JSON Import: Multi-value Object reference attribute not populated

[Alex Höfling]

JSON Import: Multi-value Object reference attribute not populated when source field is a JSON array with multiple elements

Product: Jira Service Management Cloud — Assets

Description:

I'm importing data from a JSON webhook into Assets using the built-in JSON import. I have two object types: User and Group. Groups have a multi-value Object reference attribute called "Members" that references User objects.

The JSON source looks like this:

json

{  "objects": [    {      "id": "abc-123",      "displayName": "My Group",      "members": ["user-uuid-1", "user-uuid-2"]    }  ]}

The Members attribute is mapped with a Simple reference mapping, matching on the User object's "EntraID" attribute. All referenced User objects exist in Assets and have the correct EntraID values.

The problem:

• When members contains a single UUID (e.g., "members": ["user-uuid-1"]), the reference is resolved correctly and the Members attribute is populated.
• When members contains multiple UUIDs (e.g., "members": ["user-uuid-1", "user-uuid-2"]), the Members attribute remains empty. No references are created.

This applies to both new object creation and updates to existing objects. The import log shows "Identical objects" with "Objects with updated references: 0" even when membership has changed.

What I've tried:

• Changing reference mapping from Simple to Advanced (AQL): "EntraID" = ${members} — same result
• Changing "Missing objects" setting from Ignore to Remove — no effect
• Changing the Concatenator at both the import structure level and the attribute Advanced Mapping level (tried -, ;, ,) — no effect
• Deleting all Group objects and reimporting from scratch — Members still empty when array has multiple elements
• Verified the source JSON is correct and all referenced User objects exist with matching EntraID values

Thanks for any pointers!

[Himanshu Tiwary]

Hi @Alex Höfling ,

Welcome to the Community!!

The mapping appears to be related to Atlassian's bug JSDCLOUD-10665 CSV/JSON import does not correctly populate multi-value object reference attributes in Assets.

This is, in fact, what is happening in the bug. The bug is that a single reference is correctly resolving, but multiple references do not resolve the attribute at all. If a solution is required quickly, perhaps the workaround will need to be via the Assets External Imports API/Forge Import route and not the JSON route. 
https://developer.atlassian.com/cloud/assets/imports-rest-api-guide/schema-and-mapping/