Beacon for Jira: Status tracking made simple

So, given we’re just put out a couple of big releases, it’s time to do a recap of what’s new and re-introduce the Teams, Work. solution for project and goal status tracking for Atlassian Jira Data Center customers.

In today’s fast-paced world, tracking progress and aligning goals across teams is more critical than ever. Ensuring everyone stays informed and on the same page can be the difference between success and… well… we’ve all been there.

That’s why we’re excited to get Beacon for Jira out there. A Jira Data Center app purpose-built to bring clarity, alignment, and simplicity to your project and goal management.

Track status of work, manage dependencies, communicate progress, align day-to-day work with strategic objectives, and get actionable insights in a lightweight format that works with your team’s existing workflows.

Designed for teams that value focus, control and well, keeping things simple, Beacon for Jira gives the sophistication of modern collaboration tools while integrating seamlessly into your secure, self-hosted Atlassian infrastructure.

Why This, Why Now?¶

Not every organization benefits from complex frameworks like Scaled Agile. While these systems can provide robust reporting for large, interdependent teams, they often introduce unnecessary overhead and rigidity for smaller or more agile organizations. There can be significant overhead, implementing these frameworks requires time, resources, and a willingness to embrace layers of structure that may not suit everyone.

For many, the complexity of Scaled Agile detracts from the ultimate goal: getting stuff done.

Beacon for Jira offers similar alignment and reporting advantages — without the complexity. Track dependencies, align day-to-day work with strategic objectives, and get actionable insights in a lightweight format that works with your team’s existing workflows.

Cool… so what can we do?¶

Projects and Goals: Built to Support How You Work¶

• Projects centralize updates, track progress, and manage milestones.
• Goals align team efforts with broader organizational objectives, offering a clear view of how work ladders up to strategic priorities.
• Seamlessly link projects to goals, ensuring every task contributes to your big-picture vision.

Regular, Actionable Updates¶

Say ‘toodles’ to endless meetings and complex, complicated status reporting.

• Share concise, structured weekly updates for all ongoing projects.
• Track goal progress with monthly reviews, perfect for OKRs or other strategic frameworks.
• Use automatic prompts to keep your team accountable and ensure updates happen on time.

Configurable Reminders¶

Tailor reminders to your team’s unique workflow:

• Get nudges to update project statuses or track goal progress.
• Ensure no updates or deadlines slip through the cracks.
• Need your updates on a Tuesday? No problem!
• Get your updates through Slack or regular reliable email.

Insights: Actionable Intelligence for Every Project¶

Go beyond task tracking to uncover the story behind your progress.

Real-time, insights highlight what’s working and where attention is needed:

• Green: On track — keep the momentum.
• Yellow: Potential risks — monitor closely.
• Red: At risk — take corrective action.
• Blue: Contextual information for deeper understanding.

Key metrics like dependency health, risk management, and goal alignment keep your projects on track.

Private Projects and Goals¶

Collaboration isn’t always public. With private projects and goals supported out of the box, teams can confidently work on sensitive initiatives.

While we are open by default, not every initiative can be made public in your organisation. This feature ensures visibility is granted only where it’s needed, creating a secure and focused environment for confidential projects.

Knowledge¶

Often as we progress through projects and goals we learn things, we make decisions and we capture and deal with risks. Beacon for Jira allows you to record these close to the work, rather than being buried in a Confluence page or held as tribal knowledge. Easily share knowledge with stakeholders, assign owners and use tags to relate knowledge to new work to get them starter faster and build on previous knowledge.

Visualisation¶

Tables of data are great and a really good way to consume a lot of information in one place, but for those that do better with a diagram or a chart, we’ve got your back too. Visualise your search results for projects or goals as a chart tracking over time. Adjust the range, change your criteria, make it yours.

We also think that a hill chart view of dependent work can help shake out issues where dependencies aren’t progressing or are too big to track effectively. Work has two parts, figuring things out and then getting things done. When a dependency stays in one area for too long it can give important insight into what is really happening and where we may need to take action.

Categorisation¶

Tags or topics are used to categorise work and relate things together. Through this powerful mechanism you can associate learnings to new work and give teams a head start on their work. Tags can also be used to group work to easily see how high level initiatives across multiple teams or departments is tracking.

Built for the Atlassian Data Center Environment¶

We understand that many organizations require self-hosted solutions due to compliance, security, or infrastructure needs.

Beacon for Jira is tailored for these environments, combining the power of modern tools with the reliability and security of your own Data Center infrastructure.

Scaled Agile Isn’t for Everyone — But… Alignment Is¶

As we mentioned earlier, Scaled Agile frameworks are designed for large, interdependent teams, and they can come with significant overhead and often — overload. Maybe now is the time to give something else a crack at it?

Beacon for Jira offers a smarter, simpler approach:

• Dependency Management: Link related projects and goals to track risks and delays across teams.
• Hierarchical Goal Tracking: Break down complex objectives into sub-goals for better management and visibility.
• Sophisticated Reporting Without the Complexity: Get real-time insights into project health, risks, and progress.

With our solution, you replicate the alignment and reporting capabilities of Scaled Agile in a simpler, straightforward format tailored to your team’s needs.

Get Started Today¶

With Beacon for Jira, your team doesn’t just track work — they understand it. Whether it’s associating multiple epics with a single project, maintaining private initiatives, or leveraging real-time insights, we help you deliver results.

Explore the benefits of Beacon for Jira today:

• Contact us for a demo.
• Download it from the Atlassian Marketplace.

Align your team, simplify your workflows, and focus on what matters most — getting stuff done.