Which custom field to use?

Question

We want to create a custom field that will be used for the Improvement type where we can track which customers have requested the new feature.  Many times, multiple customers have requested the same issue so we want to allow for multiple "values".  The catch is we'd also like to be able to search on this field against a particular value (e.g. search for all Improvements that were requested by 'Bank of New Guinea').  I was initially thinking of just using a basic "Text Field" CF and folks comma-separate the values.  However, won't the search be scewed if, say, we the following potential values: 'Bank of New Guinea', 'Bank of Hawaii', and 'New Guinea Port Authority'?  I think I'm looking for a CF that's similar to the multi-select but does not require a pre-populated set of potential values.

Does this make sense?  Thanks for the help!

Chris Kast · Answer

Thanks for answer.  I agree that there is a chance that something may be mispelled.  Is there anyway to pull the possible options from an external source rather than add them manually inside of Jira?

Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist] · Answer

Have a look at Database Value plugin: https://marketplace.atlassian.com/plugins/org.deblauwe.jira.plugin.database-values-plugin

Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist] · Answer

You can do exact searching on text fields as well but there is always a risk of people entering the details wrong. Typos, different cases etc.

If select list is not an option, you might want to look at label custom field! You can add new fields, use already existing ones and ofcourse search on them.