Jira Account locations

[Shane Robinson]

I use developers from overseas and have found that my project is now jumbles as far as documentation, error tracking within the code etc. I am wondering if JIRA allows me to set up an account and give developers from overseas a log in so they can ad docs, project notes etc and create links to where bugs have been found in code etc. The KEY piece being is that I control the data and it stays as is if I change developers.

[Nicolas Bourdages]

We do something like that on my setup. We have developers from partner companies. They are not trusted to modify of transition issues, but they can add comments and attachments. Here's how to apply did this:

1. Create a project role specifically for that purpose. Call it "Partners" or "Overseas Users" or whatever makes sense to you
2. In your permission scheme, only give Browse Project, Link Issues, Add Comments, Add Attachment and Assignable User.
3. Create JIRA users for your developers and assign them to a Group
4. Assign that group to the new project role you've created
5. Whenever you need to change developers, disable the old accounts and add the new ones to the Group. There will be no need to change the project roles or permission scheme.

The advantage of that solution is that it scales easily with multiple projects. You only need to edit the user group once, and permissions are adjusted automatically for all projects.

The previous answer advised a single account for your group of developers instead of one account for each individual. That will work if your developers are trustworthy and will stay the same for a while. But imagine one of them leaves to work elsewhere or is fired, or otherwise should not access to the project anymore. Now you have to change the password and this affects the remaining users.

Also, if multiple users use a single JIRA account, accountability might become an issue. If someone messes up, you're going to have a hard time figuring out who it is and addressing the issue.

Unless you're running out of licenses, it's better in the long run to create individual users. 

[GabrielleJ]

Yes, I can suggest a couple of ways to somehow accomplish what you want:

• Setup a generic JIRA internal ID, give it the minimum access needed update/create issues and give your developers its password.
• Use JIRA Issue Collectors and give them the javascript source. You can enable the "collect environment details" and label so that you will have additional information about the issue.