How to create an application and component catalog in Jira Software Data Center?

[César Vidal]

Hello Atlassian Community,

I am looking to create a catalog of applications and their components within Jira Software Data Center. The goal is to have a central place to track all applications, their components, owners, technical contact... 

My questions are:

1. Has anyone implemented a similar catalog in Jira? I was thinking to have a project called "Applications Catalog" with issue type "Application" and "Components" as a subtask to simulate this catalog, and also be able to select the application (through a custom field) in my main project to relate projects/demands with an application.

2. Are there any recommended plugins or apps from the Atlassian Marketplace that make it easier to maintain such a catalog? Other option in which I was thinking was to user Assets/Insights, but is not available in JIRA Software, just in JSM.

So my main options are: maintain an Applications Catalog project or use some other asset management plugin.

Any guidance, examples, or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

[Christos Markoulatos · Accepted solution]

Hi @César Vidal 

In Jira Software without Assets from JSM, here is what I have implemented in the past:

Dedicated “Applications Catalog” Project

• Create a company-managed project called Applications Catalog.
• Define a custom issue type called Application for top-level entries.
• Use sub-tasks or a separate issue type (e.g., Component) for components.
• Add custom fields like:
  • Owner
  • Technical Contact
  • Business Unit
  • Status
• Use issue links or a custom field (e.g., “Related Application”) in your main projects to associate work with an application.
• Add filters and dashboards for quick visibility.

This approach is simple, native, and works well if you don’t need advanced asset relationships.

If your requirements start involving:

• Complex relationships (e.g., applications linked to servers, databases, environments)
• Dependency mapping
• Integration with external CMDBs or asset sources

then this approach will become hard to maintain. You’ll need heavy use of custom fields, issue links, and possibly automation scripts, which can quickly get messy and error-prone.

At that point consider 3rd party apps

Marketplace Apps for Application Portfolio Management

If you want more structure and reporting, consider these Data Center-compatible apps:

• Structure by Tempo – Build hierarchical views of applications and components, add custom fields, and report across portfolios.
• BigPicture – Great for portfolio and resource management, with Gantt charts and dependencies.
• Elements Connect (external data fields for Jira) | Atlassian Marketplace – Useful if you want to pull application data from an external source (like a CMDB or database) into Jira custom fields.

References:

• Managing components in Jira Data Center
• Structure by Tempo – Jira Portfolio Management
• BigPicture – Portfolio & Resource Management

Hope this helps!

[César Vidal]

Thanks @Christos Markoulatos for your response. I will take this recommendation into account since it is quite aligned with what I was thinking. I will share it with the client to analyze relationships, dependencies and so on.

Regards, César Vidal.

[Christos Markoulatos]

Happy to help @César Vidal hope it goes well!!

[Etienne Frère_Elements]

Hi @César

I work at Elements as the Product Marketing Manager for Elements Connect, and I believe it’s a good fit for your use case.

Connect lets you create custom fields with dependent, multi-cascade pickers, so the Components field automatically filters based on the chosen Application; you can also add multiple dependency levels for more precise configurations.

As Christos mentioned, you can bring data from external sources into those fields if needed. 

Don’t hesitate to try the app, it has a free trial of 30 days (and stay free under 10 users).

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you’d like more details or have further questions.