Query Around User Access in Jira Cloud | Atlassian Access vs Internal IDP

[Daniel Block]

Hello, we are currently in the process of an Enterprise Trial before we migrate from Data Center to Cloud on Enterprise. 

While playing around in Cloud, I noticed for 'Creating' users, it is a bit different than Data Center. I.e in DC, you create their username and password and set their email however in Cloud, it's more of an invitation with Email only. This poses a risk in the basis that ANY email can be put in and they can be invited regardless of domain (we have our own email domains)

We have also noticed that with Enterprise we have access to 'Atlassian Access' through use of an Identity Provider, in this case we have chosen Google Workspace. This means we have SSO and access only through a user group not Email invitation.

My question is, if we fully implement the use of Atlassian Access, does this stop the use of the Internal Directory and inviting using email addresses. Or if we use Atlassian Access, does that mean there's 2 ways of inviting people to our Jira instances?

Hopefully this makes sense. 

[Daniel Block · Accepted solution]

I’ve seen this answer else where.

If you fully implement Atlassian Access with an Identity Provider (in your case, Google Workspace), it will replace the use of the Internal Directory and the email invitation process for user management in your Jira instances. With Atlassian Access and SSO enabled, users will no longer be invited via email or created directly in Jira.

When using Atlassian Access with SSO, user authentication and authorization will be handled by your Identity Provider (Google Workspace), and user provisioning will be managed through the user group assigned within your Identity Provider. Users will need to be added to the designated user group in your Identity Provider to gain access to Jira.

In this scenario, the user management process will be centralized within your Identity Provider, and inviting users via email addresses directly in Jira will no longer be necessary or possible. Instead, you will manage user access through your Identity Provider and the assigned user group.

This approach simplifies user management by leveraging the capabilities of Atlassian Access and your chosen Identity Provider, providing a more secure and streamlined process for granting access to your Jira instances.