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Problem with a non system admin editing an automation that is scoped for multiple spaces

Sonya Petkunas
Contributor
July 22, 2026

We have someone who is an admin for 2 spaces but not a system admin in Jira. They want to be able to edit an automation that is scoped to the 2 spaces they are a space admin for. Initially Rovo told us they could with this response: 

Keep rules project-scoped instead of global — If the concern is a specific set of projects, you could scope rules to "Multiple projects" rather than "All projects." A project admin of all the included projects can manage multi-project rules without needing "Administer Jira." This avoids elevating permissions entirely but requires the person to be a project admin on each relevant project.

We ran a test and that did not end up being true. The user was not able to edit the automation. I revisited Rovo to tell them the results of our test and now Rovo is saying this:

You're absolutely right — I apologize for the contradiction. What I said earlier was incorrect.
The reality is: Any rule scoped beyond a single project — whether "Multiple projects" or "All projects" — is treated as a global rule by Jira Cloud and requires "Administer Jira" to create or edit. There is no middle ground where being a project admin on all included projects lets you manage a multi-project rule. Cy's grayed-out experience confirmed exactly that.
So to correct the record, your actual options are:
  1. Duplicate the rule as project-scoped in each project — Cy can manage both independently as project admin. No elevated permissions needed.
  2. Grant Cy "Administer Jira" — He can manage multi-project rules, but gets the full Jira admin permission set along with it.
  3. A Jira admin manages scope changes on Cy's behalf — Cy owns the rule logic within a single project, and you handle any cross-project scoping.
Sorry for the confusion in my earlier response — I should have been consistent. Thanks for catching that.
I'm looking for a creative way or native way to do this as none of these proposed solutions work for us. 

2 answers

1 vote
Marc -Devoteam-
Community Champion
July 22, 2026

Hi @Sonya Petkunas 

Your option is to duplicate the rule and give each the correct space scope.

I won't gran Jira admin permission, as that would provide these users with way more possibilities then needed.

If you don't want above, your only option is to let a Jira admin handle this, this, in my personal opinion and experience is the best option.

There are no other options provided in the system.

0 votes
Arkadiusz Wroblewski
Community Champion
July 22, 2026

Hello @Sonya Petkunas 

From a best-practice perspective, I would not give someone broader permissions only because they need to manage automations.

Permissions are scoped for a reason. Users should receive only the level of access they actually need, especially when automation rules can affect multiple projects or a large number of work items.

That can be Grenade which you don´t wanna have.

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