Intro

Here are some of my favourite Jira Data Center plugins that simplify day-to-day management and help teams avoid micromanagement.

There aren’t many plugins for Data Center compared to Cloud, which is why all useful ones are doubly worth it.

1. Shared Estimations by Sngular

A minimalistic and convenient plugin for asynchronous estimations—no distractions, just the essentials.
It was released a year ago, so we can say the plugin is very young but already worth attention—more managers should know about it.

How it works:
1) Select estimation method. I usually go with Linear (1–10), where each number equals one work hour or day, depending on the task and your needs.

2) Start estimation.

3) Wait for estimators.
While voting is open, participant avatars are displayed. Sorry, I hid them there.

4) Stop estimation.
Once all required votes are in, the Owner closes voting. They may vote themselves or skip it. In my screenshot, I selected 10.

After closing, you see the vote distribution and a suggested estimation based on the most common choice.

You can also view detailed results—each participant’s name and their vote, helpful for deeper analysis.

If votes vary widely, follow-up discussion is recommended. When votes are similar, asynchronous voting works well.

A recent update introduced anonymous voting, where even the owner can’t see who voted what — only that the vote was submitted. Must be enabled / disabled before the session.

Limitations: Bulk estimation isn't supported yet, and I haven't found an easy way to do it using Jira Automation. If you’ve found a workaround — feel free to share!

The dev team is responsive and helpful. They answered my questions quickly and even updated the docs.

Links: Plugin and documentation.

2. Smart Issue Templates for Jira by AppsDelivered

Helps standardise task and bug report creation. When a template is selected, users see all required fields and helpful prompts.

I use separate templates for New Feature, Improvement, and Bug—each with its own structure and color scheme.

How it works:
1) Create a template. Define who can use it via the Available for field.
2) Set the scope. Choose which issues types / projects are included. Update fields as needed.

You can set Jira Groups and Users if you want to restrict the visibility of the template.

3) Define issue details. Priorities, components, and, of course, the description.

4) Save. The templates will appear as a dropdown in the Create Issue form.

I format my templates using {panel} blocks. While panels don’t handle images well, they help visually structure content.

Example template structure (no background):

{panel:title=The idea and Confluence link|borderStyle=solid|borderColor=#cccccc|titleBGColor=#bad7f7}
Short description of the feature.
{panel}
{panel:title=CRM changes|borderStyle=solid|borderColor=#cccccc|titleBGColor=#bad7f7}
Direct requirements: What must be changed, on which pages, and how.
{panel}
{panel:title=Customer Portal changes|borderStyle=solid|borderColor=#cccccc|titleBGColor=#bad7f7}
Direct requirements: What must be changed, on which pages, and how.
{panel}
{panel:title=Requesters / associated links / any additional info|borderStyle=solid|borderColor=#cccccc|titleBGColor=#bad7f7}
 * support/client, etc{panel}

Make sure to clear the Reporter field — otherwise, tasks will be created under your name (great for KPI, not so much for teambuilding).

Dark theme users: background colors may make text unreadable. If you use only light mode, here’s an example with background:

Example template structure (with background):

{panel:title=The idea and Confluence link|borderStyle=solid|borderColor=#cccccc|titleBGColor=#bad7f7|bgColor=#f1f8ff}
Short description of the feature.
{panel}
{panel:title=CRM changes|borderStyle=solid|borderColor=#cccccc|titleBGColor=#bad7f7|bgColor=#f1f8ff}
Direct requirements: What must be changed, on which pages, and how.
{panel}
{panel:title=Customer Portal changes|borderStyle=solid|borderColor=#cccccc|titleBGColor=#bad7f7|bgColor=#f1f8ff}
Direct requirements: What must be changed, on which pages, and how.
{panel}
{panel:title=Requesters / associated links / any additional info|borderStyle=solid|borderColor=#cccccc|titleBGColor=#bad7f7|bgColor=#f1f8ff}
 * support/client, etc{panel}

Links: Plugin and documentation.

3. Clone Plus for Jira by Appfire

Allows you to clone issues across projects in just a few clicks. Saves time when creating similar tasks to multiple teams or duplicating completed ones with the same specs.

Use case: “Bump ruby to x.x” or “Create a new Git Template” where everything is already specified — components, labels, etc.

Supports multiple cloning levels—including full copies with comments, worklogs, and watchers.

Links: Plugin and documentation.

4. Time Tracker for Jira Cloud & DC by Tempo Software

Generates clear Dashboard gadgets from user Worklogs. Helps visualise timespent per project, issue type, or users.

If you’re not using Dashboards yet — start now. They’re a powerful tool for managing teams and projects. Read about it at Atlassian.

You can group data by any field, including Custom Fields and Sprints.

Available reports and gadgets:

• Time Sheet Report and Gadget — provides details to analyze workloads by displaying summaries of worked hours in Jira.
• Project Pivot Report and Gadget — displays a summary of worked hours in a project of a certain period.
• Timespent Report and Gadget — displays the total time spent per issue in a single-column table.
• Worked Time Chart Gadget — visualize time spent on issues in a pie chart.
• Flexible Reports — create other types of reports and gadgets like Time Entry, Timesheet, Calendar, Timespent, and more.

It is possible to display information by week or by month.

Example: Worklogs by Issue Type for the current month, grouped by user:

You can subscribe to reports via email from the Details section.

Links: Plugin and documentation.

5. Issue History Collector – See History by Appfire

While the previous plugin focuses on worklogs, this one analyses issue status transitions. It helps measure the full journey from planning to release (Time to Market). This kind of analysis helps identify weak points in processes that require optimisation or adjustment.

At the Jira Project you can filter reports by Issues or Users, and group by any chosen field.

In my example, the report is by issues:

Results can be exported to Excel.

Two new tabs appear in the issue view: User/Status Statistics and Status/User Statistics.

Global Admins can set working hours to exclude nights and weekends.

Limitations: If you manage multiple Jira projects, you’ll need to generate reports separately for each one.

Links: Plugin and documentation.

Conclusion

There are plenty of Jira plugins out there, but not all of them can be adapted to a team’s specific needs. Share your favourite and most useful ones in the comments or separate posts — let the world know about them!