Banners: Proactive service alerts
The worst kind of downtime is the one that catches a user by surprise. When the Jira portal goes dark for maintenance without warning, the support queue immediately explodes with “Is the system down?” tickets. By using dynamic announcement banners, you turn a potential frustration into a professional, proactive experience. Whether it’s scheduled maintenance or an upcoming holiday closure, keeping users informed is the cornerstone of great customer portal.
The Scenario: The Informed User
Sarah is a regular user who needs to submit a monthly report. She logs into the self service customer portal on Monday morning and immediately sees a bright, eye-catching banner at the top of the Help Center.
It informs her that the system will be undergoing scheduled maintenance this Friday afternoon. Instead of starting her report on Friday and getting locked out halfway through, Sarah adjusts her schedule and finishes it on Thursday. Because the company was transparent, Sarah isn’t frustrated— - he’s impressed by the clear communication.
How to set it up: 4 simple steps
Setting up a broadcast for your entire Jira customer portal takes less than five minutes:
Craft the message: Create a new banner in the Feature Bundle settings. Use HTML to make it pop with bold colors or icons so it doesn’t blend into the background.
Define the scope: Choose where the banner appears. For maximum impact, set it to show on the main Help Center page and within specific request types related to the affected systems.
Set the schedule: Don’t worry about manual updates. Configure the banner to appear a few days before the event and set an expiration date so it vanishes automatically once the maintenance or holiday is over.
Target the audience: (Optional) Use dynamic visibility to show the banner only to specific user groups or projects, ensuring the information stays relevant to those who actually need it.
Why it’s a game-changer
Eliminate “surprise” frustration:
Advanced notice allows users to plan their work around downtime. This transparency is a massive boost for your incident management in Jira strategy.
Slash support volume:
A single banner can prevent hundreds of duplicate “Is the system broken?” tickets. This keeps the queue clear for actual technical issues.
Proactive culture:
Moving from reactive fixes to proactive communication signals to your users that the support team is organized and customer-centric.
Zero maintenance for admins:
With automated scheduling, you can set your holiday banners for the entire year in one sitting and let the Jira Service Management app handle the rest.
Looking for more?
Banners are just the first step in a “Zero-Ticket” strategy. The ITSM Handbook dives deep into how to combine announcements with automated Ticket Journeys and Customer Actions to create the ultimate self service customer portal.