Start over, or simply create a new project ?

Question

So,  we currently have a number of Jira service management projects configured but there's a lot of surplus items and 'baggage'.  We imported everything into a new Jira from a previous company, and this brought over all everything, including a lot of workflows and items that we don't use or need, but we had to import everything in one go.  We are using the existing Jira successfully, and we are in the process of upskilling a few key staff to become much more competent in Jira admin.
It all works currently for us, but we want to clean out all the gunk and start using new features and workflows properly.
So the question is,  can we create new totally separate projects,  isolated from the existing working projects,  set them up exactly how we want, without affecting the existing, and then simply import all of the tickets enmasse, or potentially mothball the old projects.  This would mean keeping the existing Jira and just creating new projects going forward, with a clean slate.

The hope is that we could have the existing client users use the new projects once they are all set up, simply by giving them the new access, but using their existing user accounts.

Or is it best to start a totally new Jira from scratch?

Opinions please, from the experienced :)

Luka Hummel - codefortynine · Answer

Hi @Glyn Davies and welcome to the community!

In your case, it's probably worth it to start in a new project.

If you are willing to try a third-party app, you could try our app Deep Clone for Jira. With its Project Clone feature, you can clone only some of the configuration schemes you want to keep and then clone issues you want to keep to the new project.

If you only want to clone the old issues to a new project you have set up manually, you could use the Bulk Clone feature.

Glyn Davies_ucczvd · Answer

Thanks Clara,  I'll have a look at the Elements feature :)

Clara Belin-Brosseau_Elevatic · Answer

Hello @Glyn Davies

I feel like creating new projects and working on their configuration first is the best way to do it. Once you're satisfied with the workflows and settings of your projects you can bulk clone all your issues at once from the old into the new projects.

If you're looking for an easy way to bulk clone all the issues I suggest trying our app Elements Copy & Sync. You'll be able to clone the issues with their comments, attachments, labels... at once.

The app is free for 30 days so you can try it to see if it solves your problem :)

Clara