Allegra Vs. Jira – The Comparison of Better Workflow Management Software

Do you know Jira and are you looking for powerful software for process and project tracking as an alternative? Or would you like to introduce a new solution for successful project management, have come across Jira and are looking for a Jira alternative that you can also operate on your own servers (on premises)?

Sirvez took a close look at both team collaboration tools and compared them. You will find the result clearly categorized in the following article.

For those in a hurry: the most important differences

From a bird’s eye view, there are three main differences between the Jira alternative Allegra and Jira with otherwise many similarities:

• Allegra and Jira are both available as software as a service in the cloud. Allegra can, however, also be purchased and installed and operated in-house (self-hosting / on premises).
• Jira is a tool for managing work in teams. Allegra offers the same functionality, but is also a fairly complete project management tool with Gantt charts, Kanban and Scrum support and the option of resource planning.
• Allegra is less common and offers fewer plug-ins and integrations.

Allegra is at least as powerful and easy to use as Jira in the area of ​​task management, labor management, as a service desk and ticket system, but can do a lot more if required. It has a version-capable built-in wiki (similar to Confluence) and supports agile methods as well as classic project management. In the following we take a closer look at the two project management tools.

1. Cloud and self-hosting

Jira keeps its data on servers in the USA and guarantees compliance with German data protection standards. The cloud servers for Allegra are available to European customers in Frankfurt and Paris and are therefore subject to strict European data protection guidelines.

The data center in which the data is stored in Allegra is certified according to the ISO / IEC 27001 and DIN EN ISO 9001 standards and approved for order-related data processing. This guarantees Allegra users the highest security standards. The data transmission between the data center and the end device is encrypted using the secure SSL method.

Allegra users are always informed about where their data is stored, how it is stored and what it is used for. This guarantees data security and attaches great importance to the protection of company knowledge.

2. Introduction, support and integration

Everyone can download Allegra and try it out for free. Alternatively, you can request your own test instance in the cloud from the provider. From a certain license volume onwards, the provider also helps with the adaptation and initial configuration of the tool during the test phase.

With Jira, too, you can get an impression of the software without any obligation or cost.

The American-speaking customer support from Allegra will advise you by phone, email, contact form and with the help of web conferences on configuration and application questions. The introduction of the software is made much easier and faster by an onboarding package that is included in the license costs and takes several hours.

Because every Allegra customer receives their own dedicated virtual server, the solution can be easily integrated into the existing IT infrastructure. Customer-specific extensions can be added via the diverse APIs, e.g. for integration with ERP, CRM and CI / CD systems. There are a number of out-of-the-box integrations for single sign-on and CI / CD systems such as Gitlab and Jenkins.

3. Perspectives and views

Jira and Allegra offer different views of projects and tasks. Both team collaboration tools have a board view. Jira thus maps a workflow management system that is created in the form of cards.

The Allegra (Kanban) board view also contains the task status, which shows the user at a glance which tasks are planned, active, completed or reviewed. This enables clear and cooperative project work.

4. Task management

Both Allegra and Jira offer task lists that differ from one another in terms of their range of functions. In contrast to Jira, the Allegra task list has the option of creating sub-tasks of any depth in the hierarchy; with Jira there is only one level with subtasks. Otherwise the configuration options of the two tools are comparable. The options for searching and filtering processes are similarly extensive.

Both tools are top class when it comes to task management for teams. Allegra also offers the advantage that context menus are available in many places in the user interface and you can work with drag & drop.

5. Project management

With Jira, task dependencies can be defined, which are shown in the form of arrows in the timeline. The difference to the predecessor / successor function of Allegra in the Gantt chart consists of the following features:

Moving a task within the Gantt chart has direct and immediate temporal effects on the subsequent tasks that are related to one another.

With Allegra, tasks can be automatically adjusted and the critical processes within the project can be easily controlled. With this function, project managers save valuable planning time when organizing the entire process structure.

Allegra as a Jira alternative also offers visual suggestions within the Gantt chart for setting a sequence of tasks as soon as a predecessor has been defined. This is how you plan your projects intuitively in the Gantt chart.

The easy-to-use drag and drop features used in Allegra also make Allegra extremely easy to use. A detailed description of the benefits of Gantt charts can be found here.

The intuitive and easy-to-understand user friendliness of Allegra is also underlined by Netzsieger – an important comparison portal:

The visually appealing Allegra web app offers all functions for professional task and project management and is intuitive, self-explanatory and easy to use.

Determine milestones and thus ensure the progress of the project.

The milestone function is available to Allegra users. This gives the user an overview of important anchor points within his projects and not only offers the possibility of checking important project events, but also provides him with a control instrument. Setting milestones in the Gantt chart or within the respective task allows precise control of the project progress.

Keep a clear overview with the cockpit.

In addition to reporting, the Jira cockpit contains an overview of all projects. The Allegra cockpit is fully configurable and offers many options for visualizing projects, tasks and key process indicators (KPIs). Traffic light diagrams, milestone trend diagrams, performance value and project progress diagrams allow a quick analysis with a quick glance. In this regard, the two tools are comparable.

In Allegra, the user not only sees the progress of the project, but also tracks:

• his duties as a manager – duties for which he is registered as a manager.
• his tasks as processor – tasks for which he is registered as responsible.
• the team – tasks that the whole team has to do.
• all projects for which he has at least reading rights.

The cockpit is the personal desk that not only shows the tasks to be carried out by the user, but also those of the entire team. It simplifies self-organization and teamwork for the user. Responsible persons also get an overview of time-critical tasks, which makes project management easier.

6. Agile methods

To really support agile project management methods such as Scrum and Kanban, it is not enough to offer a board representation. Both Allegra as a Jira alternative and Jira offer everything that is desirable. Concepts such as epics, user stories, releases, backlogs, sprints, team velocity and burn charts are supported in the application logic. Overall, the support of agile methods, especially for workflow management software developers, is one of the strengths of Jira, where Allegra is not quite as perfect as the big competition.

7. Time and cost management

Professional controlling is only available in Allegra. With the help of controlling, expenses – including project, person or task-related – can be recorded and exported as an Excel file.

In contrast to Allegra, Jira does not offer a way to track the estimated remaining effort. While Jira has time tracking, it is up to the user to keep track of the remaining time from the difference between the planned and actual time.

Allegra as a Jira alternative offers a user-friendly solution to keep the remaining time in focus. Ultimately, the effort has an impact on the overall duration and therefore the cost of a project. With the help of the estimated remaining effort, the Allegra user can keep an eye on the success factor of time. and thus prevents his project from failing.

8. Service desk and guest users

Jira provides the user authorization settings for projects, tasks and teams. There is a Jira variant especially for help desk applications.

Allegra authorization groups and rights systems offer the user a unique, free authorization group – the guest user. An unlimited number of guest users can be integrated into a project or individual tasks free of charge. These can be external employees, customers, suppliers or partners who have read rights for a project and edit rights for individual tasks. You have your own cockpit and can work on individual tasks.

This means that a project manager can invite a customer as a guest user and assign him single or multiple tasks by granting him editing rights. The guest participates by adding comments and attachments or reviewing checklists and changing the task status.

Allegras guest users allow important project participants to be freely involved. This makes the collaboration in an interaction between all relevant project participants easy and transparent.

Conclusion: Allegra is more than a Jira alternative

Jira is one of the most extensive and widely used project and task management tools on the market. The following speaks in favor of Allegra as a Jira alternative:

• Server location and therefore maximum data security
• Self-hosting option
• German-speaking customer service
• Complete project management functionality with Gantt charts and resource planning
• Full support of Scrum and SAFe
• Powerful workflow engine and very extensive task management function
• Clear cockpit for perfect project management