Project portfolio management

Jira groups: A guide to roles and user management

Anyone who has worked in a kitchen – or even helped with a Thanksgiving dinner – understands the importance of clear boundaries and explicit responsibilities. Someone has to take charge, or chaos ensues, leading to lumpy gravy, overseasoned veggies, and hurt feelings.

Project management is like overseeing a busy kitchen. Everyone on the team must understand their role, where their responsibilities begin and end, and the expected outcomes. 

Atlassian Jira’s user management tools help leaders establish order by controlling users’ and groups’ access to specific features within the platform. Administrators can alter users’ permissions based on the projects they work on and their roles within those initiatives. 

When admins define Jira groups, roles, and permission schemes, they set essential boundaries and maintain control over project activities. Let’s explore how you can use these tools to your advantage.

Understanding Jira groups

Jira groups organize users within a Jira instance according to their role, team, department, or other criteria based on the administrator’s needs and discretion. 

Typically, administrators establish a Jira group based on shared characteristics, granting privileges to multiple team members simultaneously. Here are some examples of Jira features that admins can control access to:

• Application access

• Global or project-specific permissions

• Email notifications

• Issue filters and dashboard access

• Workflow conditions

• Project role integration

Jira group functionality is a time-saving measure allowing admins to authorize access to specific and features for numerous users simultaneously rather than granting them individually. Groups facilitate user management across teams, ensuring everyone receives appropriate access to Jira resources. Four typical Jira group scenarios include:

• Project-based: These Jira groups include all users working on a specific project, granting them access to create, edit, and resolve related issues.

• Role-based: Administrators create groups based on users’ roles within the project or organization and grant permissions relevant to their positions. 

• Department-based: Admins create Jira groups for each department, such as Marketing or Deployment, to grant them access to related projects. 

• Custom: Administrators create a custom Jira group with access and permissions tailored to their unique needs using criteria such as geographic location or product line.

Steps to create a Jira group in Jira Cloud

Here’s how to create a group in Jira Cloud:

1. Ensure you have administrator access to the Jira instance.

2. Log into Jira Cloud as an admin.

3. Select “Settings” from the top right corner of the screen.

4. Click on “User management.”

5. Click the “Create group” button in the top right corner.

6. Enter a unique name and group description.

7. Click “Create” to save the new Jira group.

Jira roles explained

Jira provides predefined roles for users or groups based on the functions they access or actions they perform within a specific project. Administrators assign these Jira roles, which grant permissions, such as:

• Creating or editing issues

• Managing configurations

• Running reports

Jira roles facilitate user management, assigning different permissions and responsibilities to users depending on their position. Jira roles allow team members to focus on their particular assignments and duties without interfering with anyone else’s work. 

The Jira platform includes six default roles:

• Administrator: Administrators access all Jira features to add users and manage groups and permissions.

• Project manager: Users with this role manage one or more Jira projects and have permission to create and manage project boards, workflows, and issues.

• Developer: Developers receive permission to develop project code, create and edit issues, view project boards, and collaborate with team members.

• Reporter: The reporter notifies the team about bugs or other project issues, creates and edits Jira issues, and comments on issues assigned to them.

• Assignee: Users work on assigned issues and receive permission to update their status, comment on them, and collaborate with other team members. 

• Viewer: These are typically stakeholders. They can access project boards and issues, but they have restricted issue change or update functionalities.

An overview of Jira’s permission schemes

Jira roles and permissions simplify user management and access management. A Jira permission scheme defines who can conduct specific activities within a project or instance, such as: 

• Creating or editing issues

• Transitioning workflows

• Managing or adjusting project settings

Every Jira project has a permission scheme, which the administrator can customize according to the team’s needs to facilitate workflows, establish boundaries, and avoid confusion. 

The Jira Cloud permission scheme comprises three elements:

• Permission levels: These determine which actions users can perform, such as “browse,” “delete,” and “assign.”

• Permission assignments: These identify the permission level of Jira groups and Jira roles (e.g., “administrator,” “developer,” or “reporter”).

• Permission types: Global permissions grant system-wide access to Jira functions, whereas project permissions and issue permissions govern users’ permission levels within single projects or issues.

Applying permission schemes to roles and groups

When a Jira administrator to a role or group, the users within that category receive access to the specified functions or actions. Admins can apply multiple permission schemes to the same Jira role or group and define role-based permissions in conjunction with Jira groups.

For example, imagine a Jira administrator assigns the “Testers” project role to some members of a newly created tester group. This role gives users within that Jira group access to testing and QA features, plus other related group permissions.

Consider the following best practices when applying Jira permission schemes:

• Avoid overcomplicated permission schemes to prevent confusion and preserve security.

• Test Jira permission schemes before deployment to ensure proper functioning.

• Use third-party applications to set roles and permissions automatically.

• Conduct regular permission scheme evaluations to ensure relevance and effectiveness.

• Govern regular workflows using role-based rather than user- or group-based permissions to standardize recurring processes. 

• Document and communicate Jira permission schemes to ensure users and stakeholders understand them.

• To streamline user management, automatically onboard new Jira users with the appropriate permission scheme by integrating permissions into corporate account management. 

Leverage Tempo for enhanced user and permission management

Every Tempo product, from and to and , supports effective permission and user management across the Jira platform. 

Tempo solutions support administrators with real-time permission tracking and role-based reporting to monitor access to key functions. When admins integrate Tempo tools into Jira Cloud and other platforms, they can simplify permissions, enhance security, and optimize collaboration across all levels.

Unlock efficient user management with Tempo.