Getting started with Project Management (PM) data integration

This guide walks through how to connect your first CodeScene project to a project management tool (for example Jira) and configure it so you get meaningful cost and delivery insights, without turning on options you do not need. Please note this is a CodeScene Pro feature.

The examples below use Jira, but the same concepts (cost model, work types, defects) apply to other supported tools such as GitLab Issues and YouTrack.

Please note that support for GitHub issues has been deprecated.

1. Before you start

Make sure these prerequisites are in place so CodeScene can match code changes to issues and costs.

  • Issue keys (for example ABC-123) are included in commit messages, branch names or pull requests.

  • Your PM tool uses labels and/or issue types to distinguish kinds of work (for example Bug, Feature, Improvement).

  • You have access to a user or API token in the PM tool with permission to read issues and their fields.

Why this matters: without issue keys in commits and some way to separate work types, CodeScene cannot link code activity to issues or calculate costs per feature/bug.

2. Enable PM integration in a CodeScene project

PM integration is configured per project in CodeScene.

  1. Open your project in CodeScene.

  2. Go to the PM Integration tab in the project configuration.

  3. Choose your PM tool, for example Jira, GitLab Issues, or YouTrack.

  4. For Jira/YouTrack:

    • Enter the base URL of your PM instance if requested.

    • Enter username and password/API token (CodeScene recommends using an API token as the password).

  5. Click Save and Continue to load the detailed configuration options.

Use case note: configure integration only for projects where you want cost or defect analytics; other projects can stay without PM integration.

3. Map the core fields (minimum configuration)

After saving, you see the detailed configuration for your chosen PM tool. These are the key fields you need to review first.

External Projects

  • Select one or more projects from your PM tool that should feed data into this CodeScene project.

  • Use case: if your repository serves multiple Jira projects, select all the relevant ones so issue IDs referenced in commits are found.

Work In Progress Transition Name

  • Enter the name of the status that means “development has started”, for example In Progress or In Development in Jira.

4. Configure work types (optional but recommended)

Work types tell CodeScene which issues are features, bugs, chores, and so on. This enables analyses like “cost of defects vs features” and “planned vs unplanned work”.

Supported Work Types

  • Map your Jira labels or issue types that represent categories of work (for example “Bug”, “Story”, “Task”, “Support”).

  • CodeScene uses these to build work-type trends and filter analyses.

Use case: configure this when you want separate cost and trend lines for different work categories; if you treat all work as the same, you can keep this minimal.

Defect Work Types

  • Define which labels or issue types should be treated as defects.

  • This configuration is used for defect density and defect cost/trend calculations in CodeScene.

Use case: add all labels/issue types that correspond to bugs or production incidents so CodeScene can show where defects cluster in the codebase.

Rename Work Types

  • Lets you map multiple raw work types into custom analytical categories, such as Planned and Unplanned.

  • For example, you can map “Story” and “Feature” to “Planned”, and “Bug” and “Incident” to “Unplanned” before the data is sent to CodeScene.

Use case: set this up when you are interested in “planned vs unplanned work” views rather than maintaining many fine-grained work types.

5. Save, run an analysis, and validate the data

Once all mandatory fields are configured:

  1. Click Save in the PM Integration configuration.

  2. Trigger a new analysis of the project in CodeScene.

  3. After the analysis completes, inspect:

    • Cost and work-type trends over time.

    • Defect metrics (if you configured Defect Work Types).

    • Delivery metrics such as cycle time and lead time (if you configured Work In Progress and use Delivery Performance).

If you see missing or unexpected data (for example some issues not counted, or wrong work-type categorization), revisit the PM Integration tab and adjust project selection, work types, or defect settings