How to Migrate from Jira to Jira Service Management?

Question

Hello everyone! I'm planning to migrate from Jira to Jira Service Management and I'm seeking guidance on the migration process. Can you provide insights or best practices on how to migrate projects, configurations, and data from Jira to Jira Service Management? Specifically, I'm interested in understanding the steps involved, any potential challenges, and recommendations for a smooth transition. Any advice or experiences you can share would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Sai Kumar Bacha · Answer

Hi @Mark Segall , Thank you for your response and valuable insights on migrating from Jira to Jira Service Management. I greatly appreciate your insight into these major items. If you have any further suggestions or experiences to share regarding the migration process, I'd love to hear them. Thank you again for your helpful response!

Mark Segall · Answer

Hi @Sai Kumar Bacha and welcome to the community!

Before I get into things to look out for, I'd ask why you're wanting to migrate instead of drawing a line in the sand saying, "as of date x we will be using JSM instead of software".  Here are the reasons why:

* JS and JSM are two completely different things.  Stories/Tasks don't always map 1:1 so you'll have a lot of mapping overhead.  
* Sprint Reports, Releases, etc. would be lost and you'd lose their respective historical reporting.

If you still want to move forward, here are some of the things I would look at:

* Assignees: Do all of the assignees have the JSM license and are members of the Service Desk Team role in the new project?  If not, the assignee will be cleared out
* Components:  Similar to above, you need to recreate all of the components in the JSM project or the impacted issues will lose their respective components
* Workflows: Make sure you have a clear plan for mapping issue statuses.  JSM projects typically have more statuses than software projects
* Issue Type Mapping: You'll need to ensure you have a path for your issue types as JSM doesn't typically use Stories, Bugs, etc.  Instead they use issue types like Service Request, Incident, etc.  This is especially important for the next item.
* Portal Visibility: Jira Software does not leverage the portal.  If you want the reporters to now see their old software issues on the portal, they'll need a request type assigned so if you want this, you'll need to follow up your bulk move with some bulk edits
* Epic to Queue: JSM does not recognize Epics like JS. Technically you can use them, but the UI is not designed for it.  So if you were using Epics, you'll probably want to find a way to group the issues (label, component, etc.) and create queues accordingly to replace the Epics

Those are probably the biggest items that come to mind.