Is there a way to integrate two Jira instances?

[Enterprise Knowledge]

My company currently uses Jira service desk to support our customers who uses a software developed by another company. Both company uses Jira. Is there a way to integrate their Jira instance with ours so both sides will have access to one support desk? We want a more streamlined way to support out customers rather than out customers submitting a ticket from our Jira service desk then contacting the other company if additional support is needed. I rather want to have one instance where both companies can see when tickets come in as well as use a single library of workflows.

Update: Is there a way to integrate both our Jira instances to see each other's ticket ques and statuses if the above question does not have a less complicated solution?

[Łukasz Krupa]

Hi,

I represent a vendor who address integration needs and have also own solutions for Jira tickets synchronization IssueSYNC (supports Jira Core/Software/Service Desk, Cloud, Server, DC).

There are different scenarios that can be considered.

1) The most basic scenario is to use marketplace app to exchange tickets' data.

2) I will give you another one. New, dedicated to support Jira instance (probably cloud) that is shared. Tickets from it may be redistributed to other Jira instances by agent decision and/or JQL filters. 

[Riddhi Shah]

Hi @Enterprise Knowledge  ,

We're the developers of the synchronization app, Exalate, @Nic Brough -Adaptavist- mentioned.

The main advantage over the Application link is that you can get handy automations like status changes in SD whenever the status is changed in your Jira Software instance. You can also set up automatic commenting whenever the issue is resolved in Jira Software. And much more. 

You'll be able to synchronize/auto-create any issue data you choose between your instances. This will happen in real-time. That way, you'll always be in the loop on progress status, comments, attachments, and even work-logs or change history (if that’s what you want). You'll be able to easily customize exactly what you'd like to sync and who you'd like to sync it with.

The point is that you have a lot of freedom to customize the synchronization to the way your teams collaborate. One of our teammates recently published an article on a similar use case (although there a service desk was connected to multiple development projects):
How to sync issues Jira Service Desk with multiple Jira Projects.

This article has a video, demonstrating how Exalate can solve the use case. If you want to know more, I can show you exactly how it would work for your use case through a one-on-one demo.

You can book one here if you like: Book A Demo.

Cheers,

Riddhi

[Abhijit A shanbhag]

Do you need admin privileges in both the instances to configure exalate?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

To install and configure the core functions, yes.  But some of the lower level stuff just needs project admin rights.

[Alex Shmakov]

You can also link two Jira instances manually via Application Links. When your instances is linked you can link issues from one instance to another. But this requires additional configuration on both sides so users have correct permissions on create or/and link issues.

You can read more about Federating Jira Here. You can also check section "Configuring issue linking for external application" in This article.

And there is another question with many different solution suggested.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

No, you can't do this directly - the service desk project must be hosted by one or the other Jira instance.

But, you can set up synchronisations between projects on each server, so that activities on one server are mirrored (precisely or with variational procedures such as "project 1 has a field that is not in project 2, so don't mirror it", "dropdowns for field X are different, so map the values", or "different workflows, so only mirror certain transitions")

There are apps on the marketplace that enable this for you, the two that I've used most are Backbone and Exalate - both highly recommended and worth a try.

[Tarun Sapra]

Hello @Enterprise Knowledge 

Adding further to @Nic Brough -Adaptavist-  answer.

If you don't want a complicated solution as project sync required plugins from marketplace and it can be tricky to setup. And since you mention

Update: Is there a way to integrate both our Jira instances to see each other's ticket ques and statuses if the above question does not have a less complicated solution?

You can just link both instances using application links and then use the concept of "Remote gadgets" to display the relevant open issues of Jira onto the dashboard of another Jira so that your Dev/non-dev team has complete transparency about issue progress across both instances. 

[Tarun Sapra]

https://confluence.atlassian.com/adminjiraserver0713/adding-a-gadget-to-the-directory-964983245.html