Setting up service desk users
Manage agents
Add agents to a project
By default, project administrators can add agents from other projects to the project. Jira administrators can add anyone to the project.
To add agents, click Add team (
) in the project sidebar. The agents are emailed a link to the service desk project, and are added to the Service Desk Team project role in Project settings > Users and groups.
When a Jira administrator adds a new agent to the project, then the agent is also assigned a Jira Service Desk license and added to the service-desk-users license group in 
> User Management.
If your agents need to collaborate with Jira Core or Jira Software users to resolve an issue, you can grant the Jira users limited access to your service desk project. Learn more.
Remove agents from a project
- In your project, go to Project settings > Users and roles.
- Hover over the user or group you'd like to remove from the Service Desk Team project role, and then select
.
Unlicense agents
Jira administrators can remove an agent's license.
- Go to > User management.
- Select the user.
- In Application access, clear the Jira Service Desk box.
The agent's license is released, and they are removed from the jira-service-desk user group.
Manage customers
By default, both agents and project administrators can add customers to projects, but only project administrators can remove customers from projects.
Add customers to a project
Add customers to your project via Customers (
) > Add customers. Customers are automatically added to the Customers list if your service desk is open to users with Jira accounts or allows customers to create their own accounts.
Customers who do not have Jira accounts are added to the Service Desk Customers project role in Project settings > Users and roles, and are given restricted access to the Customer portal only (not Jira).
For more information about how people become customers, see Managing access to your service desk.
Remove customers from a project
- Go to Project settings > Users and roles.
- Hover over the user or group you would like to remove, and then select .
If the customers have Jira accounts or created their own accounts, then a Jira administrator needs to deactivate them in > User management.
Manage organizations
Organizations are groups of customers that can be used in multiple projects. When you add an organization to a project, its members can raise requests in the project and share them with the organization. They're also notified about the organization's requests, and can view and search them on the My Requests page in the portal. Learn more about how customers share requests with organizations.
By default, you need the Service Desk Team role for a project to manage organizations in it. However, a Jira admin can restrict organization management to Jira admins by turning off the Organization management setting in > Applications > Jira Service Desk Configuration.
Organizations are managed from a project's Customers () list.
Add organizations
Add organizations to a project via the Customers list () > Add organizations. You can add a new organization, or add an existing organization. The organizations that you add display on the Customers list. Select the organization to view and manage its members.
Add customers to an organization
You can add customers to an organization from the Customers list, or from an organization. Adding customers to an organization that isn't in the project yet adds the organization to the project.
If the customers are new to the Jira site, they are given restricted access to the Customer portal only (not Jira). And because the organization can be used in multiple projects, the customers are not added to the Service Desk Customers project role. However, they can still raise requests in all projects that use the organization.
Remove customers from an organization
- Select an organization in the Customers list.
- Find the customer you want to remove, and then click X next to their name.
When you remove customers from an organization, they lose access to projects that use the organization unless they have the Customers role for the projects or have access through another organization.
Remove an organization from a project
- Select an organization in the Customers list.
- Select Remove from project.
When you remove an organization from a project, its members lose access to the project unless they have the Customers role for the project or have access through another organization.
Delete an organization from a site
You must be a Jira admin to delete an organization from a Jira site.
- Select an organization in the Customers list.
- Select Remove from project > Delete organization.
Deleting an organization does not delete the customers who are in it. The customers still exist on the Jira site, and have access to any projects for which they have the Customers role or access via another organization.
Involve Jira Software or Jira Core users
You can give users with Jira Software or Jira Core licenses permission to view and comment on service desk issues without a Jira Service Desk license.
To involve Jira application users, go to Project settings > Users and roles, and then add the users to the Service Desk Team role.
| These users can | These users can't |
|---|---|
|
|
For example, Martin, an IT service desk team agent, links an incident ticket in a service desk project to an underlying network problem ticket in a Jira Software project. Andrew, a Jira Software developer on the network operations team, assigns this network issue to himself and starts working on it. After fixing the problem, Andrew opens the linked service desk incident ticket and leaves an internal comment asking Martin to try the network connection again. After receiving the internal comment, Martin verifies the network connection and tells the customer that the problem is resolved.
Learn more about managing users
Check out the following documentation to learn more about managing users and permissions:
| Documentation | Details |
|---|---|
| User management | Add and remove users, manage users with groups, and manage access to Jira applications. |
| Managing project roles | Add and remove project roles and manage project role membership. |
| Enabling public signup | Allow customers to create their own accounts by signing up on the customer portal or emailing the email channel |
| Configuring permissions | Learn how global permissions affect licensing, how project permissions are associated with a project role, and how to customize the default service desk project permission scheme. |