Adding custom fields in Jira without having sys admin role

Question

Normally the process of adding custom fields and placing them on screens in Jira requires sys admin role / permissions. But some projects wish to define forms with some custom fields on short notice and also within their own responsibility, i.e. without involvement of system admins (which would not scale properly in large organizations).

Does someone know about a smart way to dynamically add custom fields for a specific Jira project without sys admin involvemen?

Radek Dostál · Answer

You won't get an argument against that from me. It's kind of half baked and generates confusion/mess more often than be of actual use, but it is the only way to allow non-admin users do anything with fields.

The only alternative would be that of a plugin that would allow non-admin users custom fields. But.. in general, and you can take this from someone with 50k user instance background - once you let users create fields, you will end up with a mess. Users will create fields that clash with system field names, duplicate names altogether, basically spaghetti unless someone who knows better oversees it.

Thomas Dupre · Answer

This is correct, I meant "jira administrator" permissions, thanks for clarification.

Anyway, using extended project permissions a project administrator still cannot add new custom fields, only add/arrange existing custom fields. So a jira administrator must add these fields beforehand - which will not scale properly in larger organizations.

Radek Dostál · Answer

See the 'Extended project administration' here: https://confluence.atlassian.com/adminjiraserver/managing-project-permissions-938847145.html

This allows project admins to add fields to screens.

The problem is "only" if the field does not have a valid context for the project - without a context it won't show up.

I would also mention that custom field management required "Jira Administrator" permissions. "Jira System Administrator" is one level above. Usually, instances will bundle these together and not differentiate, but just to point out that they are technically 2 different "admin levels".