Can external parties access the portal?

[Laura Rogg]

We are using JSM for external users only. I've set everything up so far to accommodate external email requests, however I was wondering if there was a way that external users could access the portal without Jira customer permissions? Ideally I'd like to link how-to articles to my responses - but not sure if this is something an external user would be able to view?

[Walter Buggenhout]

Hi @Laura Rogg and welcome to the Community!

Yes, external users can access the portal and raise requests there. But they do need customer permissions for that. The only reason why I can imagine that would be a concern, is because of the license cost that may entail. If so: don't worry, as a JSM customer is a free user.

Have a look at this support article for a bit more background.

Sharing knowledge articles is also possible in this scenario with the knowledge base. You won't be sharing a list of articles, but they will appear as suggestions when a user enters a request. Have a look at these support articles for more information on the knowledge base and how to set it up.

Hope this helps! 

[Laura Rogg]

Hi Walter,

Thanks for your reply - this is very helpful. I had no idea that users accounts could be created automatically following an email request.

From the customer perspective, do they need to action anything after they have logged a ticket for the first time? So for example, Person A sends an email which becomes a ticket - does this person receive an email to activate an account/create a password as a jira customer? Ideally I don't want our customers to manage an account for the jira service desk as ultimately this would create more work for our support team and customers.

LR