So it’s that time again. And this time only two weeks behind!
Atlassian released JIRA Core and Software 8.7, as well as JIRA Service Desk 4.7, a few weeks ago. Unlike JIRA 8.6, this only only has a few new features, with most of them relegated to JIRA Service Desk, but I figured I’d take a look at them all the same.
As I mentioned in my last release review, JIRA Server and Data Center are released in discrete releases. As an admin, you should always review each one. Even if you are staying on Enterprise Releases, it will give you ideas of what features to look forward to and promote when you do your next upgrade.
If this release has a theme, I feel it is Privacy and Security. Almost every new feature touches on one of these two ideas in one way or another. There is only a few new features in JIRA Software and Core, with Service Desk having more. So we’ll cover all the universal new features, then go over what’s new in Service Desk.
GDPR Anonymizing
I’ll admit, other than some audit headaches, GDPR hasn’t impacted me too much. However, I’m still a fan of the rules and are hoping something similar is adopted over here in the United States.
However, for those of you who are subject to GDPR Rules, Atlassian is helping you out. You can now anonymize any information tied to a user that can identify them upon request. This is a one way process, with no way to undo it, but that is kind of the point.
Included is a wizard that will search that user, show you any items in JRIA that stores that user’s personal information, then let you Anonymize them. Honestly, it looks great and it’s one less headache at my next audit, so I like this one!
PostgreSQL 11 Support
This one is big. As you may know, Atlassian products can run on a number of Database architectures. However, what you may not know is that they run best on PostgreSQL. Now I’m personally still partial to MySQL, but when it comes to getting every bit of performance I can out of these applications, knowing that I have this as an option is always nice.
However, until JIRA 8.7, the most recent PostgreSQL supported was PostgreSQL 10, and the only PostgreSQL 9 with continuing support being 9.6. So it’s always nice to have them add another version in. Now here’s hoping they can get around to MySQL 8 before 5.7 is end of life’d.
OpenID Connect for Data Center
And a feature coming to Data Center instances with this release is OpenID Connect. This gives you another tool to connect with various Identity Providers. Another arrow in the quiver when trying to integrate JIRA is always appreciated.
However, for JIRA Core and Software, these are all the new features. However there was a number of bugs also fixed, so that might also be something you will look at when determining if a particular version is right for you.
New Service Desk Features
Keeping your requests Private
The first new Service Desk feature is really a change to a default option. As of Service Desk 4.7, any request made through the Customer portal is Private by default. You can choose to share them with people in your organization, but if you don’t change any settings, it will be private.
Requests originating from an email still is shared by default, but you as an admin now have the ability to change the default behavior within Administration > Applications > Jira Service Desk configuration.
Verifying Customer’s Email
For those of you who have enabled public signup through your customer portal, you can also add a step to have them verify their email address. This should make it easier to get in touch with your customers, as you’ll know that the email they signed up with actually belongs to them.
Agents are well…agents
This one has aggravated me. When commenting on issues or acting as an approver, your agents were treated as customers by JIRA. This would muck up all sorts of things, from SLA’s to automation – which was my headache. It could even confuse customers – which is the last thing you want. So they are changing it so agents are well…agents! Novel concept I know.
So….should I upgrade to this?
Well….That’s a whole big bag of “It Depends.” If you are not currently on an Enterprise release, it would be tempting to just get the latest bug fixes. But ultimately I think this question comes down to is the question, “Do I need the new features?” Some of you may see the GDPR features and go “Yes”. Others will be able to wait for the next Enterprise release. Ultimately it is up to you to look at the features and see if the value justifies the time it will take to do an upgrade cycle.
And that’s it for this week!
A bit of a shorter article this week, but it’s been a busy week. My wife and I are getting ready for a long weekend trip together, and I’ve still got a lot of getting ready to do.
As I told you guys last week, I recently helped out with the Q & A section of a webinar my company put on. Well, I also helped out on the write-up of the questions and their answers afterwards. So if you have some free time and want some good answers to questions people had about Atlassian Cloud, please check it out!
Don’t forget to subscribe below to get notified about new blog posts, and also about our Atlassian Discord Chat. While unofficial, it’s a good place to get help, discuss things, and connect with your fellow Atlassian Admins. https://discord.gg/mXuRsVu
But until next time, my name is Rodney, asking “Have you updated your JIRA issues today?”
The Jira Guy 