Jira Image of the Day: Vetting Apps and Third-party Solutions

[#1]

Concept Relates To

Application Type	Jira Work Management, Jira Software, Jira Service Management, Jira Core
Deployment Type	Jira Cloud, Jira Server, Jira Data Center

What is shown?

My five-step process for vetting apps and third party-solutions. Use this as a starting point and customize it to fit your needs.

Visit: Admin > Apps (Cloud)
Visit: Admin > Manage apps (Server and Data Center)

What can we learn?

Apps, connections, and integrations bring exciting new capabilities to Atlassian applications! Before you get too excited and start installing a bunch of new code, there are some things to know. Atlassian says that apps can materially change an application and it’s important to only install trustworthy apps. But how do you determine if an app is trustworthy?

I recommend developing a specific procedures for testing apps and handling app requests from users. Treat the app vetting process just like you’d test other new applications or your own internally-developed software.

Step 1: Request

• Procedure: Log the request

• Responsibility: Requestor

The first step is to submit a request for new functionality. Ask users to create an issue in a Jira application support project. (Yes, you can support Jira changes right in Jira!) You might consider a custom request form or custom issue type to ask questions specific to adding new features.

Step 2: Approve

• Procedure: Preliminary approval

• Responsibility: Management

Next, get preliminary approval from leadership. There’s no sense in testing new functionality if leadership won’t provide the funding or if the security team won’t approve the strategy.

Step 3: Install (Sandbox)

• Procedure: Install in a test environment

• Responsibility: Application support team

Next, install the new functionality in a test environment. Apps are notorious for creating new settings and elements that can be hard to remove. Only install apps in production once you’re sure you’ll use them.

Step 4: Test

• Procedure: Test new features

• Responsibility: Requestor and Application support team

Next, test the new functionality. Make sure to get the requestor’s help. The intended users should confirm that the new features meet their needs.

Step 5: Install (Production)

• Procedure: Install in production or uninstall in test environment

• Responsibility: Application support team

Finally, if the app provides the desired functionality, install it in the production environment. If it doesn’t remove it from the test environment, reset the environment’s configuration, and test a different solution instead.

Tip: And of course, only test one app at a time. Otherwise, if problems arise, it’s hard determine causes or potential sources of collisions.

Happy app testing!

---

Back to intro and image list

[Matt Doar _Adaptavist_]

Handy, thanks. An early step may need to research the request to see if other apps provide similar or better functionality for a different price.

[Kieren _SmolSoftware_]

I'd also add in:

Reach out to the app developer if you have any questions or suggestions for their app. We all love talking to customers and understanding how our apps can be improved. It'll also give you a sense of how responsive and supportive the app developer is.