Board Exports

[Peter Jones]

Hi,

I would like to export all of our 363 JIRA boards. I am specifically interested in the board configuration so boards can be recreated if required.

JIRA has been in use here for just over a decade and our housekeeping could have been better.  Over the past few months we've closed about 6000 redundant tickets and taken 200 (of 600) legacy boards off line.

The redundant tickets were labelled before we closed them. The offline projects have had their schema's updated so they can no longer be modified. This approach means that we can revert any changes we have made.

Now for the boards. Many are either administered or owned by people who have left the firm. Quite a few link to projects we have taken offline. We need to have a sort out, however, it is very difficult to work out who is using which board.

We are going to ask the various JIRA Project Leads to review the boards that reference their projects and take a view of what we need to do.

Other than exporting the configuration I don't see a way to recover boards that have been updated / deleted in the same way we have handled the other stuff. The only option I can currently see is to take a bunch of screenshots of the config pages of each board.

Is there a better way?

Pete

[Mary from Planyway]

Hi @Peter Jones 

It's Mary from Planyway 

Exporting JIRA board configurations en masse isn't a feature provided directly through the JIRA user interface, but there are several approaches you can consider to achieve this goal more efficiently than taking screenshots. The right approach depends on your technical resources and the specific details you need to export. Here are some strategies:

1. JIRA REST API

The JIRA REST API can be used to programmatically extract information about boards, including configurations. While the API might not directly provide an "export configuration" endpoint, you can use it to gather all relevant details about each board, such as its name, ID, filter settings, column configurations, and linked projects.

• Get Board Details: Use the /rest/agile/1.0/board endpoint to list all boards and then iterate over them to get detailed configurations using board-specific endpoints.
• Extract Configuration: Details about board settings, including filter queries, swimlanes, columns, and statuses, can be gathered.
• Scripting: Write a script in a language like Python to call these API endpoints, parse the responses, and save the configuration details in a structured format like JSON or CSV.

2. JIRA Cloud or Server Plugins

Depending on whether you're using JIRA Cloud or Server, there may be plugins available in the Atlassian Marketplace that can help with exporting board configurations like Planyway:

• Project Configurator or Configuration Manager for JIRA: These tools are often used for migrating configurations between instances but can also be used to export configurations for documentation or backup purposes.
• Search for Board Export Plugins: The marketplace may have other plugins specifically designed for exporting board configurations.

3. Database Queries

If you have access to the JIRA database and the necessary SQL skills, you can directly query the database for board configurations. This approach requires an in-depth understanding of JIRA's database schema and should be done cautiously to avoid any unintended consequences.

• Direct Access: Access the database directly to query tables related to board configurations.
• Extract to Files: Save the results in a structured format for documentation or as a backup.

4. Manual Documentation with Enhanced Techniques

If automated options are not feasible, and you must resort to manual methods, consider using browser automation tools like Selenium to automate the process of navigating to each board's configuration page and capturing the necessary details. This can be a bit complex to set up but significantly faster than manual screenshots.

[Peter Jones]

Hi Mary

Than you for your extensive reply.

I will give the REST API option a go. I looked through the documentation and didn't manage to find board related endpoints so that's a good pointer.

We're also Selenium users so that could be a decent Plan B.

Thanks again

Pete