Jira and Jira Align Integration: Creating an API Service Account

[#1]

******* Please reference updated Knowledge Base Article moving forward *********

The Jira and Jira Align Integration functions using an API Service Account.  This will be an account created in Jira for the purpose of syncing data between the two applications.  

Permissions:

The Jira and Jira Align Integration API Service Account will require the following permissions on all integrated Projects.

Jira Server and Data Center:

Jira Cloud:

Authorization:

The Jira and Jira Align Integration API Service Account can access Jira via Basic Authentication for Jira Server and Data Center, API Token for Jira Cloud, and OAuth 1.0 for all three.  The account who's credentials or API token are entered into the Jira Align UI will serve as the API Service Account.

The account that is logged into Jira when allowing an OAuth handshake will serve as the API Service account.  More information on configuring OAuth between Jira and Jira Align can be found here:

https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Align-articles/Configuring-a-Jira-Connector-with-a-Cloud-Based-Jira-Instance/ba-p/1238816

Updates:

Updates made by the API Service Account inside of Jira will be reflected in the Jira UI as made by the API Service Account.  Updates made by the API Service Account inside of Jira Align will be reflected in the Jira Align Audit Logs as being made by an External System.  To view which user made the update in each application you can use the "View in Jira" button in Jira Align and Web Links in Jira to view cross application Audit Logs and Histories.

Please see Creating a Jira Service Account with Groups and Permission Schemes for Jira Align to see how to create a Group for your Jira Service Account.

[Don Miller]

A Jira Align Super Admin can initiate the OAuth authentication but the person who allows the OAuth handshake on the Jira side via Application Links should be logged into Jira as a Service Account.

For a related great article on the steps involved when using Cloud Jira, check out: 

https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Align-articles/Configuring-a-Jira-Connector-with-a-Cloud-Based-Jira-Instance/ba-p/1238816

[Don Miller]

You can follow these steps to re-authenticate if you have previously created the Jira Application Link while a Jira Admin and people are wondering why you are creating so many issues in their project.

When you are done, it makes sense to validate that Issues are syncing from and to Jira Align.  If you don't see issues flowing, first check any filters in your view, then check Admin>Jira Settings>View Logs>Jira API in Jira Align.  You may have an issue with how your Jira project is configured, for example with the reporter/assignee field:

https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Align-articles/Jira-Connector-Feature-Sync-Failure-quot-reporter-cannot-be-set/ba-p/1285263

[Victor Galli]

Hey @Tim Keyes & @Don Miller, would y'all be willing to revisit the instructions and screenshots provided in this article to update them to match the latest versions of Atlassian Administration, Jira Align, and Jira?

[Tim Keyes]

Hi @Victor Galli ,

I hope all is well!

I'll check with our team on creating an updated article. Are there any areas that you would like us to focus on?

Cheers!

[Victor Galli]

Hey @Tim Keyes, thanks so much!

And yes, there are some areas that would be great to see rewritten or expanded upon:

• Any guidance or recommendations on setting up a Production service account versus a Sandbox service account in Atlassian Administration to connect JA Cloud Prod <-> Jira Cloud Prod and JA Cloud Sandbox <-> Jira Cloud Sandbox, respectively. Alternatively, guidance/recommendations around whether to use a single service account that has access to both the Jira Prod and Jira Sandbox environments.
• On the Atlassian Administration side, it would be great to see updated screenshots/instructions regarding how Atlassian Administration treats product access and group membership (including how the site name is embedded in the default groups, for example, jira-admins-companyX and jira-software-users-companyX)

Thanks so much!

[Tim Keyes]

Hi @Victor Galli

Our support team is working on creating a refreshed knowledge based article with updates for creating an API Service account for the Jira Align Jira Connector.

From a data access control perspective it would make sense to have separate service accounts for production and test environments. I believe most of our customers would have separate accounts.

Jira Align connects to multiple Jira sites and is primarily connecting at the site versus organization level. For this reason the site specific permissions would be the most relevant. You could have a service account group or directly add the service account to required permissions.

I hope this helps! 

[Victor Galli]

Thanks for your help, @Tim Keyes! And very appreciative to hear that your support team is working on a refreshed knowledge base article for this.

[Victor Galli]

Hey @Tim Keyes, since your support team is working on a refreshed knowledge base article for this, would they also be willing to consider decommissioning this other service-account-related article? https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Align-articles/Creating-a-Jira-Service-Account-with-Groups-and-Permission/ba-p/1605547

In other words, it would be great if there were only one active/up-to-date article for JA admins on Atlassian Community regarding the service-account question.

[Victor Galli]

Also, just a friendly heads up note that this URL in the "Authorization" section above of this article no longer appears to be active: https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Align-articles/Configuring-a-Jira-Connector-with-a-Cloud-Based-Jira-Instance/ba-p/1238816

When I navigate to it, I get re-routed to this URL: https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Align-articles/bg-p/jira-align-articles

Presumably the support team was going to catch this when they refresh this article, but I at least wanted to comment on it here just in case it didn't get caught.

[Tim Keyes]

Thank you @Victor Galli ,

This article should be able to serve as a replacement https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Align-articles/Jira-Align-Cloud-to-Jira-Cloud-Connectivity-Quick-Guide/ba-p/1505705

I'll check in with our support team on the status of the knowledge base article.

[Tim Keyes]

Hi @Victor Galli

I hope all is well!

I apologize for the delay here. The new knowledge base article has been published here: https://confluence.atlassian.com/jakb/jira-and-jira-align-integration-creating-an-api-service-account-1415751839.html

Its pretty close to the community article but will have more paths to being updated as changes are mind. 

Thank you!

[Victor Galli]

@Tim Keyes: This is awesome! Thanks so much for closing the loop on this!