How to deploy workflow changes to Production in Jira Cloud

[Alex Cumberland]

We are still in the stage of reviewing and planning for migration to the Cloud version from the server version.    We found one item that we have a question about.

Currently under server version:

• We have Test environment for testing changes before Production
• Changes to workflows or new custom fields are done in Test
• Snapshot is then made using "Configuration Manager for JIRA" 
• Snapshot is deployed to Production using "Configuration Manager for JIRA"

From our research we have found the following:

• We can replace our test server with a "Sandbox" version
• There is no cloud version of "Configuration Manager for JIRA"

So with sandbox we are fine for testing changes but then how are those deployed from Sandbox to Production.  Is there a deployment method for updated workflows and such or do we have to then manually duplicate the changes we tested in the Sandbox into Production instance?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Accepted solution]

I'm afraid it's manual work at this point.

However, you might want a look at https://pc.adaptavist.com/ - my lot have made a Cloud version of Project Configurator, and it's free for a while.

Yes, it is competition for Configuration Manager, so this is a rather unusual post for me as I usually try to avoid advertising, especially when it's in competition to other partners!  For what it's worth, I've always loved CM and I suspect Botron are not far behind Adaptavist with a Cloud version.  But you might want to look at PC.  (I should say the two apps take quite different approaches too)

[Alex Cumberland]

I was afraid that the answer was that it would be manual.   I really hate having to do changes into Production that way but guess that is just another point on our list for decisions about how soon we go to the cloud.

Thanks for the info and the link.  I will be sure to check it out and will be watching both Adaptavist and Botron for updates.

[Darryl Lee]

Hey Nic - so it's actually opportune that you brought this up. I was excited to see the announcement from Adaptavist, but I have to wonder what's going on under the covers.

Considering that the official guidance for importing a workflow is to either:

• Host it in the Atlassian Marketplace (!)
• Import it to a Server Instance, apply it to a project, and then use Jira Cloud Migration Assistant to migrate the individual project. (I'm not even sure that's right. They don't really go into the details of step 3 here.)

So ... since there's no direct access to the database, and AFAIK there's not API for importing workflows... did you reverse engineer the Migration Assistant? (For custom fields can imagine a way to do that within the confines of the API. )

Inquiring minds want to know. But I realize there's probably special sauce ingredients you want to protect. :-}

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

>did you reverse engineer the Migration Assistant?

Actually, it's the opposite - the developers who wrote PC for server have been helping Atlassian write the migration assistant.  More importantly, they've also had a lot of input into driving how Cloud exposes the admin functions that allow PC to work there.