Configure permissions

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  1. Set up a JIRA site
  2. Add users
  3. Create a project
  4. Create an issue
  5. Search for issues and create reports
  6. Configure permissions
  7. Configure workflows and screens
  8. Extend JIRA

You won't want every user in your team to have the same level of access to JIRA. For example, you may want to restrict who can administer JIRA, or prevent users from viewing a project. In this stage, you will learn about the different permissions in JIRA and try setting permissions for a project.

Only admins can complete this stage

Before we start, it is important to understand how JIRA permissions work. There are two levels of permissions in JIRA: global permissions and project permissions.

Global permissions cover a small set of functions that affect all projects in JIRA. For example, permission to administer JIRA. They can only be assigned to groups.

Project permissions cover a set of more granular functions that affect a single project in JIRA. For example, permission to create issues in a project. They can be assigned to groups, users and roles.

About Roles, Groups and Users

A role is a project-specific set of groups and/or individual users. Roles are a way of abstracting users/groups from project permissions.

Learn more...

For example, in your team, you may have 'scrum masters' who are responsible for assigning issues in projects. Your product managers (PM) are 'scrum masters' on every project, but individual developers may also be 'scrum masters' on specific projects.

In JIRA, you can define a 'scrum master' role that includes the PM team on all new projects. You can then define a set of permissions that grant the 'assign issue' permission to this role, and apply this set of permissions to all projects. Individual developers can be added to the 'scrum master' role on each project, as needed.

This is much easier to manage than defining different sets of permissions for each project.

Let's try it out! In the following steps, you will use project permissions to hide a new project from some of your users. 

Step 1. Create a new project role

This project role will only contain users that you want to view a particular project. We will assign permissions to this role in the next step.

  1. Navigate to the 'Project Role Browser' screen using the quick operation: . + roles.
  2. Add a new project role: Big Kids.
  3. Add yourself and Alana to the Managers project role via Manage Default Members > Edit (under Default Users). Do not add William.

Step 2. Configure a new permission scheme

The 'Browse Projects' permission controls whether a user can browse a project, i.e. whether they can view the project. You will assign this permission to your new role.

  1. Navigate to the 'Permission Schemes' screen using the quick operation: . + permissions schemes.
  2. Copy the Default Permission Scheme, then edit the copied scheme and change the name to Confidential Permission Scheme.
  3. Click Permissions for Confidential Permission Scheme. For the Browse Projects permission:
    • Choose Delete for 'Project Role (Users)'.
    • Choose Add, select Big Kids in the Project Role field and save.

Step 3. Associate the scheme with a project

Finally, let's associate the permission scheme with a new project.
  1. Choose Project > Create Project and choose the Blank Project.
  2. Name the project Top Secret Project and Submit.
  3. Choose Administration (tab) > Permissions (left menu) > Actions > Use a different scheme.    
  4. Set the Scheme to Confidential Permission Scheme and Associate. 

The only users that can browse your new project are Alana and yourself (note, default members are only added to a role for new projects). Try browsing the project with William. You could also use this approach to restrict users from creating issues, adding comments, closing issues, etc, in a project.

(tick) Congratulations! You configured project permissions to hide a project from users.

Next steps

Next you will learn how to edit workflows and screens in JIRA.

Stopping here? Please leave us your feedback before you go!

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Click to access the survey (you will be redirected to the Wufoo site): http://atlassian.wufoo.com/forms/jira-101-feedback/

Last modified on Sep 24, 2015

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