W&a Guide The Jira Admins Guide To Keeping Teams in Sync

How to streamline
day-to-day tasks
and keep teams in sync
A Jira admin’s guide to optimized processes

with workflow automation
Contents
Introduction��4
Scaling means trouble — if you’re not ready ��6
Why automation in Jira is your best bet!��7
1. Keep your data in sync ��8

Automatically close parent or associated issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Most common use-case in project syncing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
What do we want? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
How to go about this? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
A simple, no-code way to extend Jira workflows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Keep your instance clean, automatically. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Automatically close or reopen other issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Automatically copy attachments between issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Give file access to team members. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Synchronize software versions across internal and external projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Keep the tickets in sync across versions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Synchronize data across your tech stack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Salesforce and Jira integration – a case study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Take your synchronization processes to the next level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Keep epic estimates and child issues in sync. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Automatically update all stories within a sprint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Update version releases for sprint issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Transition when the code review is rejected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Copy the reporter and watchers on duplicate issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Copy watchers to sub-tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Automatically update the custom field ID and/or name in filters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Send email notifications using Scheduled Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
How to streamline day-to-day tasks and keep teams in sync 2

2. Remove manual errors��16
How do you keep your data and processes clean? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Update a single data point in multiple places . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4 of the most valuable automations in Jira. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Automate actions based on field selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Automate on-the-fly calculations in Jira . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3. Alleviate bottlenecks��20
5 ways to supercharge your team’s productivity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Automatically categorize incoming emails. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Improve the handling of spam for Service Desk agents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Turn incoming emails into Jira tickets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Build workflows based on all sorts of criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Minimize time spent searching for information in Jira. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Get the most out of JQL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4. Do things in bulk ��24

Standardize processes by bulk-cloning and customizing issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Import bulk data from external sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Cybersecurity firm — a case study. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Add new users from a spreadsheet in bulk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
It’s a wrap��26
Appfire apps that help Jira admins get this done��28

Introduction
Introduction
Ah, Jira. The love-hate relationship of many admins.
At first, you think you can manage; that it’s just a few tickets here and there.
Soon enough, your organization grows (hopefully) and you find yourself
swimming in a sea of notifications, trying to stay afloat.
Sound familiar?
Yes; Jira is a fantastic tool for managing projects, but the day-to-day
administration can quickly turn into a nightmare as you scale; with teams
having to update the same information across multiple systems while
adding on more and more projects, users and workflows to their Jira
instance.
For this reason, we’ve developed a guide; to show you how you can
automate your Jira processes to streamline day-to-day tasks, and help keep
your teams in sync. These hands-on tips and recommendations can help
you automate repetitive tasks, minimize manual errors, and reduce
the workload.
Want to make the most out of Jira while you and your team save hundreds
of hours, riding the efficiency train?

Introduction
In this guide, you’ll discover how to:
• Keep data in sync across your Jira instances—and systems
• Alleviate bottlenecks and reduce costs by automating ticket

assignments
• Use bulk operations to standardize processes
• Prevent manual mistakes and improve data quality
• Conduct accurate, in-depth searches in Jira
And while Jira may not be perfect (how could you build a tool that fits
everyone’s needs), its flexibility and extensibility allow admins to do anything
they set their minds to. With a little creativity, and the right automation tools
and strategies, Jira admins can take their efforts to the next level.
Start implementing the tips today and see what difference it makes — you’ve
got the power to streamline processes and enable your teams to be way
more productive by keeping them in sync!
And make sure to download our Jira Admin’s Checklist for Automating
Jira, available at the end of this guide. It’s a step-by-step plan for creating
automation rules that can help streamline your business and increase
productivity. Check it out.

Introduction
Scaling means trouble — if you’re not ready

SMILE Great news: your organization is scaling.
Frown Not so great news: the bigger you get,

the messier your processes become.
Organizations that successfully scale are able to respond to customer needs;

they adapt to changing market conditions. Which is interesting, as it seems
to mirror the fact that — we as a species — evolve by adapting to living
conditions.
A study by McKinsey & Company back in 2017 had found that only 1 in
10 companies successfully completed their transformation efforts, thus
reaching a state of sustained performance improvements. They also found
that the companies that scale successfully were 2.7 times more likely to be
automated than those that don’t.
Fast forward to today; automation is increasingly popular among

businesses, regardless of size. Why? Because of its ability to overcome pillar
challenges that arise during scaling:
• Repetitive manual tasks
• Human error
• Data duplication
• Inconsistent workflows
Fundamentally, what we want from automation is to reduce the amount

of human intervention needed for a task simply because then
— and only then — can we truly optimize, and allow people to be people.

Introduction
Why automation in Jira is your best bet!

1. Keep data in sync
Keep your data in sync by automatically updating information across

different areas of the system — even across your tech stack.
2. Remove manual errors
Prevent manual errors by making sure that the data is updated

consistently and accurately.
3. Alleviate bottlenecks
Reduce the risk of bottlenecks and delays by having work move smoothly
throughout the entire process.
4. Do things in bulk
Save yourself and your team a whole lot of time by performing

hundreds of tasks at once.
Is this guide for you?
If you lead any organization, team or unit that uses Jira, this guide is for
you — whether you’re an automation expert or not. We put it together
to help you and your team reduce the time you spend on busy work and
other repetitive processes in Jira.
Follow the tips and links we’ve included here and start making
improvements today!

1. Keep your data in sync

Keeping data in sync is essential to maintaining the integrity of
the information you store — not just in Jira, but across your systems;
otherwise, you end up with errors and inefficiencies.
Sometimes, all it takes for miscommunication and delays to pop up is one

person on the team updating a task status in one location, but forgetting to
update it in another location. Imagine whole projects!
In this section, you’ll learn how to set up processes to help keep your
projects aligned and in sync.
Let’s start with the basics.
Automatically close parent or associated issues
Keep things aligned — and your reporting straightforward —

by automatically closing issues. When issue status is out of sync/outdated,
reporting is a nightmare!
MOST COMMON USE-CASE IN PROJECT SYNCING

Consider this; all child issues have been closed but the parent issue is in
open-status limbo. Why? Because no one remembered to close it.
Or maybe it’s the other way around; the epic is closed but a bunch of rogue,
associated stories, bugs or tasks have stuck around.
WHAT DO WE WANT?
We want the parent issue to automatically close once all child issues in
the project are resolved. We also want all of the completed/unneeded issues
to automatically transition to their final status.
And we definitely don’t want to risk having an instance full of old, orphaned
issues because of users manually transitioning the parent issue; right?

HOW TO GO ABOUT THIS?

One way to solve this problem is by letting automation take care of auto-
closing Jira issues.
Jira Automation allows you to create rules like:
• Close parent issue when all child issues are resolved
• Automatically transition completed/unneeded issues to their

final status
And while Jira’s built-in automation feature is a powerful tool for automating
tasks and processes — particularly for simple use cases — it’s limited
in terms of trigger options, actions, customizations, access, and even
performance.
Third-party applications can help extend native functionality available in Jira.
A SIMPLE, NO-CODE WAY TO EXTEND JIRA WORKFLOWS

If you don’t want to deal with the complexities of scripting, a no‑code app
like JSU Automation Suite for Jira Workflows would do the trick. With JSU,
you can easily extend beyond Jira’s native functionality with flexible
post functions and conditions that can be combined to create powerful,
fine‑tuned automation rules without any coding.
See JSU in action to learn how quickly you can build your first
JSU automation!
Keep your instance clean, automatically
Do your epics stay on the backlog of your Jira agile board after you close
them?
That’s because, in addition to the workflow status, epics have a field called
“epic status” which is only accessible on the backlog screen. Only epics with
the field epic status marked “done” get removed from the backlog.
See how you can easily automate the removal of closed epics from
the backlog with JSU.

Automatically close or reopen other issues
You can create an automation to transition an epic to “in progress”

status when at least one of the stories is changed to “in progress.” And,
as mentioned above, you can automatically close parent issues once all
children are closed (or vice versa) to keep things synchronized.
But you might also consider automatically closing (or reopening) issues for
other reasons. Here are some ideas:
• You can automatically close • You can get an issue to auto-resolve

a customer ticket if no reply is if “complete” or “resolved” are found
received within 5 days. in the comments.
• If a customer comments • You can automatically resolve all

on a closed request, saying issues in your current open sprint
that the situation wasn’t that are awaiting deployment
resolved to their satisfaction, by using automation to transition
an automation rule can reopen issues to “done.”
the original request instead of
having to create a new one.
• A previously-closed issue can • You can use an automation webhook

be automatically reopened — automated build and deploy tool
if a customer, reporter, (like Bitbucket) — that automates
department lead, or specific the building, testing and deployment
member creates a comment. of code.
Automatically copy attachments between issues
Many tasks and projects in your Jira may contain important information
that you’d want to keep visible in related tasks. What you can do is copy
attachments from one issue to the other.

GIVE FILE ACCESS TO TEAM MEMBERS

Let’s say your team is tasked with creating brand guidelines for your
organization. You’ve uploaded a creative brief document into the parent
issue as an attachment and created subtasks for each team member to work
on.
The issues are linked (of course) but you want to make sure that everyone
gets easy access to the brief; you’ll want it attached to all subtasks.
Automation can help you make any document accessible to different users
who are working on tasks, regardless of their permissions to access parent
issues.
You can easily copy the document from the parent issue to your team’s
subtasks; every time a new subtask is created, the file gets added
automatically.
There are several automation apps that can help you copy or move
attachments automatically – see here how it’s done using a simple post
function in JSU.
Tips for Jira Admins
If you’re dealing with projects that require an extra level of security,

you can set up an automation that restricts the visibility of certain
fields for users, depending on their project role – with Power Scripts
for Jira.

Synchronize software versions across internal

and external projects
A software project typically can be split into two separate projects:
• External: for customers to report bugs and request features
• Internal: for the development team to track their work
With this two-project set-up, your team gets to triage requests before
opening issues. It’s faster and your Jira doesn’t get slammed.
But for this to work, software versions must be kept in sync for both
projects. You want your customers to always report issues on the right
version, and with automation, that’s quite easy.
You create a rule: everytime you release a new version of the software
in your team’s internal project, the system automatically creates
a corresponding version in the public project.
KEEP THE TICKETS IN SYNC ACROSS VERSIONS

If you want to take it a step further, i.e. get the tickets across versions in sync
— meaning that if you change an attribute in one instance, like changing
the status or adding a comment, the same will be applied to the other
instance — then Power Scripts for Jira can help you set this up.
Synchronize data across your tech stack
Integrating Jira with other tools in your tech stack — like Customer
Relationship Management (CRM) or Business Intelligence (BI) tools,
and databases — can increase collaboration and improve data visibility
across your entire organization. For example, integrating Jira with a CRM
software can help you track customer feedback and prioritize development
efforts based on customer needs.
You can build custom integrations using Jira’s REST API, or explore one
of the third-party applications to help you build integrations more easily.
For example, apps like Appfire’s Jira Command Line Interface (CLI) enables
admins to build integrations across Atlassian products, and with external
tools via the REST API.

SALESFORCE AND JIRA INTEGRATION – A CASE STUDY

Cprime, a Goldman Sachs company, global consulting firm and the largest
Atlassian Platinum Solution partner, faced difficulties managing customer
quotes manually with multiple tools and communication channels.
To optimize their use of Jira, they used Power Scripts to build an integration
with Salesforce so they could streamline the ticket backlog, and reduce
turnaround time from hours to minutes. In addition, the direct integration
with Salesforce ensured alignment across the business. Read the full success
story.
Take your synchronization processes to the next level
Once you’ve set up some of the process automations we mentioned

above, you might want to consider these. They’re a bit more sophisticated,
but worth looking into.
KEEP EPIC ESTIMATES AND CHILD ISSUES IN SYNC

If you track estimates of an epic, you can update the original estimate
whenever tracking fields in the epic’s underlying issues change.
AUTOMATICALLY UPDATE ALL STORIES WITHIN A SPRINT

For issues in a sprint, you can sync the due date with the sprint end date.
UPDATE VERSION RELEASES FOR SPRINT ISSUES

You can set up automation rules to update the version releases for issues
in a current sprint. Once released, automatically update the release version
for all related tasks to keep everything in sync.
TRANSITION WHEN THE CODE REVIEW IS REJECTED

If the code review is rejected, automatically transition the epic — and all
related child issues — back to their previous status, or to a particular status
identified in your development cycle.

COPY THE REPORTER AND WATCHERS ON DUPLICATE ISSUES

When developers close an issue with resolution duplicate, you should
normally copy the watchers and the reporter to the original issue.
COPY WATCHERS TO SUB-TASKS

Automatically take the watchers from a parent ticket and add them to
a (or multiple) subtasks.
AUTOMATICALLY UPDATE THE CUSTOM FIELD ID AND/OR NAME

IN FILTERS
It can be a headache to replace an old custom field with a new one
(for whatever reason), given you’d have to do it everywhere. In fact, it can be
such a headache that it derails you from making the change in the first place
— given the amount of work involved!
This script is designed to simplify and reduce the work required by

automatically updating the custom field ID and/or name in saved filters;
the following areas are then updated as well:
• Users’ personal filters
• Subscriptions
• Filters used in dashboards
• Filters used in Agile boards
SEND EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS USING SCHEDULED ACTIONS

You can send email notifications using Scheduled Actions in Jira, at specific
times or intervals.
Also, an app like Jira Misc Workflow Extensions (JMWE) allows you
to schedule an email to go out at 9 am, for example, as a reminder
to the assignee of each issue that is “In Progress”. You can do that,
and automate virtually unlimited use cases — no matter how simple
or sophisticated they are.

from Atlassian expert and Appfire Product Manager Jonathan Muse.
“People tend to underestimate how much time they can save

automating small everyday tasks. They focus on the big problems
and ignore the small things that are so simple to automate. But even
small, frequently recurring tasks add up to days, weeks and months.
So I always recommend starting small — talk with the team

to understand the most frequently recurring tasks
and start from there.”


User errors cost time and money; bad data will forever hinder business
processes and create useless reports — unfortunate fact.
But to validate the data, you’ll need resources — another unfortunate fact —
and the ability to manage the dip in productivity as you carry through.
How do you keep your data and processes clean?
You keep your data and processes clean by preventing errors in

the first place. Automating mundane tasks will minimize human error and
make your team happy. And yes, most jobs can include tedious, repetitive
tasks…but yours simply won’t. Not anymore.
You can automate a variety of manual tasks in Jira — that don’t require
human intervention or double-checking — to reduce the opportunity for
mistakes (and reclaim your team’s time).
Update a single data point in multiple places
A common issue teams experience is having to update a single data point

that appears in multiple places. If you’ve ever changed your address, you
know exactly what that means!
Your team goes through this every day; small, simple changes that eat up so
much time given they’re repeated across multiple processes, documents,
systems, and so on. And while process owners may have more strategic
work to focus on, keeping a Jira instance clean is key to successfully
implementing any process.

4 of the most valuable automations in Jira
We asked industry experts and members of the Appfire community to share

some of their most valued automations; these were the top four:
1. Automation that triggers 2. Integrations via RestAPI and

an email if there’s an app webhooks that connect external
outage. This gives you tools with Jira, so you can
a heads‑up on potential import/export data. Take a look
performance issues. at how Power Scripts for Jira can
help with this.
3. Integration with the user 4. Faster password resets

directory service — in Jira enabled to Jira (and other)
Service Management — instances — or, even better,
to automatically provision reset passwords
new accounts based on automatically!
service requests.
Bonus tip:
from Atlassian expert and community leader Rachel Wright
“The manual automation trigger is a Jira administrator’s best friend!

I use it to test new automation conditions and actions I’ve created.
This way, if there’s a bug or the automation doesn’t work the way
I expected, only one Jira issue is impacted. Once the rule is ready
to use, just replace the manual trigger with an automatic one.
Safe and easy!”

Automate actions based on field selection
When a help desk technician triages customer support requests, submitted

through the Jira Service Management customer portal, they have
an opportunity to classify requests and take different actions based on those
selections.
For example — tickets might need to be escalated for some types of

requests. For others, you might want to trigger automated responses
for certain team members.
But if you were to use the drop-down field to list all available options, that list
would be painfully long; not to mention the technician could easily choose
the wrong classification. Your best bet is to create two fields, where the first
selection determines the second field’s available options.
Once you’ve done that, you can use different routes for different
automations and avoid classification errors (always a good thing).
Jira Admins can see how it’s done here using Appfire’s JMWE.
When you set up automation for repeat tasks, consider using

JMWE’s Shared Actions feature. It enables you to create ‘shared’ JMWE
post functions (or sequences of post functions) that can be reused
in multiple workflow transitions. For example, you can configure
a post function to send an email, then reuse it in different workflows.

Automate on-the-fly calculations in Jira
Jira comes with a number of standard system fields, while offering

the flexibility to create your own custom fields. But what it doesn’t do is give
you the ability to create custom fields that will perform calculations.
If your process requires calculations, then apps like Jira Misc Custom
Fields (JMCF) can greatly speed things up by making those calculations
automatically in Jira — instead of other devices and apps; or manual
calculation. That way, you get less manual calculation errors and free up
your team members, who can now tackle more productive value-added
work – a win/win for everyone!
For example — you could automatically calculate work cost estimates

with JMCF, or automatically convert individual expenses into company
currency when managing expenses.

Bottleneck: point(s) in a process where the flow of work gets delayed
or breaks down completely.
You can alleviate bottlenecks by automating ticket assignment and routing.

Automating ticket assignments, applying priority level, or automatically
entering information in important fields (like due dates) improve efficiency
and drive down costs.
For example — in IT service management, automating tasks related

to triaging requests reduces the cost per ticket dramatically.
If you have a service request catalog that clearly identifies the types of
services your HR, service desk, or marketing teams offer, you can use
these categories to triage inbound requests. This way, service department
tickets can be automatically assigned to the right service queues, approval
processes, and implementation tasks.
5 ways to supercharge your team’s productivity
Learn how to use these five Jira features to assign tickets more effectively:
1. Component
Use components to kick off different workflows, like automatically assigning

infrastructure-related requests to a member of the infrastructure team.
2. High priority
Automatically assign issues created by upper management as highest

priority; or auto-assign issues with terms like “urgent” or “critical” to highest
priority, using logic.
3. Workload
Assign issues to specific users or groups of users based on the current

workload or according to a pre-defined order (i.e. whomever’s up next gets
the new issue).

4. Custom field
Use custom field data to assign someone who is part of a certain team,
or has a specific skill or office location.
5. Issue field
Automatically escalate requests to the correct team when an issue field

— such as due date, priority level, or any other important field — changes.
These automations will certainly shorten the response time for handling
tickets, and increase team productivity.
Automatically categorize incoming emails
Many teams use email requests to create service desk requisitions,

and these typically end up in a service queue that requires human
intervention to triage and categorize.
Instead of creating a bottleneck right from the start, use automation to

shorten the response time. You can automatically categorize an incoming
email with the correct component, based on the presence of specific
keywords. Then, automatically route and assign the requests to the correct
team.
And that’s just one example.
IMPROVE THE HANDLING OF SPAM FOR SERVICE DESK AGENTS

If you set up a Jira Service Desk email address, then when a customer
submits a support request by email, it is captured as a new ticket (issue).
These issues are added to your queues so that the team can focus on all
customer requests in one place.
Now, the issues aren’t always relevant which is why you’ll want to
consider them spam. To help you improve your handling of spam
for Service Desk agents, here’s how to do it using JMWE.

Turn incoming emails into Jira tickets
Do you receive support requests in an email inbox? Instead of going

through individual emails manually, and creating the tickets in Jira (including
the attachments sent via email), consider automating the process.
Learn how to convert emails automatically into Jira tickets based on specific
criteria, with Power Scripts Mail Handler.
Build workflows based on all sorts of criteria
• You can auto-assign and automate processes to kick off different

workflows based on predefined criteria like user workload
(for example). Say, Laeticia has 20 open tickets while Vlad has 10;
a new ticket would get assigned automatically to Vlad, simply because
he has fewer open tickets. Learn how to assign users based on
workload with Power Scripts.
• Another common automation can be used for IT service desks; when

a ticket is open for too long, it either gets reassigned, or triggers
an escalating comment to the manager.
• Linking a service desk to the holiday portal could automatically

reroute open service tickets to available tickets.
• If you use Jira to manage approvals in a workflow, then any

unnecessary step or action can cause frustration and downtime for
both; those requesting approval, and those approving. To remedy
that, we look at monetary value; if the budget/expense request is
small, then approval is automatic, but beyond a certain threshold,
the request might move to the manager (or someone from the finance
team) for manual approval. For more on streamlining an approval
process with JSU, check this out.

Minimize time spent searching for information in Jira
How much valuable time does your team waste every week, sifting through
Jira for that one piece of must-have info? It’s probably more than you think.
In fact, the management advisors at McKinsey found that employees spend
almost two hours per day searching for information.
Fortunately, though, you can use the Jira Query Language (JQL) in advanced
searches to dramatically reduce the time you spend combing through Jira.
Atlassian designed JQL as an easy tool for both, programming aficionados
and less technical users alike.
GET THE MOST OUT OF JQL

If you’re just starting out with advanced searches, JQL may feel intimidating.
Apps like JQL Search Extensions for Jira can help you get the most out of this
language. With 50+ JQL search extensions, this app not only gives you search
and filtering capabilities, it also helps you generate more granular reports
and dashboards. Here’s a quick JQL guide to get you started.

Some tedious, repetitive tasks are unavoidable, like taking out the trash.
And unless you’ve got someone else in the house doing it, you’re stuck doing
it yourself.
Similarly, there are plenty of tedious one-off tasks your team has to handle.
Correcting an error or making hundreds of updates is time-consuming and
soul-crushing if you have to do it manually, one update at a time. You might
even make mistakes (who wouldn’t in that situation).
But you can automate a surprising amount of those one-off tasks. A few
simple automations can help your team reclaim hours of time every week.
And while automations should be tailored to your business needs, we’re
sharing some general ideas below — inspired by the Appfire community —
alongside tips on how to get things done and why.
Standardize processes by bulk-cloning and customizing

issues
Some organizations have multiple software development teams working

on similar features — just for a different set of requirements or at different
times.
For example — one of your teams is working on software features

for iOS to support Apple mobile users, while the other team works on
those same features for Android. If the iOS team is leading the way
in developing a new feature, then once that feature is launched, the
Android team need only replicate the process for most tasks.
This maintains consistency between projects and processes.
Luckily, Jira admins can clone up to 1000 issues at once, but it’s important
to pick and adjust what gets copied in order to reduce redundancy and save
time.
Jira admins can easily bulk clone multiple issues from the same project
or different projects. See how to set this up with Clone Plus for Jira.

Import bulk data from external sources
To ensure that data is kept up-to-date across all of your tools, you’ll want
to integrate data from external sources into Jira.
And while Jira’s native integration capabilities can cover basic integration
needs like imports from CSV, third-party apps can provide additional value
when it comes to complex data importing tasks or specific data sources.
CYBERSECURITY FIRM — A CASE STUDY

Here’s the case study for a cybersecurity firm working with multiple
enterprise clients, to conduct audits of their properties or resources.
The audits follow complicated processes and since the firm routinely
conducts them, their Jira projects include all of the potentially relevant issues
and tasks.
To speed up the process, the firm uses Clone Plus for Jira to bulk clone issues
relevant to this specific client. Then, they use Jira CLI to assign the task to
the right individuals — responsible for various areas of this specific client’s
security audit.
The use isn’t limited to cybersecurity firms, of course. The same can be
applied to law firms, marketing and PR firms, and various other companies
where different projects are carried by different sets of assignees.
Add new users from a spreadsheet in bulk
You’ve merged with another team; your company has acquired another
company; or your team has just started using Jira — which means you now
need to add a large number of users to your Jira account, and fast. Instead of
doing this manually, you can automate the creation of new users in Jira from
a spreadsheet.
Apps like Jira CLI can help you bulk-upload hundreds of users from a CSV file
in minutes.
And that’s just the beginning; you could take automation even further. With
sophisticated scripting apps like Power Scripts, you can get work done faster
— making bulk-actions with conditional logic within large Jira instances.

It’s a wrap
It’s a wrap
Great…now you’re an expert at automating workflows!
And with the right tools and strategies in place, you can easily leverage
automation to take your company’s operations to the next level.
Check out Appfire’s solutions to see what clicks, and don’t forget to use
the Jira admin’s checklist to see how to go about creating automation rules
for your processes; so you can make them more efficient.

The Jira admin’s checklist for automating Jira
Automation helps you streamline your business while making processes more efficient; but to create
the right rules and get the most value out of them, you need a good plan.
Follow these steps to get started.
Look for patterns in existing Design the automation rule — try to avoid
requests — identify the creating rules that are overly complex. Even
opportunities that can help you when scripting is involved, make the rules as
improve efficiency. easy as possible for others to understand. Bonus
points if you create rules that can easily be
Engage with users — they can reused in similar situations.
provide valuable insights into which
tasks take the most time, and in Test your rule on a single Jira issue —
what ways you could use automation before increasing the scope of issues impacted.
to increase productivity. Consider triggering the rule manually to make
sure it operates as expected, before having it run
Plan your rules — any new rules automatically.
should align with your larger business
and process goals. Use the “Log action” feature — to capture
any outputs and make sure the correct
Scope your rules — consider information is returned or calculated.
whether the rules you’re creating
are for a single project, multiple Document your rules — include your
projects, or for your organization as business case for each rule, which should align
a whole. Multiple projects often share with your organization’s business goals. Proper
workflows and configurations. If documentation will help you create repeatable
that’s the case, automating workflows standardized processes.
that apply to those rules makes
things easier for your team because Document your apps — specify which apps
you can maintain a single rule instead you’re using for Jira workflows and automation
of having to update duplicates. (and what you’re using them for). Include links
to documentation and help desk.
Assess feature requirements
— if native Jira doesn’t support your Keep a copy of your rules in a version
requirements, check out third-party control system — you’ll want to maintain
apps already available in your Jira backups of each rule, and keep track of the
instance. Or research new apps using change history. Being able to roll back quickly,
the Atlassian Marketplace when someone changes a rule and creates
or hub.appfire.com. errors, will help you avoid major headaches.
Appfire apps that help Jira admins get this done
People want to feel valued at work. Embrace the power of automation.
One way to show you appreciate them, is to show With the right tools and some careful configuration,
them that you value their time. With automation, you can achieve higher states of productivity,
you’re able to free your team members from better engagement from your employees, and
the grind of having to complete mundane tasks a happier customer base. It’s a true win/win/win
over and over again, so they can use their creativity situation! These Appfire apps have the power
and skills on more challenging work. to make your work faster, easier.
JSU Automation Jira Misc Workflow Power Scripts

Suite for Jira Extensions (JMWE)
Kick start your workflow Advance your workflow Take control of your Jira
automation in Jira automation in Jira instances
Beginner-friendly; perfect Perfect if you’re looking Deep levels of automation,

for admins who don’t for flexibility, without customization,
want to code the complexity and integration
Intuitive, entirely no-code Flexible workflow automation Scripting app to automate

automation for Jira admins that combines no-code, repetitive tasks, enhance
who don’t want to deal point‑and‑click tools with complex workflows,
with coding or complexity. simplified scripting. integrate other tools,
and customize the Jira UI.
Learn more and try free Learn more and try free Learn more and try free
Jira Command Line Interface Clone Plus for Jira
(CLI)
Automate, integrate and migrate Power up your Jira issue cloning
everything Jira
Perfect for orchestrating actions across Bulk cloning, templates

the Atlassian stack and customization
Resolve repetitive tasks with simple, A versatile Jira app to help admins clone,
text‑based commands from a central bulk-clone, and customize Jira issues quickly.
command line interface.
Learn more and try free Learn more and try free
Jira Misc Custom Fields JQL Search Extensions

(JMCF) for Jira
Tap into Jira’s hidden potential Expand your searching capabilities in Jira
Perfect for improving Jira usability Perfect for executing Jira search
and reports and filtering
Calculated custom field app that helps you Discover a new way to search Jira, generate
get more out of Jira by enhancing issue reports, and automate workflows.
screens, search, reports, and dashboards.
Learn more and try free Learn more and try free
About Appfire:
Appfire is a global authority in the Atlassian ecosystem. Appfire’s popular solutions help teams
with Workflow Automation, Product Portfolio Management, IT Service Management, Document
Management, Business Intelligence and Reporting, Administrative Tools, Agile, Developer Tools,
and Publishing. The company has the most widely adopted portfolio of apps on the Atlassian
Marketplace, with 225,000 active installations worldwide. Learn more at www.appfire.com.
Notice of Liability
The information in this book is distributed on an “as is” basis, without warranty. The publisher assumes no responsibility for
errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained in this book. Use of the information
and instructions contained in this work is at your own risk.
© Copyright 2023 Appfire Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved.

W&a Guide The Jira Admins Guide To Keeping Teams in Sync

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How to streamline

A Jira admin’s guide to optimized processes

Why automation in Jira is your best bet!�������������������������������������������������������������������������������7

Keep your instance clean, automatically. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Automatically close or reopen other issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Automatically copy attachments between issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Synchronize software versions across internal and external projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Synchronize data across your tech stack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Take your synchronization processes to the next level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

How to streamline day-to-day tasks and keep teams in sync 2

Update a single data point in multiple places . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

4 of the most valuable automations in Jira. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Automate actions based on field selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Automate on-the-fly calculations in Jira . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Automatically categorize incoming emails. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Turn incoming emails into Jira tickets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Build workflows based on all sorts of criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Minimize time spent searching for information in Jira. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Import bulk data from external sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Add new users from a spreadsheet in bulk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

How to streamline day-to-day tasks and keep teams in sync 3

How to streamline day-to-day tasks and keep teams in sync 4

In this guide, you’ll discover how to:

• Keep data in sync across your Jira instances—and systems

• Alleviate bottlenecks and reduce costs by automating ticket

• Use bulk operations to standardize processes

• Prevent manual mistakes and improve data quality

• Conduct accurate, in-depth searches in Jira

How to streamline day-to-day tasks and keep teams in sync 5

Scaling means trouble — if you’re not ready

Frown Not so great news: the bigger you get,

Organizations that successfully scale are able to respond to customer needs;

Fast forward to today; automation is increasingly popular among

• Repetitive manual tasks

Fundamentally, what we want from automation is to reduce the amount

How to streamline day-to-day tasks and keep teams in sync 6

Why automation in Jira is your best bet!

Keep your data in sync by automatically updating information across

2. Remove manual errors

Prevent manual errors by making sure that the data is updated

Save yourself and your team a whole lot of time by performing

Is this guide for you?

How to streamline day-to-day tasks and keep teams in sync 7

1. Keep your data in sync

Sometimes, all it takes for miscommunication and delays to pop up is one

Let’s start with the basics.

Automatically close parent or associated issues

Keep things aligned — and your reporting straightforward —

MOST COMMON USE-CASE IN PROJECT SYNCING

How to streamline day-to-day tasks and keep teams in sync 8

HOW TO GO ABOUT THIS?

Jira Automation allows you to create rules like:

• Close parent issue when all child issues are resolved

• Automatically transition completed/unneeded issues to their

Third-party applications can help extend native functionality available in Jira.

A SIMPLE, NO-CODE WAY TO EXTEND JIRA WORKFLOWS

Keep your instance clean, automatically

How to streamline day-to-day tasks and keep teams in sync 9

Automatically close or reopen other issues

You can create an automation to transition an epic to “in progress”

• You can automatically close • You can get an issue to auto-resolve

• If a customer comments • You can automatically resolve all

• A previously-closed issue can • You can use an automation webhook

Why automation in Jira is your best bet!��7

Frown Not so great news: the bigger you get,