Slicemap documentation

Get started

1. Install Slicemap from the Atlassian Marketplace (Jira admin). Every site gets a free trial through Atlassian. After that it is $8 a month for up to 10 users, then billed per user.
2. Open a project and choose Story map in the project sidebar. If the project has no saved map yet, Slicemap opens a new map of that project straight away, named after the project key (for example "WEB story map"), with releases as the rows. Otherwise it opens the project's first saved map.
3. For a map across several projects, open Apps > Slicemap, click Settings, choose Any JQL (several projects, a team, a label), type a query and click Use this JQL.
4. Arrange the map (activities, epic order, personas, capacity) and click Save map so your team sees the same map next time.

Epics become the backbone across the top, releases or sprints become the slices down the side, and stories sit in the cell where their epic and slice meet, in Jira rank order.

Reading the map

• Backbone: one column per epic. The column header shows the epic's summary and key, how many of its cards are done (for example 3/8) and a progress bar. Click the key to open the epic in a new tab. The last column, No epic, holds cards without an epic.
• Activities: optional bands above the epics that group them into the steps of your user's journey (see below).
• Slices: one row per release or sprint, plus Not scheduled. Each row header shows the number of stories, how many are done, the story points (and the capacity, if you set one) and how many stories are unestimated. Click the arrow at the start of a row to collapse or expand it.
• Cards: each card shows the summary, the key (click it to open the work item in a new tab), the work type if it is not a Story, the persona, the assignee's initials and the story points (a dash means not estimated). A card that is in several releases shows in the earliest one with a +1 (or more) marker; hover it to see the other releases.

Slicemap shows epics, stories, tasks and bugs. Sub-tasks are left out. Epics that only appear as the parent of a card in scope are added to the backbone too.

Choose the slices

Pick the rows with the Releases, Sprints and No slices buttons at the top, or under Slices (rows) in Settings.

• Releases (fix versions): unreleased releases, earliest release date first (releases without a date come last). Each row shows its due date. Turn on Released at the top to add released releases at the end, marked Released. Archived releases are never shown. Releases with the same name in several projects become one row, so a multi-project map can plan a shared release. Such a release counts as released only when every project has released it.
• Sprints of a board: pick a scrum board under Settings. The board's active sprint comes first (marked Active), then its future sprints in board order, each with its end date. Closed sprints are not shown. If you click Sprints before a board is picked, Settings opens so you can choose one. On a new project map, the project's first scrum board is picked for you.
• No slices (backbone only): one row, All stories, with every card under its epic.

Not scheduled holds cards with no release (in release mode) or no open sprint (in sprint mode).

Some cards are not placed on the map, and a note under the map counts them:

• In release mode, cards that are only in released releases while Released is off.
• In sprint mode, cards in a sprint of another board, and done cards whose sprints are all closed.

Move cards

Drag a card to another cell. Slicemap changes everything the new cell stands for in a single Jira edit, then ranks the card where you dropped it:

• Epic: the card's parent becomes the column's epic. Dropping on No epic removes the parent.
• Release: the card leaves the release it was shown in and joins the target release. Any other releases it belongs to are kept. Dropping on Not scheduled removes the release it was shown in.
• Sprint: the card's Sprint field is set to the target sprint. Dropping on Not scheduled moves it to the backlog.
• Persona: with Persona lanes on, the card's persona label is swapped for the target lane's label. Dropping on No persona removes it.
• Rank: drop onto a card to place the moved card just before it; drop on the empty part of a cell to place it at the end.

The card moves on screen at once. Slicemap then reads the card back from Jira and shows where it really is. A banner confirms the move, for example "WEB-42 moved: epic Checkout, Release 2." If Jira kept something different (a workflow rule, a screen without the Sprint or Fix versions field, missing permission), the banner says what, for example "Jira put WEB-42 in Not scheduled, not Release 2." If Jira refuses the edit, the card goes back to where it was and the banner shows Jira's reason.

Moves are made as you, so you can only move cards Jira lets you edit.

In a multi-project map, a card can only move into a release its own project has. If its project has no release with that name, Slicemap tells you so and the card stays put. Use + Add release to create it in every project on the map.

To reorder the backbone, drag an epic header onto another epic header. The order is part of the map, so click Save map to keep it.

Add stories from the map

Click + Story at the bottom of any cell, type a summary and press Enter (or click Add). Shift+Enter adds a new line, Escape or Cancel closes the box. Slicemap creates the story in Jira with that cell's epic, release or sprint and persona, ranks it after the last card in the cell, and shows the new key in the banner.

• Slicemap creates the project's Story work type, or its first story-level work type if there is no Story.
• On a map whose cards come from several projects, add the story under an epic so Slicemap knows which project it belongs to.
• Summaries can be up to 255 characters.

Add a release

In release mode, the Not scheduled row has + Add release. Type a name and Slicemap creates that release in every project that has cards on the map (or in the map's project). Projects that already have a release with that name are skipped. You need the Administer projects permission in each project; if a project refuses, the banner names it.

Activities

Activities group epics into the steps of your user's journey, such as "Find something", "Buy it" and "Get it". In Settings, under Activities (groups of epics):

1. Click + Activity, give it a name and a color.
2. Tick the epics that belong to it. An epic belongs to one activity at a time, so ticking it moves it from any other activity.
3. Add more activities in journey order. Their bands appear above the epics, in the order you added them.

Epics that are in no activity follow on the right. Click Remove to delete an activity (its epics stay on the map). A map can have up to 30 activities.

Personas and persona lanes

A persona is a Jira label. In Settings, under Personas, click + Persona and set a color, a Persona name (for example "Shopper") and a Jira label (for example "persona-shopper"). Jira labels are one word, so spaces turn into dashes as you type. Two personas can't use the same label. A map can have up to 12 personas.

• With lanes off, each card shows its persona as a colored tag.
• Turn on Persona lanes at the top to split every slice into a lane per persona, plus No persona. The checkbox is available once the map has a persona.
• Dragging a card between lanes removes its old persona label and adds the new one. Its other labels are not touched.

Capacity

Under Capacity per slice (story points) in Settings, enter how many story points each release or sprint can take. The row header then shows points against capacity with a bar, and an Over capacity tag when the slice holds more points than that. Leave a box empty for no capacity.

Slicemap reads story points from the "Story point estimate" field (team-managed projects) or "Story Points" (company-managed projects). Cards without points count as unestimated in the row header.

Hide done, refresh and live updates

• Hide done hides done cards. A done epic is hidden too unless it still has open cards. Epic progress (for example 3/8) still counts the hidden done cards, and the status at the top shows how many were hidden.
• Refresh reloads every card from Jira.
• While the map is open and visible, Slicemap checks Jira every 30 seconds for cards that changed in scope and updates them in place, so changes other people make show up without a reload.

Save and share maps

• Changes to a map (scope, slices, activities, epic order, personas, capacity, hide done) apply on screen straight away. Click Save map to keep them. The button appears whenever there is something to save.
• Pick a saved map from the menu at the top left. On a project page the menu lists the maps for that project (including JQL maps that name the project). Apps > Slicemap lists every saved map on the site. If you switch maps with unsaved changes, Slicemap asks before discarding them.
• Everyone on the site can open a saved map. The person who created a map saves changes to it. Anyone else sees Save as new map, which saves their version as a separate map with " (copy)" added to the name. Save as new map is also in Settings.
• The creator can delete a map with Delete map in Settings. Deleting a map never changes any Jira work item.
• A site can have up to 200 saved maps.

Big backlogs

Cards load in pages of 100, and the status at the top counts them as they arrive. Most cards to load in Settings sets the limit for a map: 2,000 by default, up to 5,000. If a map reaches its limit, a banner says so; raise the limit or narrow the project or JQL query.

Licensing and trials

Slicemap is paid through Atlassian, with a free trial. Pricing per month (annual billing is 10 times the monthly price):

Once a site has 11 or more users, every user is billed, each band at its own rate.

If the subscription is not active, Slicemap shows Slicemap needs an active subscription instead of the map. A Jira admin can start or renew it in Apps > Manage apps. Saved maps are kept and come back once the subscription is active.

Permissions and data

• Slicemap runs on Atlassian's Forge platform and sends nothing to any outside server. The app has no external network permissions, sets no third-party cookies and loads no outside scripts.
• Every read and edit in Jira is made as the signed-in person, so people only see and move what Jira already allows them to.
• Card details (summary, status, epic, releases, sprints, labels, story points, assignee) are read from Jira while the map is open. They are not stored by the app.
• The app stores saved maps (name, project or JQL query, slice and lane settings, activities, epic order, personas, capacity, the creator's Atlassian account id and the last change time) and the ids of your site's Sprint and story point fields, in Forge storage for your site.

Jira permissions the app asks for, and why:

• Read Jira work: load cards and epics, re-read a card around a move, list releases, find the Sprint and story point fields, fill the project picker and check JQL queries.
• Write Jira work: move a card (epic, release, sprint and persona label in one edit) and create stories with + Story.
• Read and write project versions: list releases and create one with + Add release.
• Read boards, sprints and projects (Jira Software): the board picker and the board's sprints.
• Write issue rank (Jira Software): place a card where you drop it.
• App storage: saved maps and the cached field ids.

Limits and known gaps

• Up to 5,000 cards per map.
• The backbone is built from epics.
• Sprint rows come from one board per map.
• + Add release needs the Administer projects permission in Jira.
• Moving a card between sprints needs the Sprint field on the site.
• Up to 200 saved maps per site, 30 activities and 12 personas per map.

FAQ

Does Slicemap change my Jira data? Only when you move a card, add a story or add a release. Each of those is a normal Jira edit made as you. Opening, arranging, saving and deleting maps never changes work items.

Why did my card land somewhere other than where I dropped it? Jira kept a different value, usually because of a workflow rule, an edit screen without the Sprint or Fix versions field, or permissions. The banner after the move tells you exactly what Jira kept.

Why is a card missing from the map? It may be done while Hide done is on, only in released releases while Released is off, in a sprint of another board, or past the map's Most cards to load limit. Sub-tasks are never shown. The note under the map and the status at the top count hidden cards.

Can one map cover several projects? Yes. On Apps > Slicemap, use Any JQL (several projects, a team, a label). Releases with the same name in each project become one row.

How many maps can we have? Up to 200 per site, as many per project as you like within that.

Can other people change my map? They can open it and rearrange it on their screen, but only you can save over it. Others save their version as a new map.

Uninstalling and your data

Your Jira work items, releases and labels are normal Jira data and stay after you uninstall. When the app is uninstalled, Atlassian deletes Slicemap's stored data (saved maps and cached field ids) for your site.

Support

Open a request at https://greatwork.company/support or email hello@greatwork.company. First response within 1 business day.