Built-in Jira Software Reports

Jira comes with many built-in reports to provide insights into progress, release health, time logged, forecasts, and more. Each Jira application type, deployment type and project type contain different reports however. I’ve compiled a list of the report types and their definitions in Jira Software, so you don’t have to!

Tip: Be sure to consider reporting options when choosing between project types.

Jira Software: Cloud

COMPANY-MANAGED SCRUM PROJECT

Report count: 23
Unique reports: Cycle Time Report, Deployment Frequency Report, and Workload Pie Chart Report

Agile

Burndown Chart – Track the total work remaining and project the likelihood of achieving the sprint goal. This helps your team manage its progress and respond accordingly.
Burnup Chart – Track the total scope independently from the total work done. This helps your team manage its progress and better understand the effect of scope change.
Sprint Report – Understand the work completed or pushed back to the backlog in each sprint. This helps you determine if your team is overcommitting or if there is excessive scope creep.
Velocity Chart – Track the amount of work completed from sprint to sprint. This helps you determine your team’s velocity and estimate the work your team can realistically achieve in future sprints.
Cumulative Flow Diagram – Shows the statuses of issues over time. This helps you identify potential bottlenecks that need to be investigated.
Version Report – Track the projected release date for a version. This helps you monitor whether the version will release on time, so you can take action if work is falling behind.
Epic Report – Understand the progress towards completing an epic over time. This helps you manage your team’s progress by tracking the remaining incomplete/unestimated work.
Control Chart – Shows the cycle time for your product, version or sprint. This helps you identify whether data from the current process can be used to determine future performance.
Epic Burndown – Track the projected number of sprints required to complete the epic (optimized for Scrum). This helps you monitor whether the epic will release on time, so you can take action if work is falling behind.
Release Burndown – Track the projected release date for a version (optimized for Scrum). This helps you monitor whether the version will release on time, so you can take action if work is falling behind.

DevOps

Cycle Time Report– Understand how much time it takes to ship issues through the deployment pipeline and how to deal with outliers.
Deployment Frequency Report – Understand your deployment frequency to understand risk and how often you are shipping value to your customers.

Issue analysis

Average Age Report – Shows the average age of unresolved issues for a project or filter. This helps you see whether your backlog is being kept up to date.
Created vs. Resolved Issues Report – Maps created issues versus resolved issues over a period of time. This can help you understand whether your overall backlog is growing or shrinking.
Pie Chart Report – Shows a pie chart of issues for a project/filter grouped by a specified field. This helps you see the breakdown of a set of issues, at a glance.
Recently Created Issues Report – Shows the number of issues created over a period of time for a project/filter, and how many were resolved. This helps you understand if your team is keeping up with incoming work.
Resolution Time Report – Shows the length of time taken to resolve a set of issues for a project/filter. This helps you identify trends and incidents that you can investigate further.
Single Level Group By Report – Shows issues grouped by a particular field for a filter. This helps you group search results by a field and see the overall status of each group.
Time Since Issues Report – For a date field and project/filter, maps the issues against the date that the field was set. This can help you track how many issues were created, updated, etc, over a period of time.

Forecast & management

Time Tracking Report – Shows the original and current time estimates for issues in the current project. This can help you determine whether work is on track for those issues.
User Workload Report – Shows the time estimates for all unresolved issues assigned to a user across projects. This helps you understand the user’s workload better.
Version Workload Report – Shows the time estimates for all unresolved issues assigned to a version, broken down by user and issues. This helps you understand the remaining work for the version.

Other

Workload Pie Chart Report – A report showing the issues for a project or filter as a pie chart.

COMPANY-MANAGED KANBAN PROJECT

Report count: 15

Agile

Cumulative Flow Diagram – Shows the statuses of issues over time. This helps you identify potential bottlenecks that need to be investigated.
Control Chart – Shows the cycle time for your product, version or sprint. This helps you identify whether data from the current process can be used to determine future performance.

DevOps

Cycle Time Report – Understand how much time it takes to ship issues through the deployment pipeline and how to deal with outliers.
Deployment Frequency Report – Understand your deployment frequency to understand risk and how often you are shipping value to your customers.

Issue analysis

Average Age Report – Shows the average age of unresolved issues for a project or filter. This helps you see whether your backlog is being kept up to date.
Created vs. Resolved – Issues ReportMaps created issues versus resolved issues over a period of time. This can help you understand whether your overall backlog is growing or shrinking.
Pie Chart Report – Shows a pie chart of issues for a project/filter grouped by a specified field. This helps you see the breakdown of a set of issues, at a glance.
Recently Created Issues Report – Shows the number of issues created over a period of time for a project/filter, and how many were resolved. This helps you understand if your team is keeping up with incoming work.
Resolution Time Report – Shows the length of time taken to resolve a set of issues for a project/filter. This helps you identify trends and incidents that you can investigate further.
Single Level Group By Report – Shows issues grouped by a particular field for a filter. This helps you group search results by a field and see the overall status of each group.
Time Since Issues Report – For a date field and project/filter, maps the issues against the date that the field was set. This can help you track how many issues were created, updated, etc, over a period of time.

Forecast & management

Time Tracking Report – Shows the original and current time estimates for issues in the current project. This can help you determine whether work is on track for those issues.
User Workload Report – Shows the time estimates for all unresolved issues assigned to a user across projects. This helps you understand the user’s workload better.
Version Workload Report – Shows the time estimates for all unresolved issues assigned to a version, broken down by user and issues. This helps you understand the remaining work for the version.

Other

Workload Pie Chart Report – A report showing the issues for a project or filter as a pie chart.

TEAM-MANAGED SCRUM PROJECT

Note: Application and project administrators need to enable this feature at: Project Settings > Features. See screenshot

Burnup report – Visualize a sprint’s completed work and compare it with its total scope. Use these insights to track progress toward sprint completion.
Sprint burndown chart – Track and manage the total work remaining within a sprint. After the sprint, summarize both team and individual performance.
Velocity report – Predict the amount of work your team can commit to in future sprints by seeing and reviewing the amount of value delivered in previous ones.
- Note: A completed sprint is required
Cumulative flow diagram – Shows the statuses of your project’s issues over time. See which columns accumulate more issues, and identify bottlenecks in your workflow.
Cycle Time Report – Understand how much time it takes to ship issues through the deployment pipeline and how to deal with outliers.
Deployment Frequency Report – Understand your deployment frequency to understand risk and how often you are shipping value to your customers.

TEAM-MANAGED KANBAN PROJECT

Note: Application and project administrators need to enable this feature at: Project Settings > Features. See screenshot Additionally, some reports require sprints. Enable them on the features page too, if desired.

Same as the team-managed scrum project above.

Jira Software: Server and Data Center

SCRUM PROJECT

Same as the company-managed scrum project above without the following reports: Cycle Time Report, Deployment Frequency Report, and Workload Pie Chart Report

KANBAN PROJECT

Same as the company-managed kanban project above without the following reports: Cycle Time Report, Deployment Frequency Report, and Workload Pie Chart Report

Extending Reporting Capabilities

Most reports are customizable and if you can’t get to the data you’re after, there are plenty of apps available in the Atlassian Marketplace.

Choosing the right Jira project type

Jira has multiple application types and each is built for a specific audience and use. The types are: Jira Work Management (JWM) in Cloud, Jira Software (JSW), Jira Service Management (JSM) and Jira Product Discovery (JPD) in Cloud. All types have the same look and feel but different features. The applications can be used separately or together. For example, your organization might use Jira Work Management and Jira Software but not Jira Service Management.

Additionally, each Jira application type contains different project types. Each has special features not available in other project types. Here are the major differences and how to select the best project type for your team’s needs.

Jira Work Management

Jira Work Management contains all the main Jira features like projects, issues, workflows, and users. You can think of it as providing the core functions of Jira. In fact, it was previously named “Jira Core”. Atlassian added some new and interesting features before renaming it in April 2021. This application type has business projects, templates, and features.

This project type is best for teams like marketing, finance, legal, sales, human resources, and more. Its commonly used for managing projects, processes, and tasks.

Jira Work Management is only available in Cloud and there are two plans: free and standard. Jira Work Management is included with every Jira Cloud license. In Jira Server, the application is still called Jira Core. In Jira Data Center, there’s no such application.

Business Project Features

Business projects in Jira Cloud have some additional views that aren’t available in other project types. The features noted below are fairly new and will continue to be improved over time.

LIST VIEW

The list feature displays parent and child issues in a expandable list format. It’s similar to the format presented after searching or viewing filter results but there’s no JQL query to construct. Instead, all issues in the project are displayed and there’s an easy menu to filter issues by assignee, component, issue type, labels, priority, reporter, and status. You can also filter by issues “due this week”. This feature is a quick and easy way to view issues in a project without needing any query skills.

The best part of this view is that parent issues can be expanded or collapsed to show or hide child issues. This hierarchy capability is highly desired but missing in other areas of Jira. In the example screenshot, the task PMO-1 is expanded to show it has four sub-tasks.

List view in a Jira Cloud business project

Good to Know

The epic issue type does not display as part of the hierarchy in list view. I suspect that this is because epics are a software project concept, not a business project concept. Jira Cloud has many business templates, but none of them include the epic issue type by default. I manually added it to the sample project in the screenshot above because I like how epics help categorize work. To see an expandable view of epics and parent issues (but not child issues) use the roadmap feature in a software-type project.

CALENDAR VIEW

Until now, the only way to view issues in calendar format was by adding the “Jira Issues Calendar” macro to a dashboard. The functionality is basic. Issues are displayed based on a Jira project (or JQL filter) and a single date field. The total number of issues associated with a specific day are summed.

In the screenshot, there’s one issue due on October 27 and one due on October 30. The colored boxes represent different workflow statuses. In Jira, hover over the colored boxes to see issue details or click the box to view individual issue details. Fix versions can also be displayed. Finally, you can also export the data to iCal format.

The new calendar view in Jira Cloud business projects is not part of a dashboard and includes some useful additions. The display accommodates start and end dates, assuming you utilize the standard Jira “start date” and “due date” fields. This view also shows the issue type, key, summary, and assignee. The filtering capabilities work the same as described in the “list” view.

Again, notice that parent and child issues are displayed but not epics.

TIMELINE VIEW

The timeline view is similar to the roadmap view in a software-type project. This display includes a Gantt-type chart where issues duration is represented by colored bars. Start dates, end dates, and assignees are displayed. Dependencies are created using the standard linked issues feature and indicated using curved red lines. (Not pictured.) The same filtering abilities in the other views are present as well.

FORMS

The final new feature for business projects in Jira Cloud is forms. Use a form to collect additional information without adding new Jira issue types or custom fields. Currently, you can create one simple form per Jira business project. The form has a unique URL that can be shared with any licensed Jira user. A Jira issue is automatically created after any form submission.

License Differences

Jira Work Management users are not able to use agile or software development features in software projects or support features in service management projects. Access to business projects is available to all types of licensed Jira users. Read more

A JWM user license is less expensive than a JSW user license. When choosing between application and project types, it’s important to compare pricing, project access, and feature differences.

See Atlassian’s JWM product page and the table on the pricing page for additional feature information.

Jira Software

The next application type is Jira Software. This type is designed for development teams. Although any software development methodology is supported (including Agile, waterfall, or even no methodology or framework) this project type caters to teams using Scrum or Kanban.

Jira Software is available in Cloud, Server, and Data Center. In Cloud, there are four plans: free, standard, premium, and enterprise.

Software Project Features

Jira Software includes the following additional development-specific features:

Project templates for Scrum, Kanban, and bug tracking
Scrum boards for teams that plan in chunks of work called “sprints”
Kanban boards, for teams with less structured delivery schedules
Sprints to manage iterations or scheduled work
Sprint capacity planning (in Jira Cloud Premium and Enterprise) to avoid over or under resource utilization
Story points for relative effort estimation (time-based estimation is also available)
Backlog functionality to help teams prioritize future work
Release tracking functionality to manage deployments
Fix versions to schedule work and affected versions to manage code changes
Release tracks (in Jira Cloud Premium and Enterprise) to manage when and how software changes are released
Roadmaps to view work in a Gantt-type format
Additional built-in reports to track burndown and burnup, velocity, epics, releases, and more
Integration with code and deployment tools like Bamboo, Bitbucket, and Opsgenie
And more

License Differences

Only Jira Software users can leverage development specific features.

See Atlassian’s JSW product page and the table on the pricing page for additional feature information.

Learn more about the software development life cycle (SDLC) and using Atlassian applications to plan, develop, test, and release software with my Planning and Releasing Software with Jira course.

Jira Service Management

The final application type helps support teams of all types manage their requests. Atlassian created JSM in 2013 after noticing that 40% of customers had adapted Jira to handle service requests.

JSM is for tracking changes to systems, processes, or applications, resolving incidents and problems like an outage or security breach, fulfilling service requests like a password reset, new hardware, or issuing a mobile device, managing approvals of all kinds, and helping internal or external customers with whatever they need.

Business teams can take advantage of JSM features too. For example,
the HR team can collect benefits questions and reimbursement requests, the facilities team can receive requests for new desks and chairs, and the legal team can process contract review requests.

Sometimes teams have more than one project like a service-type project to support their “customers” and another business-type project to manage all their internal “to do” items. For example, the finance team can have a service project that every employee has access to. This project is used to collect employee reimbursement and purchase requests. They can also have a business project that only finance team members have access to. This project is used for tracking team tasks like maintaining reports and adding new employees to the payroll system.

As always, keep the long term health of the application in mind by not creating more Jira projects, settings, and schemes than you truly need.

JSM is available in Cloud, Server, and Data Center. In Cloud, there are four plans: free, standard, premium, and enterprise. Jira Service Management was previously called Jira Service Desk.

Service Project Features

While you can certainly use other Jira application types for support, Jira Service Management takes support to the next level.

JSM includes the following additional support-specific features:

Project templates for ITSM, customer service, and other support type teams (in Jira Cloud)
Dedicated queues to organize and categorize requests (in addition to standard JQL filtering capabilities)
Request categories for segmenting service requests, changes, problems, and incidents (found in the Jira Cloud “IT service management” project template)
Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to define goals and measure metrics like response or completion time
A simple customer portal (aka “help center”) featuring a streamlined interface and slightly customizable display
Integration with Confluence as a self-service knowledge base
Asset and configuration management (in Jira Cloud Premium and Enterprise)
Built-in reports for tracking agent workload, customer feedback, and requests deflected by self-help articles
Better support for creating issues via email (and from non Jira users)
An embeddable widget (in JSM Cloud) to create issues from other web pages or applications
Customizable notifications for customers
Permission schemes allowing customer access
A simple customer survey to collect customer feedback (CSAT)
Integration with monitoring, alert, and notification tools like
Opsgenie
The ability to automatically create issues in software projects from events in service projects without impacting automation rule execution limits
And more

License Differences

The licensing model is different in this application type. Jira Service Management has two additional types of users: agents and customers.

An agent is anyone providing support, managing the support team, or monitoring support team effectiveness. The agent is the technician who solves a problem or provides the requested help. An agent does all their work in Jira and requires a JSM license to use service features.

A customer is anyone who requests support. Customers can include internal users, external users, employees, vendors, contractors, and anyone else who needs help. These users file support requests and view progress in a simplified interface called the customer portal or help center. Customers generally don’t access the area of Jira that agents use to fulfill requests.

See Atlassian’s JSM product page and the table on the pricing page for additional feature information.

Learn more about JSM users, features, and configuring support projects with my Jira Service Management: Administration course.

Product Discovery

There’s also a newer project type is called Product Discovery and it’s intended for product managers. This application helps product and pipeline owners collect ideas, assess and prioritize them, and track them through delivery.

This type is great for product teams managing strategic company priorities, a portfolio, or a product catalog. It has special features for tracking goals, roadmap management, and insights from customer relationship management applications.

Learn more about this new type at: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/product-discovery

How to Choose a Project Type

As you can see, there’s a lot to consider when selecting a Jira application type and project type. While it’s easy to switch between Jira project types in Server and Data Center, it’s a more involved process in Cloud.

Potential reasons to choose a business project type:

Easier to use and navigate for less technical Jira users
Cheaper user license fees
All issue types can leverage the same workflow
The new list, calendar, and timeline views are easy to use and don’t require JQL
The forms feature is an interesting addition
- Note: Add similar capabilities with apps from the Atlassian Marketplace
The timeline feature provides a sufficient visual view

Potential reasons to choose a software project:

The primary users write, release, and deploy code, and/or use development tools like Bamboo or Bitbucket
Backlog, sprint, and/or Scrum board functionality is needed to prioritize and schedule work
Epics are used to categorize work
Multiple workflows are needed to manage different processes
- Example: A bug’s workflow includes a verification step, a change request’s workflow includes an approval step, a task’s workflow includes neither.
Software users can access both software and business projects
The roadmaps feature is preferred over the timeline feature
There’s a desire to track metrics like burndown, burnup, and velocity

Potential reasons to choose a service management project:

The primary users provide service and support for products or applications, to other teams, or to internal or external customers
Requestors don’t have Jira licenses
Requestors are less technical users
There are deadlines (SLAs) to meet for specific requestors or certain types of requests
- Note: Add similar capabilities to other project types using apps from the Atlassian Marketplace
The team uses monitoring, alert, or ChatOps tools
- Note: Other project types can integrate with Slack and Microsoft teams as well

Can you think of other reasons to choose a specific project type? Please add your thoughts in the comments section below.

For related information on the different types of Jira and changes over the years, please see:

Evolution of Jira Design

Project Administration Links in Jira Software and Jira Service Management

Jira Server vs Jira Cloud Interface Comparison

Jira Cloud Navigation Comparison

Project Administration Links in Jira Software and Jira Service Management

If you have Jira Software and Jira Service Management, how do you know which project admin links are for Jira project settings and which are for service management features?

While both Jira Software and Jira Service Management settings work together to power support projects, it’s helpful to know which links are for which application type so you can consult the correct documentation and information.

Here’s a handy list and and some differences between links in the Cloud and Server deployment types.

Project Admin Area

To get to a project’s admin area click the “Project settings” link in any Service Management project. It’s at the bottom of a project’s left sidebar. In Jira Server, the link takes the admin to the “Request types” page by default. In Cloud, the link takes the admin to the “Details” page by default.

In Server, the first set of sidebar settings are common to all Jira projects. Those links include: Summary, Details, Re-index project, and Delete project.

Further down the page are settings specific to Jira Service Management (JSM) projects. The first link in the section is labeled “Request types”.

The additional links below are for standard Jira project settings like issue types, workflows, screens, and more. You might also have additional links for managing third-party app settings.

In Cloud, the Jira and JSM settings are ordered differently. For example, the second section shows the Jira issue types and the JSM request types together.

Settings List

Here’s a handy list of the typical sidebar links and which application type they belong to.

Jira Software

The following settings are used by software-type projects:

Summary
Details
People (Cloud only)
Re-index project (Server only)
Delete project
Issue types
Workflows
Screens
Fields
Priorities
Versions
Components
Users and roles (Server only)
Permissions
Issue Security
Notifications
Project links
Development tools
Issue collectors

Jira Service Management

The following settings are used by service-type projects:

Change Management (Cloud only)
Request types
Customer permissions
Language support
Portal settings
Email requests
Customer notifications
Widget (Cloud only)
Satisfaction settings
Knowledge base
SLAs
Calendars
Automation
Apps (Cloud only)
Incident management (Server only)

Need help using or configuring Jira Software or Jira Service Management settings? Take my LinkedIn Learning courses to understand capabilities and best practices.

Rachel Wright’s Jira and Confluence
Admin and User Courses on LinkedIn

VIEW ALL COURSES

Default Jira Project Permissions

Default permission schemes (Jira Software Cloud)

Sometimes it’s important to understand how far your Jira application has strayed from the default configuration. Was that setting there from the beginning or did an application administrator add it eons ago?

To find out, visit Admin > Issues > Permission schemes in your application. Then use this baseline list to compare your Jira settings to the default.

Initial settings for Jira Cloud and Jira Server/Data Center v8.15 are included below. I keep fresh and untouched application instances around so you don’t have to!

Jira Software Cloud Free & Standard Project Permissions

Scheme name: Default Permission Scheme

Project permissions

Administer Projects

Ability to administer a project in Jira.

Granted to:

Project role
- Administrators
- atlassian-addons-project-access

Browse Projects

Ability to browse projects and the issues within them.

Granted to:

Project role
- atlassian-addons-project-access
Application access
- Any logged in user

Manage sprints

Ability to manage sprints.

Granted to:

Project role
- atlassian-addons-project-access

View Development Tools

Allows users in a software project to view development-related information on the issue, such as commits, reviews and build information.

Granted to:

Project role
- atlassian-addons-project-access
Application access
- Any logged in user

View Read-Only Workflow

Users with this permission may view a read-only version of a workflow.

Granted to:

Project role
- atlassian-addons-project-access
Application access
- Any logged in user

Issue permissions

Assignable User

Users with this permission may be assigned to issues.

Granted to:

Project role
- atlassian-addons-project-access
Application access
- Any logged in user

Assign Issues

Ability to assign issues to other people.

Granted to:

Project role
- atlassian-addons-project-access
Application access
- Any logged in user

Close Issues

Ability to close issues. Often useful where your developers resolve issues, and a QA department closes them.

Granted to:

Project role
- atlassian-addons-project-access
Application access
- Any logged in user

Create Issues

Ability to create issues.

Granted to:

Project role
- atlassian-addons-project-access
Application access
- Any logged in user

Delete Issues

Ability to delete issues.

Granted to:

Project role
- Administrators
- atlassian-addons-project-access

Edit Issues

Ability to edit issues.

Granted to:

Project role
- atlassian-addons-project-access
Application access
- Any logged in user

Link Issues

Ability to link issues together and create linked issues. Only useful if issue linking is turned on.

Granted to:

Project role
- atlassian-addons-project-access
Application access
- Any logged in user

Modify Reporter

Ability to modify the reporter when creating or editing an issue.

Granted to:

Project role
- Administrators
- atlassian-addons-project-access

Move Issues

Ability to move issues between projects or between workflows of the same project (if applicable). Note the user can only move issues to a project they have the create permission for.

Granted to:

Project role
- atlassian-addons-project-access
Application access
- Any logged in user

Resolve Issues

Ability to resolve and reopen issues. This includes the ability to set a fix version.

Granted to:

Project role
- atlassian-addons-project-access
Application access
- Any logged in user

Schedule Issues

Ability to view or edit an issue’s due date.

Granted to:

Project role
- atlassian-addons-project-access
Application access
- Any logged in user

Set Issue Security

Ability to set the level of security on an issue so that only people in that security level can see the issue.

Granted to:

Project role
- atlassian-addons-project-access

Transition Issues

Ability to transition issues.

Granted to:

Project role
- atlassian-addons-project-access
Application access
- Any logged in user

Voters & watchers permissions

Manage Watchers

Ability to manage the watchers of an issue.

Granted to:

Project role
- Administrators
- atlassian-addons-project-access

View Voters and Watchers

Ability to view the voters and watchers of an issue.

Granted to:

Project role
- atlassian-addons-project-access
Application access
- Any logged in user

Comments permissions

Add Comments

Ability to comment on issues.

Granted to:

Project role
- atlassian-addons-project-access
Application access
- Any logged in user

Delete All Comments

Ability to delete all comments made on issues.

Granted to:

Project role
- Administrators
- atlassian-addons-project-access

Delete Own Comments

Ability to delete own comments made on issues.

Granted to:

Project role
- atlassian-addons-project-access
Application access
- Any logged in user

Edit All Comments

Ability to edit all comments made on issues.

Granted to:

Project role
- Administrators
- atlassian-addons-project-access

Edit Own Comments

Ability to edit own comments made on issues.

Granted to:

Project role
- atlassian-addons-project-access
Application access
- Any logged in user

Attachments permissions

Create Attachments

Users with this permission may create attachments.

Granted to:

Project role
- atlassian-addons-project-access
Application access
- Any logged in user

Delete All Attachments

Users with this permission may delete all attachments.

Granted to:

Project role
- Administrators
- atlassian-addons-project-access

Delete Own Attachments

Users with this permission may delete own attachments.

Granted to:

Project role
- atlassian-addons-project-access
Application access
- Any logged in user

Time tracking permissions

Delete All Worklogs

Ability to delete all worklogs made on issues.

Granted to:

Project role
- Administrators
- atlassian-addons-project-access

Delete Own Worklogs

Ability to delete own worklogs made on issues.

Granted to:

Project role
- atlassian-addons-project-access
Application access
- Any logged in user

Edit All Worklogs

Ability to edit all worklogs made on issues.

Granted to:

Project role
- Administrators
- atlassian-addons-project-access

Edit Own Worklogs

Ability to edit own worklogs made on issues.

Granted to:

Project role
- atlassian-addons-project-access
Application access
- Any logged in user

Work On Issues

Ability to log work done against an issue. Only useful if Time Tracking is turned on.

Granted to:

Project role
- atlassian-addons-project-access
Application access
- Any logged in user

Scheme name: Default software scheme

Same as the Jira Cloud “Default Permission Scheme” except:

Manage sprints

Ability to manage sprints.

Granted to:

Project role
- atlassian-addons-project-access
Application access
- Any logged in user

Jira Software Server Project Permissions

Scheme name: Default software scheme

Project permissions

Administer Projects

Ability to administer a project in Jira.

Granted to:

Project role
- Administrators

Also includes a checkbox to grant extended project administration permissions.

Browse Projects

Ability to browse projects and the issues within them.

Granted to:

Application access
- Any logged in user

Edit SPRINTS

Ability to edit sprint name and goal.

Granted to: none

Manage sprints

Ability to manage sprints.

Granted to:

Project role
- Administrators

Start/Complete Sprints

Ability to start and complete sprints.

Granted to: none

View Development Tools

Allows users in a software project to view development-related information on the issue, such as commits, reviews and build information.

Granted to:

Application access
- Any logged in user

View Read-Only Workflow

Users with this permission may view a read-only version of a workflow.

Granted to:

Application access
- Any logged in user

Issue permissions

Assignable User

Users with this permission may be assigned to issues.

Granted to:

Application access
- Any logged in user

Assign Issues

Ability to assign issues to other people.

Granted to:

Application access
- Any logged in user

Close Issues

Ability to close issues. Often useful where your developers resolve issues, and a QA department closes them.

Granted to:

Application access
- Any logged in user

Create Issues

Ability to create issues.

Granted to:

Application access
- Any logged in user

Delete Issues

Ability to delete issues.

Granted to:

Project role
- Administrators

Edit Issues

Ability to edit issues.

Granted to:

Application access
- Any logged in user

Link Issues

Ability to link issues together and create linked issues. Only useful if issue linking is turned on.

Granted to:

Application access
- Any logged in user

Modify Reporter

Ability to modify the reporter when creating or editing an issue.

Granted to:

Project role
- Administrators

Move Issues

Ability to move issues between projects or between workflows of the same project (if applicable). Note the user can only move issues to a project they have the create permission for.

Granted to:

Application access
- Any logged in user

Resolve Issues

Ability to resolve and reopen issues. This includes the ability to set a fix version.

Granted to:

Application access
- Any logged in user

Schedule Issues

Ability to view or edit an issue’s due date.

Granted to:

Application access
- Any logged in user

Set Issue Security

Ability to set the level of security on an issue so that only people in that security level can see the issue.

Granted to: none

Transition Issues

Ability to transition issues.

Granted to:

Application access
- Any logged in user

Voters & watchers permissions

Manage Watchers

Ability to manage the watchers of an issue.

Granted to:

Project role
- Administrators

View Voters and Watchers

Ability to view the voters and watchers of an issue.

Granted to:

Application access
- Any logged in user

Comments permissions

Add Comments

Ability to comment on issues.

Granted to:

Application access
- Any logged in user

Delete All Comments

Ability to delete all comments made on issues.

Granted to:

Project role
- Administrators

Delete Own Comments

Ability to delete own comments made on issues.

Granted to:

Application access
- Any logged in user

Edit All Comments

Ability to edit all comments made on issues.

Granted to:

Project role
- Administrators

Edit Own Comments

Ability to edit own comments made on issues.

Granted to:

Application access
- Any logged in user

Attachments permissions

Create Attachments

Users with this permission may create attachments.

Granted to:

Application access
- Any logged in user

Delete All Attachments

Users with this permission may delete all attachments.

Granted to:

Project role
- Administrators

Delete Own Attachments

Users with this permission may delete own attachments.

Granted to:

Application access
- Any logged in user

Time tracking permissions

Delete All Worklogs

Ability to delete all worklogs made on issues.

Granted to:

Project role
- Administrators

Delete Own Worklogs

Ability to delete own worklogs made on issues.

Granted to:

Application access
- Any logged in user

Edit All Worklogs

Ability to edit all worklogs made on issues.

Granted to:

Project role
- Administrators

Edit Own Worklogs

Ability to edit own worklogs made on issues.

Granted to:

Application access
- Any logged in user

Work On Issues

Ability to log work done against an issue. Only useful if Time Tracking is turned on.

Granted to:

Application access
- Any logged in user

Scheme name: Default software scheme

Same as the Jira Server “Default Permission Scheme”.

Jira Software Data Center, Jira Cloud Premium, and Jira Cloud Enterprise Project Permissions

These types of Jira have archival features and additional permissions. Same as the Jira Server “Default Permission Scheme” plus:

Browse Project Archive

Ability to browse archived issues from a specific project.

Granted to: none

Archive Issues

Ability to archive issues for a specific project.

Granted to: none

Restore Issues

Ability to restore issues for a specific project.

Granted to: none

Default Jira Global Permissions

To find out, visit Admin > System > Global permissions in your application. Then use this baseline list to compare your Jira settings to the default.

Initial settings for Jira Cloud and Jira Server/Data Center v8.15 are included below. I keep fresh and untouched application instances around so you don’t have to!

Jira Software Cloud Global Permissions

Administer Jira

Create and administer projects, issue types, fields, workflows, and schemes for all projects. Users with this permission can perform most administration tasks, except: managing users, importing data, and editing system email settings.

Users/Groups:

system-administrators
atlassian-addons-admin
site-admins
trusted-users-xxx (unique alphanumeric string)
administrators
jira-administrators

Browse users and groups

View and select users or groups from the user picker, and share issues. Users with this permission can see the names of all users and groups on your site.

Users/Groups:

system-administrators
site-admins
jira-software-users
administrators
jira-administrators
atlassian-addons-admin

Share dashboards and filters

Share dashboards and filters with other users.

Users/Groups:

atlassian-addons-admin
jira-software-users
system-administrators
jira-administrators
site-admins
administrators

Manage group filter subscriptions

Create and delete group filter subscriptions.

Users/Groups:

jira-administrators
jira-software-users
administrators
system-administrators
atlassian-addons-admin
site-admins

Make bulk changes

Modify collections of issues at once. For example, resolve multiple issues in one step.

Users/Groups:

atlassian-addons-admin
jira-software-users
site-admins
administrators
jira-administrators
system-administrators

Create next-gen projects

Create projects separate from shared configurations and schemes. Next-gen projects don’t affect existing projects or shared configurations like workflows, fields or permissions. Only licensed users can create next-gen projects.

Users/Groups:

Public, anyone on the internet, including logged in and anonymous users.

Jira Software Server & Data Center Global Permissions

Jira System Administrators

Ability to perform all administration functions. There must be at least one group with this permission.

Users/Groups:

jira-administrators

Jira Administrators

Ability to perform most administration functions (excluding Import & Export, SMTP Configuration, etc.).

Users/Groups:

jira-administrators

Browse Users

Ability to select a user or group from a popup window as well as the ability to use the ‘share’ issues feature. Users with this permission will also be able to see names of all users and groups in the system.

Users/Groups:

jira-administrators
jira-servicedesk-users (If installed)
jira-software-users

Create Shared Objects

Ability to share dashboards and filters with other users, groups and roles.

Users/Groups:

jira-administrators
jira-servicedesk-users (If installed)
jira-software-users

Manage Group Filter Subscriptions

Ability to manage (create and delete) group filter subscriptions.

Users/Groups:

jira-administrators
jira-servicedesk-users (If installed)
jira-software-users

Bulk Change

Ability to modify a collection of issues at once. For example, resolve multiple issues in one step.

Users/Groups:

jira-administrators
jira-servicedesk-users (If installed)
jira-software-users

Browse Archive

Ability to browse all archived issues.

Users/Groups:

None (empty)

Which type of Jira do I have?

Question

Updated: March 2024

When I started using Jira in 2011 there was only one type. But now there are different application types, like Jira Work Management or Core, Jira Software, Jira Service Management, and Jira Product Discovery and different deployment types, like Cloud, Server, and Data Center. If you have Jira Cloud, there are also different plans like Free, Standard, Premium, and Enterprise. How do you know which you have? Why does it matter?

Answer

In an ideal world, you wouldn’t need to know which type of Jira you have. But because the types have different features, abilities, user interfaces, apps, documentation, and terminology, its helpful to know which you’re using.

Here’s how to determine which Jira application type, deployment type, and plan you have.

Step 1: Determine the Deployment Type

There are three Jira deployment types: Cloud, Server, and Data Center. The different types have different features and capabilities.

If you have Jira Cloud, Atlassian hosts the application on their servers and they are responsible for upgrades, email, and up-time.
If you have Jira Server, your organization hosts the application in a physical location (like a server room) or in a virtual environment (like on Amazon’s web servers). Your Systems team is responsible for upgrades and all maintenance activities. Note: Atlassian stopped selling new licenses of Server products in February 2021 and support ended in February 2024.
Jira Data Center is for mission-critical environments. Like Server, your organization hosts the application but there are multiple application instances. If one instance goes down, the others ensure Jira remains available.

There are a few ways to determine which type you have.

First, look at the URL format in the browser’s address bar. If the format is “yourcompany.atlassian.net”, Atlassian is hosting Jira. Atlassian has future plans for custom URLs, but for now, it’s a quick way to to signify you have Jira Cloud.

Next, both Jira Server and Data Center have the version number displayed at the bottom of most pages. You can also see the version number on the Help > About Jira page in the main navigation. You’ll need this version number to leverage the correct documentation.

Step 2: Determine the Application Type

There are multiple Jira application types: All have the same look and feel but different uses and abilities. The applications are used separately or together.

Jira Work Management (Cloud) and Jira Core (Server and Data Center) contains all the main Jira features like Jira projects, issues, workflows, and users. This type is best for business teams and for managing initiatives, processes, and tasks.
Jira Software is designed for development teams and teams using a Scrum or Kanban methodology. It includes dev-specific features like sprints, story points, backlogs, and integration with tools like Bamboo and Bitbucket.
Jira Service Management is built for help and support teams of all kinds. For example, the HR team can collect benefits questions and reimbursement requests, the Facilities team can receive requests for new desks and chairs, and the Legal team can process contract review requests. It contains additional features like SLAs (service level agreements), queues for grouping requests based on type and severity, and additional reporting for workload and customer satisfaction. JSM has a simple request entry interface called the “Customer Portal”. It also integrates with Confluence to display self service help articles.
Jira Product Discovery (Cloud) helps product and pipeline owners collect ideas, assess and prioritize them, and track them through delivery.

Jira Project Types

It’s hard for end users to determine the application type. Users can get insight from the “Projects” page however. Click the “Projects” link in the main navigation and select “View all projects”.

Next, look in column labeled “Type”. Your application may have one or more types at the same time. For example, you may only have access to business projects but your colleague may also has access to software projects.

Jira Server and Data Center Project Types

For Jira Administrators

Application admins can also find additional product details by logging into my.atlassian.com to view your bill. Here’s an example bill from Cloud and Server.

Step 3: Determine the Plan Type (Cloud only)

For Jira Administrators

Finally, Atlassian offers multiple Jira Cloud plans: Free, Standard, Premium, and Enterprise. The differences between the plans are detailed here.

Application admins can view the plan by visiting
admin.atlassian.com or by clicking Admin > Billing in Jira. The screenshot example shows the “Standard” plan for Jira Software.

Still not sure which Jira you have? Ask us, your Jira Administrator, or Atlassian for help.

Why does it matter?

First, you need to know which set of documentation to reference. The screenshot shows there’s different documentation for Cloud and for each Server and Data Center version.

Don’t make my mistake and waste time reading the wrong information!

Second, you can extend Jira’s capabilities with apps from the Atlassian Marketplace. The screenshot shows this add-on is available for all three hosting options. That’s not true for every app, however.

Always make sure that an app is available for your application type, deployment type, and version.

Have a Question?

Use the “Ask a Question” form on the top right and we’ll answer it in a future post.

View other questions

Jira Software: Cloud

COMPANY-MANAGED SCRUM PROJECT

COMPANY-MANAGED KANBAN PROJECT

TEAM-MANAGED SCRUM PROJECT

TEAM-MANAGED KANBAN PROJECT

Jira Software: Server and Data Center

SCRUM PROJECT

KANBAN PROJECT

Extending Reporting Capabilities

Jira Work Management

Business Project Features

LIST VIEW

CALENDAR VIEW

TIMELINE VIEW

FORMS

License Differences

Jira Software

Software Project Features

License Differences

Jira Service Management

Service Project Features

License Differences

Product Discovery

How to Choose a Project Type

Related Articles

Project Admin Area

Settings List

Jira Software

Jira Service Management

Rachel Wright’s Jira and Confluence Admin and User Courses on LinkedIn

Jira Software Cloud Free & Standard Project Permissions

Project permissions

Administer Projects

Browse Projects

Manage sprints

View Development Tools

View Read-Only Workflow

Issue permissions

Assignable User

Assign Issues

Close Issues

Create Issues

Delete Issues

Edit Issues

Link Issues

Modify Reporter

Move Issues

Resolve Issues

Schedule Issues

Set Issue Security

Transition Issues

Voters & watchers permissions

Manage Watchers

View Voters and Watchers

Comments permissions

Add Comments

Delete All Comments

Delete Own Comments

Edit All Comments

Edit Own Comments

Attachments permissions

Create Attachments

Delete All Attachments

Delete Own Attachments

Time tracking permissions

Delete All Worklogs

Delete Own Worklogs

Edit All Worklogs

Edit Own Worklogs

Work On Issues

Manage sprints

Jira Software Server Project Permissions

Project permissions

Administer Projects

Browse Projects

Edit SPRINTS

Manage sprints

Start/Complete Sprints

View Development Tools

View Read-Only Workflow

Rachel Wright’s Jira and Confluence
Admin and User Courses on LinkedIn