How to Generate Jira History Reports for Audit, Security, and Compliance

[#1]

When auditors ask “Who changed this task, when, and why?” most Jira admins find out too late that native Jira history isn’t always enough.

Jira history reports are needed whether you are preparing a compliance audit, conducting a security incident investigation, or trying to verify project decisions. The challenge? The built-in Jira tools are fragmented, limited, and not long-term audit-ready.

So, let’s find out how you can create Jira history reports and how you can bridge the gaps with the help of a special change-tracking app.

What Is Jira History and Why Auditors Care

Jira history covers all the changes that have been made to the work item, including:

• Changes in the field values (status, assignee, priority, etc.)
• Comments updates
• Workflow transitions
• Work item creation and deletion

This data helps auditors to check:

• Accountability - Who changed?
• Timing - When did it happen?
• Integrity - Was the change approved?

This is particularly important to companies that follow SOX, ISO 27001, SOC 2, or internal governance regulations.

Why Jira History Reports Matter for Different Audit Types

SOX (Sarbanes–Oxley) Audits

SOX audits are financial control-oriented.

Jira is often used to track:

• Financial system changes
• Access approvals
• Incident remediation

The importance of the history of Jira to SOX:

• Proves who signed or changed a task involving financial controls.
• Checks that changes were made at the right time and that approvals were made in the appropriate sequence.
• Checks gaps caused by edited or deleted tasks.

Auditors often require immutable change history with clear ownership and timestamps, which isn’t easily exportable or accessible in Jira's basic history.

ISO 27001 Audits

The ISO 27001 is aimed at maintaining information security and adherence to a set of security procedures.

Jira is often used to manage tasks related to:

• Security incidents
• Risk assessments
• Corrective and follow-up measures

What is the Jira history in relation to ISO 27001? It demonstrates that the security incidents were managed step-by-step and based on the company's rules. Also, it gives evidence that teams acted and solved problems in time. It validates that critical fields such as status, priority, and assignee were not modified without approval.

The full Jira change history provides the ISO auditors with the clear evidence trail they require to have confidence in your security processes.

SOC 2 Audits

SOC 2 requires companies to demonstrate that they:

• Protect customer data.
• Follow security processes.
• Implement controls on a long-term basis.

Jira is used in many companies to manage:

• Incident response tasks.
• System change approvals.
• Access review tasks.
• Security checks.

Auditors during a SOC 2 audit want to see:

• Who made changes.
• When changes were made.
• Whether approvals were obtained before the work was done.
• Whether the task was later edited or deleted.

Without the full Jira history, it is very difficult to pass such an audit. 

Native Jira Options for Audits and History Tracking

Jira Work Item History Tab

Each work item in Jira has a History tab. This tab has a chronology of the changes made to that particular task.

You can see:

• Status transition 
• Field changes
• Comments added or edited
• Workflow transitions
• Who made each change and when

The History tab is useful for:

• Investigating the status of a single task
• Researching a minor problem
• Reviewing recent changes

However, the History tab has significant limitations:

• You can view changes only related to one task at a time.
• You can’t generate a report for the full project or for multiple projects.
• Bulk export of work items in Excel format, ready for audit, isn’t available.
• Deleted tasks can’t be reviewed.
• It isn’t suitable for audit reporting.

The History tab is sufficient for small checks. In most cases, compliance audits or security investigations require more sophisticated reporting and export capabilities.

Jira Audit log (Admin Level Tracking)

Another feature offered by Jira is Audit log. This log captures system-level activity, including:

• Changes to project settings
• Permission updates
• Workflow modifications
• User and group management
• Installation or uninstallation of apps

The Audit log is useful for:

• Monitoring configuration modifications.
• Monitoring admin activity
• Checking updates on permissions

However, Jira Audit log only tracks system and admin-level changes. It can’t track detailed updates within individual work items, and it isn't designed for full compliance reporting.

How to Generate Audit-Ready Jira History Reports

To be ready to pass SOX, ISO 27001, or SOC 2 audits, you should have more than screenshots and manual inspections. You must have well-organized and clean history reports that are easily exportable. This is where Issue History for Jira app from SaaSJet comes in.

Rather than checking all the tasks individually, with this app, it is possible to have a centralized report that clearly shows:

• Changes in all the chosen projects.
• Updated work items within a given date.
• Modifications that were made by a particular user.
• Changes at the field level (pre-values) and (post-values).
• Status changes and approvals.
• History of work items that have been deleted.

Why does this matter for audits? Auditors typically ask for:

• Indications of the correct approvals.
• Evidence that controls were effective in the long run.
• Confirmation that records weren’t changed or removed.
• Clear timelines related to security or change-related activities.

WIth Issue History for Jira app, you can easily:

• Export data to Excel or CSV
• Send copies to auditors
• Give quicker replies to audit requests
• Reduce compliance stress

Summing Up

All audits, such as SOX, ISO 27001, and SOC 2, require clear evidence that processes were carried out correctly over time. Because many security, change, and compliance tasks are handled in Jira, it is vital to have a complete and accurate history of these tasks. Comprehensive change tracking helps companies stay accountable, secure information, and remain audit-ready at all times.

Be ready for your next audit with complete, exportable Jira history reports.  

→ Try Issue History for Jira app (SaaSJet) on Atlassian Marketplace