Is Atlassian Organization Admin Access Mandatory for Cloud-to-Cloud Jira and Confluence Migrations?

Question

Hello Community,

We are currently planning a migration between two separate Atlassian Cloud organizations, involving both Jira and Confluence via the Atlassian recommended approach , "Data transfer" option.

As part of our migration activities, our team needs to perform assessment, validation, and migration planning tasks. However, due to internal security and governance policies, the customer is unable to grant Organization Admin access to the migration team.

We would appreciate clarification on the following:

* Is Organization Admin access mandatory for Cloud-to-Cloud migration activities?
* Which specific migration tasks require Organization Admin permissions?
* Can migration assessment, user validation, planning, and execution be performed with only Site Admin access?
* If Organization Admin access cannot be granted, what is the recommended approach to successfully complete the migration?

We are looking for guidance based on both Atlassian best practices and real-world migration experience from the community.

Thank you for your assistance.

Tinker Fadoua - [Seibert US] · Answer

Short answer @Likhita Biyyala yes you need org admin access.

Piyu@Appcento · Answer

Short answer, org admin is required for the parts that touch org level resources, and that is where site admin alone falls short. JCMA and CCMA register the migration job at the organization level, so assessment and execution call org APIs for users, groups and directory mapping even when the projects sit in one site. Site admin can install the app and open the migration screen, but validation stalls when it tries to read org managed users. Practical fallback when the customer will not grant standing org admin, run the pre-migration check with site admin to inventory projects and field counts, then request a time-boxed org admin role only for the execution window, most orgs approve that over permanent access.

Arkadiusz Wroblewski · Answer

Hi @Likhita Biyyala

Yes, Atlassian's native Cloud-to-Cloud Data Transfer requires Organization Admin access in both organizations, along with the relevant app permissions. Site Admin access alone isn't sufficient.

If security policies prevent granting this access, authorized Organization Admins can execute the migration while your team handles preparation and validation. That should be the proper way to go.

Useful links:

Atlassian migration requirements

Feature request for granular permissions

Best,

Arek🤠🧙‍♂️