Regular project update by import of CSV file

Question

Hi

I just wanted to be sure that what I have in mind is possible :

We have a third party tool that lists non confomances.

Each non conformance has a dedicated number.

I would like to have all these non conformances imported into a project, with the same issue key number. They will not be updated in this project, just linked.

I would like to regularly re-import to update.

Is it correct that I do all this by using a CSV file including a set issue key ?

Thanks

Jack Brickey · Answer

It has been awhile since I have done an import but to the best of my knowledge this cannot be done. I did not see in the blog anything that really points to setting the value in JIRA.

With that said, just give it a try. It should be very obvious very quickly. If the import program offers an option to map a column in the CSV file to the JIRA Issue Key they maybe it is possible. Assuming it is there I can't say how the CSV file numbering should be formatted. That is if your project in JIRA that you are importing into has the project key ABC then do you put ABC-42, ABC-43... into the CSV issue column or do you simply put 42, 43... I would bet the later. But that will all become obvious when you try it. Just create a test project. You can always delete it in the end. In fact what I have done many times in the past is to simply set up a test cloud instance for testing things like this and then closing it down when done.

Good luck and please post your final results here if you find a way to do this. If not then please accept my answer so others will know when searching.

Big Jim · Answer

Hi Jack,

Thanks for the answer. Are you sure that you cannot force the issue key numbering ? I ask because this blog seems to suggest you can

http://blog.valiantys.com/en/jira-en/how-to-import-issues-into-jira

>how the issue number going to be generated?

>If you're not adding manually the Issue Key to your CSV file, >JIRA will add new issues after the one already created on your >project. >To be simple you have to remember those two keys :>- To create new issues : summary (+ project) + status + >reporter must be in your CSV>- To update existing issues : issuekey must be in your CSV.

Also the decription of the issue key here seems to imply that you can set the issue number number

"You can set the issue key for an imported issue. If an issue with a given key already exists in JIRA, it will be updated instead."

https://confluence.atlassian.com/adminjiraserver072/importing-data-from-csv-829827152.html

What the above don't seem to make clear and I think this is what you mean is that you can only use the issue key to update existing issues but not to assign the Jira issue key for new issues. Is this correct ?

Thanks

Jack Brickey · Answer

You cannot force the issue key numbering. When you import the first time JIRA will start at 1 and progress to the end. So if you have 200 NC issues in the other tool they will be listed on the JIRA side as 'NC-1...NC-200' regardless of the number w/in the other tool. That said, you can certainly, and likely should, create a custom field to retain the other tool's issue # for reference. You could even make this a URL field and have it link directly to the other ticketing system.

Regularly importing is going to be painful unless you script this or maybe you can create a JIRA issue id within the other tool which would accomodate csv re-importing. If the other system had the 'watcher' concept maybe it could keep JIRA in sync via emails.

In any event this is going to be ugly and I have to wonder why two tools going forward. I would settle on one if at all possible.