I cannot believe a month has already passed since we welcomed in the ICYMI series. But when a new month begins, we need to make sure we look back at the previous and all the amazing things that have happened in the ecosystem that is Atlassian. This blog is not going to be a complete catch up of everything I or someone in the community has noticed over the last month, but more on the larger release items or the new EAP & other important announcements from Atlassian.

With so many updates, we’ll go ahead and take a look over each of the following four tracks:

• Agile & DevOps.

• Work Management & Collaboration.

• Service Management.

• Platform.

So without further or do, let’s get started!

In Case You Missed It

February 2024 has been another busy month for Atlassian. In total of 71 updates across all of their products with a high focus in Confluence, according to their product update log.

Agile & DevOps

Figma designs get improvements within Jira. You’ll now find an extra icon towards the top of an issues which can help directly link. While this is just for Jira Software projects for now, you’ll be able to easily find any designs linked on an issue. You can also track any updates on a design directly from an issue. Some further improvements have recently come to designs including better automation opportunities and JQL specifically for designs.

Jira Product Discovery gets global fields - EAP. Atlassian have launched a new EAP for JPD users. If you find yourself using multiple JPD projects, and want a better way to standardise the management of custom fields between these projects then here is your chance to become part of the EAP. This feature will soon bring JPD projects in line with all other Jira projects. Click on this link to review the community post.

Edit completed sprint details. Starting February, Users of Jira will be able to now edit completed sprint details. From your Sprint report, go to More [...] > Edit sprint. This will be incredibly helpful for teams that are updating team names or starting fresh in other ways.

Work Management & Collaboration

Confluence has seen some increased attention around the use of images within pages. Users now have increased control of images. Starting the rollout this month, users will now be able to seamlessly integrate images into text removing the blocks restricting the flow of content. Users will also have additional controls like;

• Full control: Add borders, set alternative text, and link your images with ease.

• Dynamic sizing: Images automatically adjust to fit your content, ensuring a smooth visual experience.

• Streamlined layout options: Find all image layout tools conveniently grouped together in the image toolbar for a more efficient workflow.

Atlassian close the EAP on mission control in Confluence. Premium or Enterprise admins in Confluence will soon have their admin console transformed with their very own mission control centre. The mission control, will help show every admin the most important metrics of their Confluence system to help monitor and scale every Confluence.

Service Management

Jira Service Management projects get calendar EAP. Atlassian are running a new EAP enabling JSM agents to use a new calendar view when working with issues. You’ll be able to schedule issues in the calendar and view your work across coming months, weeks or days. It’s a great way for team members to plan, track, and prioritize work, all while mitigating potential roadblocks. For all information, follow this link to the community post.

Services can now be categorised. The service type is a label added to services to help categorize their nature. While it has no technical impact on the performance of the service. This is the first step in the journey towards synchronization with Compass services. Currently, a service can be categorized as a software service, business service, application, or capability. Atlassian also claim, over the coming months, they will be making several improvements to the services within JSM projects. My guess is that this is to bring JSM services more in line with Compass.

JSM agents are now able to edit request forms without re-opening the form to the customer. If you need to make edits, just click edit and make the changes without worrying the customer can do the same. If you do need just edits, select Open customer edits. Atlassian also made improvements to form settings so you can understand and see your selected preferences much more clearly.

Read more about opening customer edits on a form, or about form states

Platform

Data security policies have had some great attention this month. Inside Atlassian Access, security policies now have the ability to block public links from within Confluence. These controls are both at the space and instance level. To understand more, follow Learn about preventing public links.

Policies can also now block individual pages or blogs as well as entire space exports. Admins are now able to block exports of pages and blogs from Confluence spaces via PDF, CSV, HTML, Word, and XML in Confluence. Previously, the data export rule allowed customers to block exports directly from pages and blogs but didn’t block users from export of that content from Confluence spaces. With this change, exports of pages and blogs will be blocked at both the page and space level.

Learn more about preventing data exports

Which one of the latest updates is your favourite? Until the next time.