ChitChat: The Importance of BI Integrations
A user's workflow shouldn't change to accommodate a new tool. A new tool should fill a gap in the current workflow and help streamline the user's process. An application without a clearly defined scope eventually overlaps with existing solutions, creating confusion and distress among users. It takes both time and effort to clarify the appropriate situations to use the application, reconcile different use cases and approaches, and resolve incorrect uses. We designed ChitChat with appropriate scopes in mind, implementing key integrations, to fit seamlessly into existing workflows.
What exactly do we mean by "scope?"
Let's look at an example with JIRA. JIRA owns the complete ticketing process, meaning tickets are stored and maintained by the tool. Using a competing ticket solution, such as Trello, for the same purpose within the organization will cause havoc among users. However, JIRA tickets are still extremely useful outside of the JIRA application. They can be linked to and displayed inside other applications, but they are still maintained by JIRA itself.
If you can recognize that the ticketing management should be handled solely by JIRA, but exposure of those tickets outside of the tool is also important, then you understand the correct scope of the application. The scope of the application does not determine where the context of an application is useful. It only describes what section of a workflow the application has absolute control over. The question isn't "Where should we be able to view the information?" The question is "Where should the content be maintained?"
ChitChat respects the appropriate scopes of neighboring applications and allows the flexibility to continue maintaining the scopes of these applications. With integrations to Atlassian JIRA and Confluence and Salesforce Chatter, the information you need is available where you need it, without infringing on your existing workflow.
Examples of Integrations
Let's look at some examples. As we use a BI dashboard, we stumble upon an issue. Using ChitChat, the issue can be identified and a conversation can be made about temporarily working around the problem. However, the IT team uses JIRA to accept issues and resolves them as appropriate. We obviously want the IT team to know of this issue, so we must create a ticket in JIRA as well. Rather than going to JIRA and creating a ticket manually, we can simply export the initial annotation to JIRA. The workflow remains generally identical, but now requires less time and effort. And this comes with the added benefit of the ticket pointing directly to the location of the issue on the dashboard.
In another instance, let's say our dashboard has some confusing calculations on it, some of which are not immediately recognizable. The formulas used, and the reasons to use such formulas, are available in Atlassian Confluence for us to view. However, not all users have a Confluence account, and even fewer have access to the document. We could copy and paste the calculations as a document using ChitChat, but now we have two separate instances of the same information. If the calculations are changed, we must ensure both locations are accurate. Alternatively, ChitChat can sync directly with Confluence and pull a page into the application. The page guarantees accuracy by consistently pulling new updates from Confluence, as well as pushing updates to Confluence if the content is changed in ChitChat.
These approaches allow the JIRA ticket and Confluence document to be maintained in the appropriate location, while also being available in a useful context. Chitchat does not impede on the purposes of other applications. ChitChat offers integrations that seamlessly enhance your workflow without making it convoluted. Our tool is designed specifically to fill the missing pieces in your BI workflow, allowing for a seamless transition between analysis and communication.
To learn more about ChitChat's many commentary features, or to request a demo, click here.
