Confluence in the National Bank of BelgiumEvolving from ‘Oh no, not another tool!’ to a crucial Collaboration and Documentation system

Atlassian User Group BelgiumABUG-9: The one with a view25/09/2014 – KBC Tower Antwerp

Kristof Vandermeersch

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Agenda

► About NBB and me and you► Introduction of Confluence in NBB► Confluence Evolution in NBB► Confluence Roadmap in NBB► What’s hot: 5 popular features at NBB► Tips and Tricks► Twitter: @aug_be #abug9

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About NBB

► National Bank of Belgium N.V. – S.A.● Since 1850● 2200 FTE● www.nbb.be - @NBB_BNB_NL

► What does NBB do?● European monetary policy● Issuing of notes and coins● Research and Information Centre● Financial oversight● International assignments● Services to the State● Services to the financial sector, individuals and schools● Services to central banks

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About me

► Kristof Vandermeersch● Since 1977● 1 FTE● 2000 – 2008: Fit IT – Ebit (Software Engineering)● 2008 – now: NBB (Information Systems)● Twitter: @Kristof_vdm● Not good in making flashy Powerpoint presentations

► What I do at NBB● First: SharePoint● Then: SharePoint + Confluence● Now: SharePoint + Confluence + JIRA● Coming up: Confluence + JIRA + JIRA Agile + …● Administrator – Product expert – Evangelist - Advice● Breeding Red Monkeys (Cfr @jefstaes)

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About you

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Introduction of in NBB

► When

► Why Confluence● Need for collaboration system● Atlassian JIRA was already there● Atlassian Confluence was logical step

► Scale● One team (~10p) started using Confluence 2.7

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Confluence Evolution in NBB (1/3)

► The rumour spread: “We have a Wiki!”► First reactions:

● Oh no, not another tool!● I’m already drowning in information,

it will get worse● Cool, let’s use it, I hate Word.

► Individuals in other teams started using Confluence

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Confluence Evolution in NBB (2/3)

► (12/2010: Upgrade JIRA to 4.2)► 07/2011: Upgrade Confluence to v3.5► Other Wiki’s were in use in NBB in the

meantime (MediaWiki, Tiddlywiki)► Decision: Confluence Wiki is the only one and

is there to stay.► Migrated content other Wiki’s to Confluence

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Confluence Evolution in NBB (3/3)

► 2011-2014: Organic growth of Confluence, bottom-up

► Perfect example of Vision of @JefStaes:● The Red Monkey Story● Creators, Pioneers, Followers, Settlers

► 02/2014: Upgrade to v5.2► Connect UPM to Atlassian Marketplace► 07/2014: Upgrade to v5.5 (and JIRA to v6.2)

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Confluence Roadmap in NBB

► Since 2014: follow major release cycle► Important: also follow JIRA release cycle► Keep using Confluence (+Add-ons) OOTB► Continue Knowledge Base (label “kdb”)► SharePoint Connector for Confluence?

(Wanted, but not available in OnDemand…)► Between here and 201x: migrate Confluence

and JIRA Servers to Cloud version.

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What’s hot (1/5): Integration with JIRA

Scenario 1: Create new JIRAs via Confluence

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What’s hot (1/5): Integration with JIRA

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What’s hot (1/5): Integration with JIRA

…and JIRAs contain link to Confluence page:

Now confluence page contains links to new JIRAs …

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What’s hot (1/5): Integration with JIRA

Activity feed in JIRA: the JIRA is auto-updated

Scenario 2: Integrate existing JIRAs in Confluence page

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What’s hot (2/5): Scroll PDF Exporter

► Requirement: Your technical manual must be in PDF-format.

► Tired of writing long heavy documents in Word and then save as PDF?

► Use Scroll PDF Exporter and add an export link to your page

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What’s hot (2/5): Scroll PDF Exporter

► Write in Confluence:

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What’s hot (2/5): Scroll PDF Exporter

► Publish to PDF:

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What’s hot (3/5): Usage stats

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What’s hot (3/5): Usage stats

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What’s hot (4/5): Confluence Tasks

► Assign small todo’s while you type► Perfect for Action points in Meeting Notes► Use when creating a JIRA would be too heavy► Click this icon (shortcut: [ ]) and follow the

instructions:► Result:

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What’s hot (4/5): Confluence Tasks

► Good blog:● http://blogs.atlassian.com/2014/05/task-management-confluence-jira/

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What’s hot (5/5): Knowledge Base

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Tips and Tricks for Admins

► Log Scanner

► Cache Statistics

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Tips and Tricks for Admins

► Create an► Get involved in the Confluence Community:

Create, Vote and Watch JIRAs, give Comments, answer Questions,…

► Please vote for these JIRA’s ;-)● Drag & Drop to reorder pages does not work correctly in IE 11 (

CONF-33444)● Cannot put cursor in new panel after leaving the panel - IE11 (

CONF-34616)● Dates aren't sorted correctly (CONF-34002)

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Tips and Tricks for Admins

► Configure the Application Navigator:

► It’s ok to use SQL on your Confluence DB● But be careful

► Update your Add-ons, but sometimes Add-on Cache problems: clear cache, restart.

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Tips and Tricks: Position SharePoint

?

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Tips and Tricks - General

► Atlassian University is free since 09/2014● university.atlassian.com

► Watch @jefstaes Youtube video “The Red Monkey Story”

► Learn Shortcuts, one at a time

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Thank you for listening – Questions?