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PM Scoring for Jira

Complete user and admin documentation

Version 1.0.0 · Updated April 2026

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1. Introduction

PM Scoring for Jira is a Forge-hosted issue panel that lets product managers prioritise work using industry-standard scoring frameworks — RICE, WSJF, ICE, and MoSCoW — directly inside the Jira issue view. Every score is calculated live, persisted per issue, and configurable per Jira item type by your admin. The app captures not only the score but the full context behind it: notes, risks, assumptions, success metrics, stakeholders, release plans, and links to external documentation.

Who it's for

  • Product managers who want a single source of truth for prioritisation conversations inside Jira.
  • Engineering leads and project managers who need to see the rationale behind a score, not just the number.
  • RTEs and SAFe practitioners who run WSJF estimation in PI planning.
  • Solo founders and lean teams who want lightweight scoring without leaving Jira.

2. Getting started

2.1 Installation

  1. Open your Jira site as a site admin.
  2. Go to Apps → Explore more apps, search for PM Scoring, and click Install.
  3. Approve the requested permissions when prompted.
  4. Once installed, open any Jira issue — the PM Scoring panel appears in the issue content area.
No additional configuration is required to start scoring. The panel falls back to RICE with all sections visible until your admin tunes it per issue type.

2.2 Entry points

The app exposes two surfaces:

Issue panel (every Jira issue)
Found in the issue content area. This is where day-to-day scoring happens.
Admin settings page
Found at Jira Settings → Apps → PM Scoring Settings. Site admins use this to choose a scoring framework per Jira issue type, decide which sections are visible, and pre-fill default acceptance criteria.

2.3 Scoring your first issue

  1. Open any Jira issue.
  2. Scroll to the PM Scoring panel.
  3. The Item Type section auto-detects the issue type from Jira and loads the framework configured by your admin (default: RICE).
  4. Drag the sliders or type values to set your inputs — the score updates live as you change them.
  5. Click Save when you're done. The score and all context are persisted per Jira issue.

3. Interface overview

3.1 Header bar

  • PM Toolkit branding with the current app version.
  • ? button — opens the in-app help dialog with framework explanations.
  • Save button — persists all current values. A green SAVED indicator confirms a successful save.

3.2 Collapsible sections

Below the header, the panel is organised into collapsible sections. Each section header shows a badge indicating completion or item count. Click any header to expand or collapse:

  • Item Type — the auto-detected Jira issue type (Task, Story, Bug, Epic, etc.).
  • Priority Score — the active scoring framework with live score.
  • User Story — As / I want / So that statement (visibility configurable per type).
  • Acceptance Criteria — checklist of pass/fail conditions.
  • Success Metrics — measurable outcomes with baseline and target.
  • Risks & Assumptions — risks (with severity) and assumptions.
  • Stakeholders — requester, executive sponsor, approvers.
  • Release Planning — version, target quarter, feature flag.
  • Documentation — links to PRD, Design, Tech Spec, Research, and other resources.

3.3 Section visibility

Your admin chooses which sections are visible for each Jira item type. As an end user you can also collapse any section to reduce visual clutter — your collapsed/expanded preference is remembered locally per item type.

4. Scoring frameworks

PM Scoring supports four industry-standard frameworks. Your admin selects which framework is the default for each Jira issue type — the panel will then display that framework's inputs automatically.

4.1 RICE

RICE (Reach × Impact × Confidence ÷ Effort) is the default framework and is best suited for evaluating quantifiable initiatives such as feature requests.

  • Reach — number of users or events affected per time period.
  • Impact — magnitude of effect per user (0.25 minimal · 0.5 low · 1 medium · 2 high · 3 massive).
  • Confidence — how sure you are about the estimates, 0–100%.
  • Effort — person-months of work required.

Formula: (Reach × Impact × Confidence%) ÷ Effort

4.2 WSJF (Weighted Shortest Job First)

WSJF is the SAFe-recommended cost-of-delay-per-job-size formula, ideal for PI planning and capacity-bound backlogs.

  • Business Value — relative business or revenue impact (1–10).
  • Time Criticality — urgency, decay if delayed (1–10).
  • Risk Reduction / Opportunity Enablement — knowledge gained or risks resolved (1–10).
  • Job Size — relative effort (1–10).

Formula: (Business Value + Time Criticality + Risk Reduction) ÷ Job Size

4.3 ICE

ICE is a faster, lighter alternative to RICE — appropriate for spike triage, growth experiments, and quick comparisons.

  • Impact — magnitude of effect (1–10).
  • Confidence — certainty in the estimate (1–10).
  • Ease — inverse of effort, how easy to ship (1–10).

Formula: Impact × Confidence × Ease

4.4 MoSCoW

MoSCoW is a categorical priority bucket rather than a numeric score. It's best used when the team needs to communicate must-do vs. nice-to-have to stakeholders.

  • Must — non-negotiable for this release.
  • Should — important but not essential.
  • Could — desirable if time permits.
  • Won't — explicitly out of scope for this cycle.

5. Item type detection

The Item Type section auto-fills from the Jira issue's type — Task, Story, Bug, Epic, Sub-task, or any custom type your project defines. The panel uses this to look up which scoring framework and which sections to display, based on the configuration your admin set in Workflow Configuration by Type.

If the issue's type has no configuration yet, the panel falls back to RICE with all sections visible.

6. Priority score

The Priority Score section is the heart of the panel.

  • The current score is shown both on the section header (as a badge) and inside the section as a large number next to a coloured framework chip.
  • For numeric frameworks (RICE, WSJF, ICE) the score recalculates instantly on every input change.
  • Sliders accept both pointer drag and keyboard arrow keys — useful for fine-tuning a single unit at a time.
  • The framework chip (RICE, WSJF, ICE, MoSCoW) shows which formula is active. The framework is set by your admin per Jira issue type and is read-only inside the issue panel.

7. Notes

Every framework includes a free-form Notes textarea for the rationale behind the score — what changed, what assumptions you made, and any context the next reviewer should know.

  • The character counter (e.g. 277/1000) updates as you type.
  • The hard limit is 1000 characters per note.
  • Notes are saved together with the score — there is no separate "save notes" action.

8. Risks & assumptions

Capture the known unknowns alongside the score so future reviewers see the same picture you did.

8.1 Risks

  1. Click + Add risk to insert a new risk row (up to 25 per issue).
  2. Pick a severity from the dropdown — Low, Medium, High, or Critical.
  3. Enter a one-line description of the risk.
  4. Optionally add a mitigation in the field below.
  5. Click the red × to remove a row.

8.2 Assumptions

  1. Click + Add assumption to insert a new row (up to 25 per issue).
  2. Type the assumption.
  3. Tick the checkbox to mark an assumption as validated.
  4. Click the red × to remove a row.

9. User story

When the User Story section is enabled for the current item type, you'll see a structured As / I want / So that template:

  • As a — the persona or role.
  • I want — the goal in user language.
  • So that — the value or outcome.

The three fields are independent — leave any of them empty and the others still save.

10. Acceptance criteria

Acceptance criteria are stored as a checklist of pass/fail conditions.

  • Click + Add criterion to add a new line (up to 25 per issue).
  • Type the criterion text.
  • Tick the checkbox once the criterion is verified.
  • Your admin can pre-seed default acceptance criteria for each item type — those defaults appear automatically on new issues of that type.

11. Success metrics

Track measurable outcomes alongside the qualitative criteria. Each metric row has three fields:

  • Metric name — what you're measuring (e.g. "Activation rate").
  • Baseline — current value before this work.
  • Target — the value you expect after.

You can add up to 25 metrics per issue.

12. Stakeholders

Capture who requested the work and who needs to approve it:

  • Requester — free-text "Who requested this?"
  • Executive sponsor — the senior person with budget authority.
  • Approvers — type a name and press Enter to add an approver chip. Click the × on a chip to remove it.

13. Release planning

Tie the work to a target release:

  • Target version — e.g. v2.4.0.
  • Target quarter — e.g. Q1 2026.
  • Feature flag — the flag identifier used for staged rollout (e.g. enable_new_feature).

15. Save & persistence

15.1 Explicit save

Click the Save button in the panel header at any time. A green SAVED badge appears next to the button to confirm the round-trip succeeded.

15.2 Autosave

Edits made to text fields are also autosaved after a short debounce (~3 seconds) so an accidental tab close won't lose your work. The explicit Save button stays available for users who prefer a manual confirmation.

15.3 What is stored

All scoring data is stored per Jira issue inside Atlassian's Forge-hosted key-value store. The data lives within your Atlassian instance — it does not leave Atlassian's infrastructure at any point. See Privacy & Security for details.

16. Admin configuration

Site admins manage org-wide settings at Jira Settings → Apps → PM Scoring Settings.

16.1 Workflow configuration by type

This is the core admin screen. For each Jira issue type (Task, Story, Bug, Epic, Sub-task, plus any custom types in your projects) you can configure:

Scoring framework

Pick one of RICE, WSJF, ICE, or MoSCoW as the default for that issue type. End users see this framework auto-loaded when they open any issue of that type.

Visible sections

Use the toggle switches to enable or disable each section per item type. Toggling a section off hides it from end users for that type — useful when, say, your Bug issues don't need a Stakeholders section.

  • User Story
  • Acceptance Criteria
  • Success Metrics
  • Risks & Assumptions
  • Stakeholders
  • Release Planning
  • Documentation

Default acceptance criteria

Pre-seed acceptance criteria for an issue type. Click + Add criterion and type the criterion text — every new issue of that type will start with these criteria already populated, ready to be ticked off.

16.2 When changes take effect

Configuration changes are saved instantly and apply to every new issue panel rendered after the save. Existing issue data is never overwritten — your end users keep what they previously entered, and only see the new defaults on issues they open for the first time.

17. In-app help

The ? button in the panel header opens an in-app help dialog explaining each scoring framework, what the inputs mean, and tips for the panel itself. This is meant for end users who want a quick refresher without leaving the issue.

18. Light & dark themes

The panel automatically follows your Jira theme — if you've enabled dark mode in Jira, the panel renders dark. Switching themes inside Jira is reflected in the panel without a refresh.

19. Performance

The panel is built on Atlassian's Forge platform with a deliberately small bundle:

  • Total panel assets: ~265 KB (well under Atlassian's 500 KB recommendation).
  • Time-to-interactive: typically under 6 seconds inside a fully loaded Jira issue.
  • Save round-trip: under 5 seconds end-to-end on a typical broadband connection; resilient on Fast 3G.
  • No external network egress — every request stays inside Atlassian's infrastructure, which means no third-party CDNs, no analytics scripts, and no cross-site tracking.

20. License states

  • Active — full functionality, all sections, all frameworks.
  • Trial — full functionality during the Atlassian trial period; the panel shows a small trial-end indicator a week before expiry.
  • Inactive / unlicensed — the panel renders a friendly upgrade prompt with a link to the Atlassian admin billing page. Existing data is preserved and re-appears once a license is activated.

21. Privacy & security

PM Scoring is a Forge-hosted app that runs entirely inside Atlassian's infrastructure:

  • No external servers. The app makes zero outbound network requests to third parties.
  • Forge-hosted storage. All data lives in Atlassian's Forge key-value store; data residency follows your Jira instance's chosen region.
  • Encrypted at rest and in transit. AES-256 at rest, TLS 1.2+ in transit — both provided by the Atlassian Forge platform.
  • Tenant-isolated. Cross-tenant access is architecturally impossible at the platform level.
  • No PII logged. The app does not log user email, display name, or any personal identifier.

For full legal documents see our Privacy Policy, End User License Agreement, and Security Statement.

22. Troubleshooting

The panel shows the wrong framework or wrong sections

The framework and visible sections are configured per Jira issue type by your site admin. Ask them to open Jira Settings → Apps → PM Scoring Settings and adjust the settings for the relevant issue type. Changes take effect immediately on the next panel render.

I clicked Save but my data doesn't appear after refresh

Confirm you saw the green SAVED badge after clicking Save — that's the success confirmation. If you didn't see it, your network may have dropped. Try saving again. If the issue persists, see Support.

I can't add more than 25 risks (or assumptions, criteria, metrics)

Each list section is capped at 25 items per issue to keep the UI scannable and the storage footprint small. If you find this limit constraining, please let us know via support — we welcome the feedback.

My notes get trimmed at 1000 characters

The Notes field has a hard 1000-character limit by design. For longer narratives, consider linking to a PRD or Confluence page from the Documentation section instead.

What happens to my scoring data when I delete a Jira issue?

The app listens for Jira issue-deletion events and automatically purges the corresponding scoring data. There's nothing for you to clean up manually.

What happens when the admin uninstalls PM Scoring?

On uninstall, the app's lifecycle handler clears all org-level configuration (frameworks, visible-section choices, default criteria) automatically. Issue-level scoring data follows Atlassian's standard Forge data lifecycle.

23. FAQ

Which framework should I pick for my issues?

If you're not sure, start with RICE for feature work, WSJF for SAFe-style PI planning, ICE for quick experimentation, and MoSCoW when you need a categorical bucket rather than a number. You can always change the framework per issue type in admin settings.

Can different issue types use different frameworks?

Yes — that's the core admin feature. Tasks can use RICE while Epics use WSJF and Bugs use ICE, all in the same Jira project.

Can I export my scoring data?

Yes. The app exposes an authenticated exportData resolver that returns the full scoring payload for a list of issue IDs in JSON. This is also how the GDPR Article 15 right-of-access request is fulfilled.

Can I bulk-update scores across many issues?

Yes — the app supports bulk updates of up to 25 issues per request. Bulk update is currently exposed only via the resolver API, not the UI; we're tracking UI access in our roadmap.

Does PM Scoring write back to a Jira field?

The score is stored alongside the Jira issue using Atlassian's standard issue-property API (com.pmtoolkit.scoring). This means the score is queryable via JQL property search and survives issue cloning and project moves.

Will it integrate with Confluence?

The Documentation section accepts any HTTPS URL — Confluence, Figma, Notion, Google Docs, anything works. A native Confluence macro is on the roadmap for a future release.

Does PM Scoring support planning poker?

Real-time multi-user poker sessions are on the roadmap. The current release focuses on single-user scoring with persistent context.

Where is my data stored?

In whichever Atlassian region your Jira instance is hosted. PM Scoring uses Atlassian's Forge key-value store and follows the data-residency choices Atlassian gives your site.

24. Support

We aim to respond to critical issues within 24 hours and to all other requests within five business days.