Jira Project Management vs. Business Process Management (BPM)
In short: Jira supports project management out of the box: you create a space (formerly called project), break the work into work items (formerly called issues), assign them, and track progress. A project is a one-off effort, while a process repeats. Repeating work is better described as a business process. Flower adds business process management (BPM) to Jira: you model the process in BPMN, launch it as often as needed, and Flower creates a Jira work item for every activity.
Last updated: October 2026
| Project | Business process | Program | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequency | Happens once | Repeats regularly | Coordinates several related projects |
| Focus | Delivering a result within scope, time, and budget | Optimizing and refining a standard | Strategic outcomes and business value |
| Typical Jira tool | Jira space with a board or timeline | BPMN model with Flower | Several spaces and shared reporting |
The makers of Jira developed it as bug-tracking software for development teams. Today it is a universal tool for projects, workflows, processes, tasks, and sales leads. This guide explains when to use Jira project management, when to use process and workflow management, and how the two work together.
How to Use Jira for Project Management
Step 1: Create a Jira Space
Choose a Jira template to set up your space. Templates configure the space for the methods your organization uses. If your team works with Scrum, pick the Scrum template, and Jira sets up a default Scrum board that you can customize.
Step 2: Define the Work
The heart of every project is the sum of its tasks. Break your project down into work items. They appear as cards with the information needed to do the job:
- Summarize the piece of work in the card.
- Attach documents or images with additional details.
- Set a priority and due date.
- Break larger items into sub-tasks.
Once the work items exist, identify dependencies so that they do not block your team. You can also divide your project into versions, which work like milestones and simplify release management.
Step 3: Set Up the Team
Set up every project member in Jira before you assign work. Not everybody needs the same access, so permission schemes let you define default permissions instead of setting them per user. Once the team is set up, assign work and monitor capacity to see whether a person has too much or too little to do.
Step 4: Track and Monitor
Jira offers time tracking, timelines, and many reports that answer questions such as: Are tasks about to miss deadlines? Is a dependency causing a bottleneck? Customize the default dashboard to highlight the key figures of your project.
What Are Team-Managed Spaces?
Team-managed spaces (formerly called next-gen projects) are a simple, lightweight type of Jira space. Team members who are space admins can configure them without a Jira administrator. They are quick to create and offer issue tracking, collaboration, custom fields, and reports. They suit teams that need a straightforward solution. Company-managed spaces offer more customization and are configured centrally by Jira administrators.
What Is a Jira Workflow?
A Jira workflow is a set of statuses and transitions that define the stages of a piece of work. A software workflow could have the statuses To Do, In Progress, and Done and transitions such as Start Progress and Resolve. You can customize workflows with additional statuses and transitions, and edit them in the Jira workflow editor. Learn more about the difference between a Jira workflow and a business process.
What Is Jira Automation and What Is It Used For?
Jira Automation runs rules that react to events. Its building blocks are triggers (for example the creation of a work item), conditions, and actions. Rules can also run on a schedule. Automation saves time, reduces errors, and enforces consistent standards. For advanced cases, you can use the Jira REST API, webhooks, and apps such as ScriptRunner.
What Is the Difference Between a Project and a Business Process?
The difference is how often you repeat it. A project is a one-off effort, while a process is repeated regularly. If you reuse a project template a few times, it is a process.
Because projects happen once, they need careful planning and carry a considerable risk, so project teams spend their time making sure the project gets delivered. When you run a process, the focus is on optimization. The risk is low, because a standard process exists for a reason, and the goal is to refine it with regard to cost and time. This is called the continual improvement process.
Projects and processes have a lot in common: both consist of tasks. That is the main source of confusion. If you are assigned a task, you aim to get it done, no matter whether it belongs to a project, a workflow, or a process.
Different Types of Process Management in Jira
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Integration-centric BPM | Focuses on integrating existing systems such as CRM, ERP, and HR systems, with little human involvement. It typically has many process instances with a very short runtime. |
| Document-centric BPM | Used when a document, such as a contract, is the basis of the process: formatting, verification, routing, and signing. It typically has few to medium numbers of instances with a long runtime. Jira suits document workflows, where a work item represents the document. |
| Human-centric BPM | Used when people perform the process, for example with approvals, notifications, and tracking. It typically has few to medium numbers of instances with a long runtime. Flower manages the process, and Jira handles the related human tasks. |
| Project | A special case of human-centric BPM with only one instance and a long runtime. Jira is well suited to manage projects. |
| Program management | Coordinates several related projects toward a common objective, with a focus on strategic outcomes and business value. |
How to Use Jira for Process Management (BPM)
Jira is strong in project and workflow management. A Jira workflow describes the serial status changes of one work item from a task perspective. A process describes multiple activities in sequence or in parallel from a strategic perspective. For business process management in Jira, you install an app from the Atlassian Marketplace: Flower. It lets you draw your value chain processes and track them in Jira.
Step 1: Create a BPMN Process
Choose a Flower template to get started quickly and adjust it later.
You model your process in the graphical BPMN modeler. The Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) is the global standard for process modeling. Flower checks your model against basic rules: green markers mark valid nodes, and yellow and red markers show warnings and errors.
When a process instance is launched, Flower creates one Jira work item for each activity (rectangle). You tell Flower which space and work type to use. If you select nothing, the defaults from the Flower Settings apply. A process model is versioned, and you publish it to make it available to your users.
Step 2: Simulate Your Process
A picture is worth a thousand words, and a moving token is worth more than a stack of static BPMN diagrams. The token simulation helps you understand wait, join, and split semantics and is a good starting point to learn BPMN execution.
Step 3: Launch a Process Instance
Click the play button to bring the model to life. When you hover over an activity, a control lets you create the related Jira work item. It can also make sense to create all work items at once to schedule them on your Jira board for the next team planning. You can also map a work type to the model, so that every new work item of this type starts the process automatically.
Step 4: Track Progress
Once a process has started, the process diagram appears in every related Jira work item. Each activity shows its status and priority, so all participants see where the process is and what comes next.
Which Methods and Tools Can You Use for Jira Project Management?
Project and process management use different methods and tools, but most of them work with Jira and Atlassian. The following list is a selection:
| Method or tool | Description |
|---|---|
| PMI and PMP | The Project Management Institute issues certifications for Project Management Professionals (PMP). |
| Atlassian certifications | Atlassian offers certifications for Jira administrators and other roles. |
| PRINCE2 | A process-based method for effective project management (PRojects IN Controlled Environments). |
| Scrum and Kanban | The most common methods in agile software development. |
| Lean | Minimizes waste and maximizes value by removing unnecessary work. |
| Waterfall | A sequential model in which each phase is completed before the next one starts. |
| Gantt charts | Show tasks against time. The Marketplace offers many Gantt apps. |
| Extreme Project Management (XPM) | Combines agile principles with critical chain project management for high-stakes projects under tight deadlines. |
| Adaptive Project Framework (APF) | Emphasizes flexibility and continuous learning in the face of uncertainty. |
| Critical Path Method (CPM) | Uses a network diagram to find the tasks that are critical for the project and their order. CPM is also used in process management. |
| Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) | Uses buffers and modified scheduling to reduce risk. |
| PERT | Uses a network diagram to identify critical tasks, their dependencies, and the time needed. |
| Earned Value Management (EVM) | Combines cost, schedule, and performance data to measure progress and variances. |
| Resource-based scheduling | Schedules work based on the availability of resources. |
| Feature-driven development (FDD) | Delivers small increments of functionality regularly. |
| Spiral model | Refines the project in repeated spirals of planning, development, and review. |
| Spreadsheets and to-do lists | Still used by almost every project team. |
Which Methods and Tools Can You Use for Jira Process Management?
Business process management also has many methods and tools. Most of them work well with Jira, and some are available as apps on the Atlassian Marketplace:
| Method or tool | Description |
|---|---|
| Business process management (BPM) | A holistic approach to managing and improving business processes with tools, technologies, and methods. |
| Process modelers | The Marketplace offers modelers for notations such as BPMN. Flower also automates the processes. |
| Lean | Minimizes waste and maximizes value. It is also used in project management. |
| Six Sigma | Provides tools to improve the capability of business processes. |
| Critical Path Method (CPM) | Also used in project management. |
| Continuous improvement (Kaizen) | Emphasizes small, incremental changes and the involvement of all employees. |
| Total Quality Management (TQM) | Emphasizes continuous improvement and customer satisfaction, with all employees involved in improving quality. |
| Process mapping | Another word for a process flowchart or process model. It shows who and what is involved in a process. |
| DMN decision tables | A decision editor defines business rules as DMN decision tables. |
| CMMN | The Case Management Model and Notation is a standard of the Object Management Group for representing cases. |
| Form builders | Give the process its face and are essential for document-centric BPM. You can build forms in Jira, and the Marketplace offers many form apps. |
How to Turn Your Jira Project into a Process
Every project passes five process groups. Even agile projects follow these steps, with different names, within a sprint. A sprint in Scrum can also be modeled as a BPMN process because it loops over and over. Since you repeat these phases for every project, you can treat them as a process.
- Project initiation: In a traditional framework like PMBOK, a team develops a project charter, pitches it to management, and gets it approved. Many teams reduce this to a single meeting.
- Project planning: Consider scope, deliverables, timeline, budget, team, communication, and risk. Smaller projects with flexible deliverables need less planning, and an agile approach is suitable.
- Project execution: This is the phase that is most difficult to cast into a process. Jira gives you the flexibility to manage the work.
- Project monitoring: Monitoring progress and bottlenecks helps you catch what you missed during planning. Use a Jira dashboard for ad-hoc tasks. Process-related activities are monitored automatically with Flower.
- Analysis and closure: Evaluate the performance. Did you follow the plan? Did you meet the deadlines and the budget? You ask these questions at the end of every project, and this repeating character makes it a process that you can model in BPMN in Flower.
How to Use Jira for Program Management
Yes, Jira can be used for program management. Program management coordinates several related projects toward a common goal and focuses on strategic outcomes and business value. Project management delivers a specific result within a defined scope, timeline, and budget.
Program management typically involves:
- Aligning the program goals with the business strategy
- Defining and prioritizing the initiatives needed to reach the goals
- Coordinating the work of several projects and teams
- Managing dependencies and risks across projects
- Tracking and reporting the progress of the program
- Adjusting the program to stay on track
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a project and a process?
A project happens once, while a process is repeated regularly. If you reuse a project template several times, it is a process.
Can I use Jira for business process management?
Jira covers projects, workflows, and tasks. With Flower, you add BPMN modeling and execution: every activity of a process becomes a Jira work item.
How do I turn a Jira project into a process?
Describe the repeating phases and work items as a BPMN model and launch an instance each time. See How to Clone Jira Work Items, Epics, and Projects.
About Flower
Flower – Business Process & Workflow Automation (BPMN) for Jira is an app on the Atlassian Marketplace for Jira Cloud and Jira Data Center. It lets you model business processes in BPMN 2.0 and run them in Jira: for every activity of a process, Flower creates a Jira work item, assigns it through swimlanes, shows its status in the process diagram, and continues the process when the work item is resolved. Flower stores all process data in Jira, so your permissions, boards, and reports keep working. Flower is Cloud Fortified and has been on the Atlassian Marketplace for more than ten years.
Start a free 30-day trial on the Atlassian Marketplace or follow the Get Started guide.