Integrations
Jira
Connect your organization's Jira Cloud site and link a Jira project to a Colabio project. Its open issues become Colabio tasks, assigned to the right members, and Jira keeps them up to date every 15 minutes. Your team tracks time on them from the desktop app like on any other task. Colabio only reads from Jira; it never changes an issue.
Before you start
- Jira Cloud. Any plan works, including Jira's free plan. Jira Server and Data Center, which a company runs on its own servers, are not supported.
- Colabio's Starter plan or above.
- An organization manager in Colabio, signed in to an Atlassian account that can see the Jira projects you want to link.
Setting it up
About two minutes, once.
Step 1
Open Integrations
In the dashboard sidebar, open Communication, then Integrations. Only organization managers see it.
Step 2
Connect Jira
Press Connect on the Jira card. Atlassian asks you to choose your Jira site and allow Colabio to view Jira work and user profiles. Accept, and you come back to Colabio with Jira connected.
Step 3
Link a Jira project
Press Link a Jira project, choose the Jira project and the Colabio project its issues should go to, then Link and import. The open issues become tasks straight away.
Step 4
Check the people
The People list shows who the issues are assigned to in Jira. Match anyone Colabio could not match by email, and make sure each person is on the Colabio project, so their issues are assigned to them.
The Jira screen
Everything lives in the Jira section of the Integrations page, under the cards.
The header
The Jira site Colabio reads (with a link to it), who connected it and when, and Disconnect. If Jira stops accepting the connection, a red line explains why and a Reconnect button appears; nothing is lost while you wait.
Getting started
Three steps (connect, link a project, check the people) shown until the first project is linked.
What Jira controls
A short reminder of which task fields always come from Jira, which come from Jira only when the issue has them, and what never happens.
Linked projects
One row per Jira project: the Jira project (opens in Jira), the Colabio project it feeds (opens its page), how many tasks it made, and its sync status. Sync now runs it at once; Unlink stops it.
People
Everyone issues are assigned to, the member each one is, and how they were matched. A red count says how many still need a member.
What a linked project's status means
- Up to date
- The last sync worked. The row says when, and what that run changed.
- Not synced yet
- The project was just linked and the first sync has not finished.
- Sync stopped
- The last sync failed. The reason is written under it in plain words; fix the cause, then press Sync now.
What syncs
One way, from Jira into Colabio. Each linked project syncs every 15 minutes, and Sync now runs it at once.
Which issues come in
The first sync of a project imports every issue that is not done. After that, every 15 minutes, Colabio asks Jira only for what changed: new open issues become tasks, and imported ones are updated. An issue that is already done when Colabio first sees it is not imported.
The task's name
The issue key and summary, such as “ENG-42 Fix the login page”, so members find it in the desktop app by the key they know. When the summary changes in Jira, the task's name follows. On the task board the card shows the key as a Jira chip that opens the issue, with the summary below it.
Status
Jira groups every workflow's statuses into To do, In progress and Done, and Colabio follows that: To do becomes Not started, In progress stays In progress, Done becomes Completed. Custom workflows need no setup.
Priority, due date and estimate
Copied when the issue has them; when it has none, whatever you set in Colabio stays. A due date that has already passed is not copied, because in Colabio a passed deadline stops time tracking on the task.
Sub-tasks
A Jira sub-task becomes a task of its own in the same Colabio project, named with its own key.
Time tracking
Imported issues are ordinary Colabio tasks: members track time on them from the desktop app, and the time counts in timesheets, reports, budgets and invoices like any other. Time is not written back to Jira.
People and assignees
The People list shows everyone the sync has seen as an assignee, with the member they are.
- Colabio matches a Jira person to a member by email when the person's Atlassian profile shares it.
- For anyone else, choose the member, or Nobody to leave their issues unassigned. Your choice is never overwritten.
- A member who is not on the Colabio project is not assigned there; the list names the project so you can add them. Colabio never adds anyone to a project on its own.
- Matching someone assigns them the open tasks already imported for them.
- Reassigning an issue in Jira reassigns its task in Colabio at the next sync.
Unlinking, reconnecting and linking again
Colabio remembers which task each Jira issue became, so nothing you do here duplicates tasks or loses tracked time.
| You do this | What happens |
|---|---|
| Unlink a project | Syncing stops. Its tasks stay in the Colabio project with all their tracked time. |
| Link the same Jira project to the same Colabio project again | The earlier tasks are picked up again, not imported twice. The sync carries on from where it stopped and catches up on anything that changed in Jira in between. |
| Link the Jira project to a different Colabio project | Its open issues are imported into the new project. The old tasks stay where they were, as ordinary tasks. |
| Disconnect Jira, then connect again | Colabio forgets its access, and every project stops syncing. Link the same projects again after connecting and their tasks are picked up, as above. People matched by email are matched again on their own; anyone you matched by hand needs choosing again. |
| Delete an imported task in Colabio | It stays deleted, even after unlinking and linking again. |
| Delete an issue in Jira | Its Colabio task stays, with any time tracked on it. Delete it in Colabio if you no longer want it. |
To remove Colabio from your Atlassian account as well as from Colabio, open your Atlassian account settings, then Connected apps.
Troubleshooting
A stopped sync says why on its row. These are the messages you may see and what to do.
- Atlassian says “Access denied” when you connect
- The Atlassian account you are signed in with has no Jira Cloud site, or cannot see one. Sign in to Atlassian with the account that uses your Jira, or create a free Jira site, then press Connect again.
- “Choose which Jira site Colabio reads first”
- Your Atlassian account covers more than one Jira site. Pick one in the Jira site box at the top of the Jira section.
- “The person who connected Colabio cannot see this”
- Colabio reads Jira as the manager who connected it. Give that person access to the Jira project, or reconnect Jira while signed in as someone who has it.
- “Jira no longer accepts Colabio's access”, or a Reconnect button
- Someone removed Colabio from the Atlassian account, or the connection went unused for 90 days. Press Reconnect; links and tasks are kept.
- “Jira is rate limiting Colabio” or “Jira answered 5…”
- A temporary problem on Jira's side. The next automatic sync carries on; nothing needs doing.
- An issue is in Colabio but nobody is assigned
- Its Jira assignee is not matched to a member yet, or the member is not on the Colabio project. The People list says which.
- An issue does not appear at all
- It was already done when the project was linked, or it belongs to a Jira project that is not linked. Press Sync now after changing it in Jira.
What Colabio reads
Read-only access, granted by the manager who connects Jira, limited to what that person can see in Jira.
- The Jira sites the connection covers, and the projects on the chosen site.
- For issues in linked projects only: key, summary, status, priority, due date, original estimate, when it was last updated, and the assignee's name, account id and, when shared, email.
- Not issue descriptions, comments, attachments, worklogs or anything outside the linked projects.
Colabio keeps Atlassian's tokens encrypted on its servers and never sends them to a browser. Every connection, linked project and people match is written to your organization's audit log, and the privacy policy describes the integration in full.
Questions
- Do we need a paid Jira plan?
- No. Any Jira Cloud site works, including Jira's free plan. Jira Server and Data Center are not supported. On the Colabio side the integration needs the Starter plan or above.
- Does Colabio change anything in Jira?
- No. Colabio asks Atlassian for read access only. It never creates, edits, comments on or moves an issue, and tracked time is not written back as worklogs.
- If I edit an imported task in Colabio, does Jira undo it?
- Jira wins for the name and the status the next time that issue changes in Jira. Priority, due date and estimate are only replaced when the issue has a value of its own; assignees you add in Colabio stay until the issue is reassigned in Jira.
- What happens if we unlink a project, or disconnect Jira, and link it again later?
- The tasks are picked up again, not imported twice. Colabio remembers which task each issue became, and linking the same Jira project to the same Colabio project carries on from where the sync stopped. Linking it to a different Colabio project imports its open issues there instead.
- Our Atlassian account has several Jira sites. Which one is used?
- The one you choose. With several sites, the Integrations page asks which one Colabio reads. Changing it later unlinks the projects of the old site; their tasks stay.
- How quickly do Jira changes show in Colabio?
- Within 15 minutes, or at once when you press Sync now on the project's row.
Something else? support@colabio.org