ARIA uses JIRA for tracking issues. ARIA's JIRA page can be found here.
While ARIA's usage of JIRA is pretty standard for the most part, there are a few points to make note of:
1. Issue types
There are five issue types on ARIA's JIRA:
 - Story: A feature or improvement which adds abilities relevant for the user.
 - Bug: A bug in the intended use of an existing feature or ability.
 - Task: Technical tasks, such as missing tests, documentation, tech debts, etc.
 - Sub-Task: A small technical task. May be used to break down stories, bugs or tasks into smaller parts.
 - Epic: A logical grouping of other issues (mostly stories) as a part of a more significant feature.
2. Workflow
The workflow has five states which are self-explanatory (Open, In Progress, Reopened, Resolved, Closed).
The one thing to note here is the difference between Resolved and Closed - While the transition to Resolved is done by the assignee once the task is completed, the transition to Closed should be done by the issue's reporter, once they've verified the issue has indeed been resolved successfully.
3. Fields
Relevant information regarding some specific fields:
 - Fix Version: This field refers to the version in which an issue has been added/fixed (rather than a version for which it is planned for); This field is meant to be set only by the issue's resolver, upon resolution of the issue.
 - Resolution: Resolution types are configured cross-project, and thus there are many such types on Apache's JIRA, some of which are overlapping. Please try to stick to the following types: Fixed, Won't Fix, Duplicate, Cannot Reproduce, Incomplete, Not A Bug.
 - Linked Issues: Similar case to the one of the Resolution field. Please try to stick to the following linking types (and their counterparts): relates to, blocksduplicates.

Guidelines for creating JIRA issues:


1. The ticket title should precisely describe the problem.

"X is broken" is not a helpful description. "X is doing Y instead of Z" is much better.
2. Do not include multiple issues in a single ticket.

Otherwise, it makes it very difficult to have a focused discussion or to track progress. Even if you encountered several issues at once, you should open a separate ticket for each.

If the issues are related to each other, JIRA does give you tools to express this:

First, when you create or edit a ticket you will see a "Linked Issues" field. Here you can specify the exact relationship to the other ticket: whether one is blocking another, duplicating another, etc. JIRA will form the relationship between the tickets on both sides and clearly show it on both tickets. Not that you can add linked issues at any time by clicking "edit".

A less good but quicker solution, which is still better than nothing, is to add just write the name of the other issue in the description or a comment. JIRA will automatically translate it into a link. For example, you can write "See TOSCA-86 for more information."


3. You must include full steps for reproducing the issue in the description.

If possible, provide actual commands to run.

If files are required, please include the files as an attachment to the JIRA, and explain how to use the files.

Try to reduce the problem to the smallest possible use case to make it easier to reproduce the bug and to test the solution.


4. Learn JIRA formatting and preview before posting.

Probably the most important thing to know is how to embed code. It's simple: use "{code}" to start and end code blocks. You can even specify the code language in the beginning to allow for syntax coloring. (For JSON, use "{code:javascript}".)
Before posting, press the "preview" button to see how it will look. It's the small blue rectangle icon under the bottom left of the text box. Is it hard to read? Then press the button again and go back to editing.

Right next to that button is a question mark button with help on formatting. Here's what it shows:


5. Keep ongoing communication in JIRA.

Don't use email to ask about progress or inform others about work, because it won't be kept close to the ticket and may easily get lost, especially if many people are interested in the ticket or working on it.
If you are interested in any ticket, you can add yourself as a watcher to get email notifications. In the upper right corner, under "People" you will see a field named "Watchers". Press "Start watching this issue" to add yourself. You can also see there who else is watching.
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