Creating release notes and reports in Confluence should not feel like a manual task. Release notes or reports that highlight features, fixes, or enhancements are essential for coordinating users, support, sales, and developers.
In this video, learn how to easily create, format, and publish Confluence release notes and reports, ensuring consistency and accuracy. Customisable Confluence release notes and reports templates turn routine documentation into engaging communication and increase visibility across all of your teams.
Why Automate Release Notes and Reports in Confluence?
Manually creating and publishing release notes and reports in Confluence can be tedious, messy, and hectic. Teams frequently encounter difficulties with formatting, consistency, and keeping all stakeholders informed.
Here’s how automation can enhance your Confluence release notes and reports:
- Removing repetitive manual work saves valuable time
- Ensure accuracy by extracting data directly from Jira
- Structured Confluence release notes and reports templates help to maintain consistency
- Increase visibility by providing clear, professional updates in Confluence
Connecting Jira release notes and reports in Confluence turns the release notes into an effective tool for collaboration and alignment.
Step-by-Step Guide to Automating Release Notes and Reports in Confluence
The Automated Release Notes and Reports app for Jira allows you to automatically publish Jira release notes and reports directly to Confluence. To know more, follow these steps:
Step 1: Install ARNR Confluence Helper App
- Install the ARNR Confluence Helper App from the Confluence Marketplace (free, one-time download).
- Integrate it with the Automated Release Notes and Reports app for Jira by providing an API token generated for a user with access to the necessary Confluence spaces.
Step 2: Create a Confluence Template
- Go to your Confluence page.
- Create a new page to use as an ARNR template.
- Use variables in the page title and body (e.g., version name, release date, and release owner).
- Include a page properties macro to maintain metadata for all releases.
Step 3: Set Up ARNR Macros and Variables
- Use ARNR macros such as date, status, stats, and JQL sections to pull dynamic data from Jira.
- Customise layouts (sequential or table) and validate Jira Query Language queries for issue counts and details.
- Clone macros for multiple sections like stories, bugs, and other issue types.
Step 4: Configure ARNR Rule for Publishing
- Create an ARNR rule and select “Publish to Confluence with new editor.”
- Specify the source template (the page you created) and the destination space in Confluence.
- Choose a page action: create new, update if exists, append, or prepend to maintain release history.
Step 5: Execute Rule and Review Output
- Trigger the ARNR rule to automatically publish release notes and reports to Confluence.
- Verify that all variables are replaced with real data and the page is properly formatted.
- Explore update or append options to manage multiple versions on a single page.
Step 6: Share and Collaborate
- Stakeholders in support, sales, marketing, and development can now access the most recent release notes and reports from one Confluence page.
- Automation ensures that release communication is accurate, consistent, and timely without requiring manual effort.
Key Benefits of Using ARNR for Release Notes and Reports
Your team will benefit from automating Confluence release notes and reports:
- Efficiency: Automation eliminates tedious manual formatting.
- Accuracy: Data is synced directly from Jira, resulting in minimum errors.
- Consistency: Structured Confluence release notes and reports templates help to keep communication professional.
- Scalability: Works seamlessly with weekly, monthly, or continuous releases.
- Flexibility: Not only can you publish to Confluence, but also Slack, MS Teams, PDF, email, and other platforms.
Automated release notes and reports for Jira turn your updates into a communication strategy, ensuring everyone stays informed and aligned.
Full Video Transcript: Automating Release Notes and Reports in Confluence with ARNR
0:13 Introduction
Hello everyone! Welcome to this video. This is Sujit from Team Amoeboids. Today, we are going to see how to publish your release notes to Confluence automatically using our app, the Automated Release Notes and Reports app for Jira.
0:27 Overview of Steps
To publish release notes to Confluence via ARNR, there are three major steps:
- Install ARNR’s Confluence Helper App on your Confluence instance and integrate it with your ARNR Jira app. This is a one-time setup.
- Create your release notes templates within your Confluence spaces.
- Set up automation rules in ARNR Jira to automate publishing of release notes to Confluence.
If you already have ARNR Confluence Helper installed and integrated, you can skip directly to template creation.
1:51 Step 1: Integration Setup
- Navigate to your Confluence instance where you want to create ARN templates.
- Install the ARNR Confluence Helper App from the Confluence Marketplace. (It’s free and one-time.)
- If you don’t have admin access, request help from your Jira admin.
Integrate ARNR Jira with Confluence:
- Go to the ARN configuration screen in Jira (accessible to Jira admins via Manage Apps).
- Add your Confluence instance:
- Name the instance.
- Add the base URL of your Confluence.
- Add a username (this user will publish pages). You can create a dedicated user with relevant space permissions.
- Generate an API token for this user and add it.
- Copy the token from Jira and paste it into Confluence via Administration → Configure ARNR Confluence Helper App.
- Once saved, your ARN Jira app is connected. You can verify integration under the Help → Integration Status tab.
This integration is a one-time setup unless you change credentials or add new instances.
8:23 Step 2: Creating Templates in Confluence
- Navigate to the target space in Confluence.
- Create a new page to serve as your ARNR template.
- Use ARNR variables in square brackets for dynamic content, e.g., version name, release date, and release driver.
- Insert variables using ARNR macros from Browse Macros → ARNR (includes Variables, Date, Status, JQL, and Stats).
Example Template Structure:
- Metadata Section: Project name, version name, description, release date.
- Stats Section: Count of issues by type (story, bug, others) using Stats Macro.
- JQL Sections: Pull issues from Jira categorized by type; choose sequential or table layout.
- Links & Page Properties Macro: Maintain hidden metadata like version, release date, and release by.
Tips:
- Clone macros for similar sections to save time.
- Validate JQL against a sample project to ensure accuracy.
- Customize column widths in tables for readability (e.g., key 15%, summary 25%, description 60%).
Once your template is ready, note its name for use in ARNR rules.
26:20 Step 3: Automation in ARNR Jira
- Navigate to ARNR Jira → create a new rule for publishing release notes to Confluence.
- Action: Publish to Confluence with New Editor (supports Confluence’s new editor).
Configure the Action:
- Select your Confluence instance.
- Select the source template (the one created earlier).
- Set destination page: choose space, parent page, page type (page/blog), and action (Create New / Update if Exists / Append / Prepend).
- Add labels for easy tracking.
Publishing:
- When you trigger the rule, select the Jira version to publish.
- ARNR replaces all variables with actual data.
- Output page includes:
- Page title with version name
- Metadata (release date, release driver)
- Stats and JQL sections with issue data
- Page properties macro auto-filled
- Labels applied
Additional Notes on Page Actions:
- Update if Exists: Updates existing page with the same name.
- Append/Prepend: Maintain a single page with multiple release notes versions (e.g., DC App running release notes).
39:47 Using Confluence Native Templates (Optional)
- ARNR supports using Confluence native templates, but there are limitations in customisation.
- Recommended: Use a normal Confluence page with ARNR macros as your template.
41:00 Summary
Three key steps covered:
- Install and integrate the ARNR Confluence Helper App.
- Create Confluence templates with ARNR variables and macros.
- Automate publishing with ARNR Jira rules.
Multiple automated triggers allow you to generate release notes and reports for different versions or Sprints throughout your development cycle.
42:12 Conclusion
That’s it for this video! Thank you so much, and see you in the next video.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need admin access in Jira or Confluence to set up ARNR?
Yes, admin access is required during the initial setup process, but once configured, any authorised team member can use automation to publish Jira release notes and reports in Confluence.
Can ARNR send release notes and reports to other platforms besides Confluence?
Absolutely. Beyond Confluence release notes and reports, ARNR also supports Slack, MS Teams, email, PDFs, and websites, ensuring that your updates reach everyone.
How secure is the integration between Jira, Confluence, and ARNR?
Security is built-in. The integration adheres to best practices, ensuring that your Confluence release notes and reports and Jira data remain secure and compliant.