Do Jira Software Users need an Agent License on top?

[Thomas]

Hi all,

I'm a bit puzzled with the licensing and maybe someone can shed some light on this:

We have ~250 users in Jira Software, 50 of which are in customer service and are going to work in ITSM project.

Thus they will need an agent license, correct?

As they are also creating tickets (bug reports) or comment on Jira Software tickets they also need a Jira Software license, also correct?

Jira Software only users will be able to read ITSM tickets and make internal comments. Is there something similar in place for Agents where they can read/browse Jira Software tickets and make internal comment?

Seems overkill to pay full jira software licenses for Agents to report bugs and ask for an update from dev.

Thanks for your help.

Thomas

[Jack Brickey · Accepted solution]

Yes. Any “agent” (user that will be assigned issues in JSM project) will require a JSM license.

yes if these agents will be responsible for creating issues and working within Jira software then they will need a license in JSW as well. Now it may be that they wouldn’t need a license depending on your process. For example you could use automation to create issues in you JSW project if your process could work that way.

[Thomas]

Thanks Jack, not the answer I was looking for but I will see what I can do with automation and if this is practical for us.

Cheers,
Thomas

[Jack Brickey]

Thomas,

So I had a few more moments and thought I would share a bit more on this. Here is what I do in one of my projects that might work for you.

When a customer opens a JSM ticket the agent then assesses the ticket. If they determine that it needs to be considered by the development team then they set the component which reflects which development product. The agent then transitions the issue to a Development status. This transition is picked up by automation which inspects the component and opens up an issue using create linked issue in the appropriate development project. Moreover, we have other automation that updates the JSM ticket when the linked issue is updated in the development project.

[Thomas]

Jack,

thanks that sounds like something we could do. However, my understanding is also that the agent would not be able to see the status or any progress on the development issue unless this is pushed into the JSM ticket via automation.

Again, thanks for the good input and giving me a starting point, even if it's just for some parts of the team.

[John Isherwood]

Hi Thomas, 

A bit of a late response but I stumbled upon this and had to add something. 

I think the agent would see the status/progress of the development issue; if you used automation to create a cloned/linked ticket in a software project for the developer team, the original JSM ticket would show the linked ticket and its status. 

As Jack suggested, you could use automation further to update the JSM ticket with a comment on each stage/status of the cloned/linked. It may take some forward thinking to plan this out.

[Sherryl Radbil]

We are asking the same questions, with the huge price hikes occurring we are forced to pare down our licensed users. Our findings are a bit different. When we gave a person a JSM license but not JSW, they could do everything on non-JSM projects except actions related to Agile. Namely JSW only license holders:

1. Do not see the Boards option on the top nav
2. Do not have More->Agile Board
3. Do not have More->Rank to Top
4. Do not have More->Rank to Bottom
5. Do not have More->Create Branch

This is only what we've found so far. We find that JSM license holders can open new tickets in JSW projects, transition them, comment, assign, be assigned, log time and more. Basically, for our purposes, a JSM agent does NOT also need to consume a JSW license.

First we did our tests and then I read Jack's answer, so I feel like I need to add this information which differs. We are on 8.13.7/4.13.7.

Can anyone bring other experience to the conversation?  I'm wondering why such totally different experiences.

[Ray Martinez]

I have the same question as above.  I have JSM agents that need to access the development projects in JSW.