Jira Integration

Overview

The Jira integration connects Friender Assess to your Atlassian Cloud instance via OAuth 2.0 (3LO), granting read-only access to project metadata and issue lifecycle data. Our observation agents track how tickets move through your workflows — from creation to completion — measuring cycle times, sprint velocity, and assignee transition patterns.

Friender never reads issue descriptions, comments, or attachments. We collect only structural data: status transitions, timestamps, assignee changes, priority levels, and sprint boundaries. This provides a complete picture of project execution dynamics without exposing sensitive business context.

Prerequisites

• Jira Cloud admin access — you must be a Jira Site Administrator or Organization Admin to authorize third-party OAuth applications in Atlassian
• A Friender Assess account with an active assessment engagement
• Your Jira instance must be Jira Cloud (hosted at *.atlassian.net). Jira Server and Jira Data Center require a custom connector — contact us for details
• If your Atlassian organization uses domain-verified accounts with managed user policies, ensure third-party app installations are permitted

Setup Steps

Step 1: Navigate to the Integrations Dashboard

From your Friender Assess dashboard, open the left sidebar and click Integrations. Locate the Jira card in the Project Management section.

Step 2: Click "Connect Jira"

Click the Connect Jira button to initiate the Atlassian OAuth 2.0 (3LO) flow. You'll be redirected to Atlassian's authorization page where you can select which Jira site to connect.

Step 3: Authorize the Atlassian OAuth Connection

On Atlassian's consent screen, review the requested permissions and click Accept. If you manage multiple Atlassian sites, select the correct one from the site picker dropdown. Friender requests the following OAuth scopes:

• read:jira-work — read issues, projects, boards, sprints, and workflow transitions (metadata only, not description or comment body text)
• read:jira-user — read user display names and account IDs for assignee and reporter fields

These scopes are strictly read-only. Friender cannot create, edit, or delete issues, modify workflows, or change project settings.

Step 4: Select Projects

After authorization, you'll be redirected back to the Friender dashboard to select which Jira projects to include in the assessment:

• All projects — recommended for the most comprehensive cross-team analysis
• Specific projects — select individual projects by key (e.g., ENG, PROD, OPS)
• Project categories — filter by Jira project category if your instance uses them

For the best analysis results, include all projects that represent active work streams. Archived projects are automatically excluded.

Step 5: Confirm & Start Collection

Review your project selections and click Confirm. The initial historical data import begins immediately, pulling issue lifecycle data from the past 90 days. Depending on the volume of issues, this can take 1-6 hours. A progress indicator is visible on the integrations dashboard.

What Data Is Collected

The Jira integration collects issue lifecycle metadata and sprint structure data. Here is a complete list:

• Issue lifecycle events — status transitions with timestamps (e.g., To Do → In Progress → In Review → Done)
• Sprint data — sprint names, start/end dates, committed vs. completed story points, and sprint velocity over time
• Assignee transitions — when issues change assignees, how many reassignments occur per issue, and handoff patterns between team members
• Cycle times — time spent in each workflow status, total lead time from creation to resolution, and time-to-first-response
• Issue type & priority distribution — breakdown of bugs vs. stories vs. tasks vs. epics, and priority level distribution
• Board & workflow structure — column definitions, workflow state names, and transition rules (structure only)

The following data is never collected:

• Issue descriptions, summaries, or titles
• Comment text or internal discussion content
• Attachments or linked files
• Custom field values that may contain free-text business data
• Confluence page content linked from issues

Permissions Required

The table below summarizes the Atlassian OAuth scopes and their purposes:

Scope                Purpose
read:jira-work       Issues, projects, sprints, boards, workflow transitions
read:jira-user       User display names and account IDs

All scopes are read-only. You can revoke Friender's access at any time from Atlassian Admin > Security > API tokens > Third-party apps. Revoking access immediately stops all data collection.

Troubleshooting

OAuth Authorization Fails or Loops

If the Atlassian OAuth redirect fails or returns you to the Friender dashboard without connecting, verify that you have Site Administrator permissions. Standard Jira users and project admins cannot authorize third-party OAuth applications. Also ensure your browser allows third-party cookies from auth.atlassian.com.

Wrong Jira Site Connected

If you manage multiple Atlassian sites and connected the wrong one, disconnect the integration from the Friender dashboard and reconnect. During the Atlassian OAuth flow, use the site picker dropdown to select the correct instance before granting access.

Projects Missing from Selection List

If specific projects don't appear in the project selection step, the authorizing user may not have access to those projects in Jira. Ensure the admin account used for OAuth has Browse Project permission on all projects you want to include. Project-level permission schemes in Jira control visibility independently of site admin status.

Slow or Incomplete Historical Import

For large Jira instances (50,000+ issues), the initial backfill can take up to 24 hours due to Atlassian API rate limits (currently capped at approximately 100 requests per minute for OAuth apps). If the import appears stuck for more than 48 hours, contact hello@joinfriender.com with your Jira site URL and we'll investigate.

Jira Server / Data Center

The standard integration supports Jira Cloud only. For Jira Server or Jira Data Center installations, we offer a custom connector that uses application links or personal access tokens. Contact hello@joinfriender.com to discuss your deployment.

Need help? Return to the Integration Setup overview or contact us at hello@joinfriender.com.