard template. As long as the JIRA issue is mentioned in the Confluence page (see red arrow in diagram below)

a corresponding link will be created in JIRA (see red arrow below)

Users can click on the link to Confluence to read the detailed solution.

The benefits of using Confluence are:

1. rich content can be included (e.g. videos, screenshots, diagrams)
2. content can be easily organised in user-friendly layout
3. easy to search as FAQs can be organised by topics
4. easy to find the solution in a page instead of digging long list of comments (in JIRA)
5. protects sensitive information from public viewing

As a user, do you prefer the red pill or the blue pill?

Solution in JIRA

Solution in Confluence

By investing a small effort in Confluence, it will reduce a big effort in JIRA subsequently.

You can start with a Doc Sprint to jumpstart your Knowledge Base with your own FAQs.