Need help understanding user and group data transfer options

[Steve Maring]

I need to carve off a specific set of Jira projects and users to another Atlassian Cloud instance.

The source instance has roughly 2,500 users, but the destination should only contain a targeted subset of about 250 users. We cannot license all 2,500 active users in the destination, so the “All users and groups” option is not acceptable.

I understand the first option, “Users and groups associated with selected projects,” to mean users and groups directly referenced by the selected projects. Based on the description, that appears to include users referenced in issue data and project configuration, such as:

• assignees
• reporters / creators
• commenters
• user picker custom fields
• workflow references
• permission scheme references
• project role references

I am trying to understand the second option:

“Users, groups, and members of groups referenced in the selected projects.”

The description says this copies users who are “not directly referenced” but who are members of groups referenced in the selected projects.

My question is: what exactly counts as a referenced group?

For example, does this only include groups used in project configuration, such as:

• project roles
• permission schemes
• workflows
• issue security schemes
• notification schemes
• custom field contexts

Or does it also include groups mentioned in user-generated project content, such as issue comments, descriptions, or other text fields?

This distinction matters because if “referenced group” only means groups used in project configuration, we can reduce the copied user population by cleaning up project roles, permission schemes, and workflows before transfer.

But if any group name mentioned in issue content can cause all members of that group to be copied, then the second option could unexpectedly bring over many more users than intended.

Can you clarify exactly which Jira objects/data sources are scanned when determining:

1. directly referenced users, and
2. referenced groups whose full membership will be copied?
   
   
   

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello @Steve Maring 

Disclaimer: I have not validated this through independent testing.

The document where you got the Select data information includes at the top a "Before you start" section that includes a link to Manage users and groups when you copy data, 

According to that document:

Copy your Jira Cloud users, groups, and teams

You can choose to:

• Copy all users, groups, and teams that include deleted users. Deleted users appear as former users. This also includes project roles. The relationship between users and project roles is retained.

• Copy users and groups related to the selected projects, which means we'll copy all users, groups, or roles referenced in standard or custom fields, user-generated content, workflows, and permission schemes.

• Copy users, groups, and members of groups referenced in the selected projects, which means you can copy users who are not directly referenced in the projects but are members of groups that are referenced in the projects. We will copy all the users and the groups to which they belong.

I underlined the relevant portion in the second bullet.

If you don't get a more authoritative answer from a community member that has experience with this feature, or even if you do, I recommend that you open a support case with Atlassian Technical Support an ask then to provide you with an authoritative answer.If you choose to do that it would be wonderful if you report back here what you learn so that the rest of the community can also learn from your experience.

[Tomislav Tobijas]

Hey @Steve Maring ,

I believe the difference is as follows:

• Directly referenced users - users explicitly named in the space data, incl.
  • space configuration (assignees, reporters, etc.), 
  • user fields: user picker custom fields
  • content: users mentioned in comments or descriptions
  • history: users found in work item history
• Referenced groups - any group that's part of the space's structural config.
  • space roles - groups assigned to specific space roles
  • permission schemes - groups that grant permissions
  • workflows - groups referenced in WF conditions, validators, etc.
  • security & notification schemes: groups designated to view work items or receive notifications

I already forgot if there's something like a pre-migration report 🤔 when using the data transfer feature. If there's something like that, it should state exactly which users and groups will be migrated.

What you could kinda do is review app access on the destination site before the migration.
I believe that for all 'new groups' (meaning non-default ones), you will have to review app access after migration - so, it will ask you (after the migration) would you like to grant those groups app access if they had it in the source site. Meaning, users won't necessarily get app access/user Jira license, and you could then clean up groups before actually granting them access and licenses.

If you're an app admin or on either the source or destination side and you're on a paid plan, you could confirm this with Atlassian Support.

Cheers,
Tobi