Connecting JIRA and Forecast user profiles

The integration between Jira Cloud and Forecast allows for an in-depth level of project management by utilizing both platforms and ensuring optimal project progress and delivery. This article will guide Forecast admins with syncing the profiles of their team members between Jira and Forecast. This is a requirement for the integration to work properly and for the information to flow between the platforms correctly. 

This article includes:

• Atlassian GDPR policy preference & correct setting
• Manually Syncing Users

Atlassian GDPR Policy Preference

Atlassian has restricted its users' e-mail visibility. All Atlassian emails are set to only be visible by the user and admins. As a result, third-party Apps that a JIRA account is integrated with, like Forecast, are unable to view/match users across platforms. This Atlassian policy can be reviewed in the official announcement on the Atlassian Developer Community page.

Atlassian GDPR policy and Forecast Integration

This policy directly affects the way the JIRA integration reacts with a Forecast account and primarily the way that users are synced across platforms. When a sync is established between a JIRA account and Forecast a few things happen: 

• Phases/Epics/Versions are transferred.
• Tasks, Issues, Bugs, and Stories are transferred. 
• Sprints are transferred
• Team members are synced: this is the important part. 

During the sync, Forecast needs to match all of the outlined items above to establish the connection across both systems. Since Atlassian now restricts the visibility of users' email addresses; Forecast is unable to verify, automatically, if the user in JIRA already exists in Forecast when the projected is synced over. 

Editing the Atlassian e-mail settings

To avoid this duplication issue and to successfully sync all team members across the two platforms some settings need to be changed in the Atlassian email. The steps below provide a walkthrough of the process:

Changing the Atlassian e-mail settings

1. Log in to your Atlassian account (not JIRA)
   https://start.atlassian.com/
2. Click on your profile icon in the upper right-hand corner
3. Click on Account Settings
4. You will land on the Profile & Visibility page
5. Scroll to the bottom & set 'Who can view this email address' to Anyone. 

By enabling the 'Anyone' option, you effectively allow third-party applications, such as Forecast, that are installed to your JIRA Cloud account to match users across both systems - resulting in no duplicate users in Forecast.

Editing permissions

There is also the possibility that the Atlassian account has, by default, some permissions enabled that will not allow Forecast to view the list of users in order to bring them over. These permissions fall under the Global Permissions settings. Once this setting is set then Forecast will be able to view all of the users and sync them.

To change the permissions settings

1. Click on the cog icon in the Atlassian account.
2. Click on Settings.
3. Click on Global Permissions.
4. Check where the 'atlassian-addons-admin' is listed.
5. Move it under the 'Browse users and groups' via the controls at the bottom of the page.

Manually Syncing Users

After ensuring that all users have set their profiles in their Atlassian accounts to 'Anyone' so that Forecast can view them, it is possible to sync users manually. This process requires Admin access. 

To manually sync an Atlassian account to Forecast

1. In Forecast, click Admin in the top bar. 
2. Select Resources from the dropdown.
3. Click on the name of a team member. This will take you to their profile.
4. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the dropdown that reads "Link this Forecast user to a JIRA user profile"
5. Select the correct user from Jira to sync the profiles

This should sync the user's profile across the two platforms. To make sure, go back to the resources page and check for the JIRA icon at the end of the team members line.

Manually syncing users is best used after the initial sync has occurred and there are users whose profiles are not yet synced either due to the privacy setting in Atlassian or because they are new team members. Moreover, it is possible to use the "Import JIRA Users" function to avoid having to manually sync all users.

Importing JIRA Users into Forecast

The "Import JIRA Users" functionality brings over to Forecast the profiles that can be 'viewed' by Forecast in the JIRA account that was synced with Forecast. The steps below provide a walkthrough of where to find and how to use the Import JIRA users feature. This process may only be done by an Admin.

To import JIRA users into Forecast

1. In Forecast, click Admin in the top bar. 
2. Select Resources from the dropdown.
3. Click on the Import Jira Users button situated on the right-hand side of the screen.
4. Choose which users to sync or select all. 

All JIRA profiles that can be viewed and subsequently matched with their Forecast profiles will be synced automatically by Forecast following this process. If the JIRA icon appears next to a team members line in the Resources tab in the admin panel then that means that this profile is synced to a JIRA profile successfully.