Jira: Setting up Zendesk Support for Jira integration

The Jira integration encourages collaboration between product teams and the support team. The Jira v4 integration supports both Atlassian Jira Cloud (OnDemand) and Jira Server (OnPremise) version 7x and above.

Topics covered in this article:

• Setting up the integration
• Best practices for performing the setup
• Installing and configuring the integration
• Adding fields to the Jira app in Zendesk Support
• Using the dedicated integration user option
• Jira Server-specific instructions

Related topics:

• Using the Zendesk Support for Jira integration
• Zendesk Support for Jira related terminology
• Restricting access to projects in your Jira integration
• Updating a ticket when the status of a Jira issue changes

Setting up the integration

You must have administrator permissions in both Jira and Zendesk to set up the integration.

Additionally, you must meet the following requirements:

• You're part of the jira-administrators and jira-software-users groups
• You don't have any permission schemes that prevent you from creating or updating projects
• The reporter field is on the Create Issue screen for the respective projects

Make sure the following requirements are met as well:

• You're using Jira Internal Directory as your user directory.
• Atlassian add-ons have permission to access your Jira projects. They should have it by default, but somebody may have changed it. To verify this, check the Project Permissions page for each project in Jira. The various project actions should have a Project Role called Project Role (atlassian-addons-project-access).
• Third-party cookies are enabled. Or, if third-party cookies need to remain disabled on your system, add jiraplugin.zendesk.com to the list of content exceptions.

Best practices for performing the setup

As we'll explain in the instructions below, we recommend that during setup you choose the option to create a dedicated integration user. This automatically creates a new admin user in your Zendesk account that is used only by the Jira integration. Choosing the dedicated integration user option ensures that all future escalations are from Jira to Zendesk Support, coming not from your personal user account but from the dedicated user and ensure the integration doesn't break if the person installing the integration leave it leaves the company. This user account is fully managed by the integration and will be suspended if the integration is removed.

Note: The dedicated integration user option does require an available agent seat. While in use, that seat will not be available for other agents. The dedicated integration user can be suspended at any time, and its seat redistributed to another agent.

The integration creates a free admin user called Zendesk for Jira that can be ideal for use by this integration (Jira Cloud only). You can change the avatar of the user on the Profile page, as you would with any other user.

Jira Service Cloud

If you are using Jira Service Cloud, to ensure the integration works, add the user add_on_zendesk_for_jira to the group jira-users in the Jira admin.

Installing and configuring the integration

1. In Jira, click Jira settings in the left side panel, then click Apps.
2. Under Atlassian Marketplace on the left, click Find new apps and search for Zendesk.
3. Locate and click the Zendesk Support for Jira entry in the search results.
4. Click Get app.

   

5. Click Get it now, then close the installation success notification.
6. After installing the app, click Manage apps in the left side panel, then click Zendesk Support for JIRA to expand the app configuration page.

   

7. Click Configure.
8. Enter your Zendesk subdomain, then read and agree to the Terms and Conditions.

   

   By default, Create dedicated integration user is selected. We recommend using this feature. For more information, see Using the dedicated integration user option.

9. Click Authenticate.
10. A second browser page opens asking if you want to grant the add-on permission to access your Zendesk. After granting permission, close the page.
11. On the app's settings page, select the details you want to display in the linked Jira issues.

    

12. Click Save.

If you want to control who has access to the app (for example, admins or agents only), you can make the change in Zendesk.

To restrict access to the Jira Cloud app

1. In Zendesk Support, click the Admin icon (), then go to Apps > Manage and locate the Jira Cloud app.
2. Hover over the Jira Cloud app. Using the drop-down menu on the right side of the app icon, select Change Settings.
3. Under General Settings, locate the Role restrictions section, and click the Enabled checkbox.
4. Click in the Role restrictions text box, and select the roles that should have permission to use the app.

   

5. Click Save settings to save and apply the changes to your settings.

That's it. Your teams can start collaborating using Zendesk and Jira. To find out how, see Using the Zendesk for Jira Cloud integration.

Adding fields to the Jira app in Zendesk Support

When creating a Jira issue from a Zendesk Support ticket, you're asked to enter details about the issue being reported, in the Create a new Jira issue form:

This form includes a number of default fields:

• Project
• Issue type
• Reporter
• Assignee
• Summary
• Description

These default fields cannot be removed. However, you can include additional fields from Jira in this form, either pre-existing fields, or custom fields.

For more information, see Specifying field behavior on the Atlassian website.

Configuring the issue creation form

You can define which Jira fields the agents sees when creating a new Jira issue from Support, a significant enhancement introduced in the Jira app v4.

These fields are specific to a particular Jira project and issue type. Issue fields defined as "required" in Jira will appear on the form regardless of configurations on this form.

Note: Only Support Admins can configure these fields for their agents.

Using the dedicated integration user option

If you choose to create a dedicated integration user in your Zendesk Support account, a new, verified admin user (Jira Integration) is automatically created, along with an email address ([e-mail]).

Note: The Jira Integration user consumes one of your agent seats; this seat is returned to you when the user is disabled or deleted.

After the authentication and creation processes are completed, the integration service is ready to use. All the commenting and field sync actions will be performed as if they’re done by the dedicated integration user.

If you decide to stop using the dedicated integration user, you can disconnect the integration from the Jira side. When disconnected, Jira will stop using the dedicated integration user. The dedicated integration user in Zendesk Support account will be downgraded to an end-user and suspended. Uninstalling the plugin will also downgrade and suspend the user.

To disconnect the dedicated integration user

1. In Jira, click Jira settings, then go to Apps > Manage apps.
2. Click to expand the Zendesk Support for Jira app, then click Configure.
3. Click Disconnect to disconnect your subdomain.

   

4. Re-enter your subdomain, and deselect the option to create a dedicated integration user.
5. Click Authenticate to re-authenticate your subdomain.

Jira Server-specific instructions

While the features and setup processes of the Jira Cloud and Jira Server integration with Zendesk Support are very similar, you need to consider the following when installing on Jira Server:

• You need to ensure that you allow Zendesk to establish a connection to your Jira server from the following public IP addresses listed here.
• We strongly recommend that SSL encryption is used to secure the communication between Jira and Zendesk, especially for production environments. If SSL is enabled, you must have a full SSL certificate stack from a certificate authority. Self-signed certificates are not supported. The intermediate certificate is commonly not installed on the Jira server.
• Make sure that the right port is open (usually 80/8080/443 depending on your SSL settings) on your network for inbound/outbound traffic between Zendesk and Jira.
• When configuring the add-on in Jira, the "Jira Base URL" may not be the same URL you use to access Jira on your private server. The Jira Base URL must be a publicly-accessible address, so Zendesk can use it to make network requests to your Jira instance. You can connect this publicly-accessible address to your private server address via NAT or reverse proxy.
• The Zendesk addon in Jira needs to run with administrative privileges. We suggest creating a dedicated account as follows and adding it to jira-administrators and jira-software-users groups.

  Full name: Zendesk for Jira

  Username: addon_zendesk

The above username is what the integration looks for by default. In case it doesn’t exist, it will attempt to use the admin account that installed the addon, and if that fail, first available admin account will be used.