Configuring Zoho Desk for JIRA

Configuring Zoho Desk for JIRA

The JIRA integration allows your customer support team and the product team to work together for greater productivity. Your agents can submit tickets as issues in Zoho Desk, while engineers can manage its R&D in JIRA. For example, an issue filed in a Zoho Desk Department gets added to its mapped project in JIRA. The comments and status updates are synced both-way in real-time.

The integration supports both on-premise and on-demand (cloud) versions of JIRA. If you're using the on-demand version, please keep in mind that your JIRA URL should be accessible to the help desk server.

Note:
  • The Atlassian JIRA integration is not available on the Free edition.

Benefits
  • Provides a clear view of the life cycle of tickets regardless of whether part of it is managed in Zoho Desk or JIRA.
  • Map your departments in Zoho Desk to one or more JIRA projects. This allows you to file issues under related projects in JIRA quickly.
  • Agents and engineers can collaborate over comments. They can ask questions, suggest ideas, or report concerns that will assist in fixing an issue or closing a ticket.
  • Keep your agents informed about their issue's progress. They will receive notifications every time someone updates the status or leaves a comment in JIRA.
  • View JIRA issue details like assignee, status, etc., from inside a ticket.

Configuration Overview
Setting up JIRA integration involves the following five steps:
  1. Generate a Public Key in Zoho Desk.
  2. Create an Application Link in JIRA.
  3. Add a Custom Field in JIRA.
  4. Complete the Authentication in Zoho Desk.
  5. Customize the Sync Actions and Department-to-Project Mapping.

STEP 1: Generating a Public Key
The first step in setting up the integration is to generate a public key in Zoho Desk.

To generate a public key:
  1. Log in to Zoho Desk with Administrator privileges.
  2. Click the Setup icon (  ) in the top menu.
  3. Click Others under the Marketplace menu.
  4. Click JIRA on the Others page.
  5. Select your Version of JIRA on the JIRA Integration page.
    You can choose between     Cloud and On-premise.
  6. Enter your JIRA Portal URL (without the https:// prefix).
    Note: The URL for on-premise variants should be configured with HTTPS and exposed to the internet.
  7. Click Generate Public Key.

STEP 2: Creating an Application Link in JIRA
The second step is to create the application link in your JIRA application. The application link authorizes your JIRA instance with your Zoho Desk account. Without the application link, you cannot make a connection to Zoho Desk.

To create an application link:
  1. Log in to JIRA as a user with Administrator permissions.
  2. Click Jira settings in the left side panel, then click Products.
  3. Next, click on Application links, under Integrations.
  4. On the Configure Application Links screen, enter your Zoho Desk URL (i.e., https://desk.zoho.com/).
  5. When you're done, click Create new link.
  6. Next, you may receive a message that says no response was received from the URL you entered. Don't be alarmed, this is actually OK. Ignore this message and click Continue.
  7. On the Link applications window, do the following:
    • Enter "Zoho Desk" as the Application Name, and choose Generic Application.
    • Check the Create incoming link option.
      Note: You do not need to fill in the other fields.
    • Click Continue.
  8. The Link Applications window will reappear, this time asking for more information.
    • Enter the Consumer Key, Consumer Name and Public Key displayed on completing Step 1 in Zoho Desk.
    • Click Continue.
If the configuration is successful, you should be able to see the application link successfully created.

STEP 3: Adding a Custom Field in JIRA
You must add a custom field to view the details of your Zoho Desk tickets in JIRA. The field displays a link to the corresponding Zoho Desk ticket which can be accessed by your engineers on JIRA. You may skip this step if you don't want your engineers to view the linked Zoho Desk tickets on JIRA.

To create a custom field in JIRA:
  1. Log in to JIRA as a user with Administrator permissions.
  2. Click the Administration icon (  ) and then click Issues.
  3. From the left-side menu, select Custom Fields.
  4. Click Add Custom Field.
  5. Select Text Field (Multi-line) on the Field Type window and click Next.
  6. Enter "Zoho Desk Ticket" as the Field Name and click Create.
  7. Now, you must associate the custom field to the screens in JIRA.
    Select all the check boxes alongside the screens and click     Update.
    Tip: You can select only the screens of those projects you map with Zoho Desk.
You are now ready to view the URL of your linked Zoho Desk tickets in JIRA.

STEP 4: Completing the Authentication in Zoho Desk
Back in Zoho Desk, you must complete the authentication to be able to file issues. During authentication, Zoho Desk issues an OAuth access token to establish a trusted communication link with JIRA. We recommend that you stay signed in to your JIRA account during authentication.

Note:
  • Do not proceed with authentication until you have created an application link in JIRA (see, Step 2). 

To complete the authentication:
  1. Click the Setup icon (  ) in the top menu.
  2. Click Others under the Marketplace menu.
  3. Click JIRA on the Others page.
  4. Click Authenticate on the JIRA Integration page.
    Note: Log in to JIRA if you have not already done so.
  5. You will be prompted with a Request for Access message.
    Alert: Make sure the pop-up blocker on your browser is turned off to receive this prompt.
    Click     Allow to grant access to your JIRA data.
You have now completed the integration of Zoho Desk with JIRA.

STEP 5: Customizing Sync Actions and Mapping
The sync actions and mappings are auto-configured when you complete the integration in Zoho Desk. Typically, all sync actions will come enabled, and your departments are mapped out with JIRA projects on a many-to-many relationship. Nevertheless, you can customize how you want your sync updates to work or the project you wish to create issues in.

To customize the sync actions:
  1. Click the Configure Sync Actions tab on the JIRA Integration page.
  2. Click the toggle corresponding to a sync action to enable or disable it.
    Your actions will be saved instantaneously.

To customize the mapping:
  1. Click the Map Zoho Desk Departments with JIRA Projects tab on the JIRA Integration page.
  2. Click the toggle corresponding to a department to enable or disable it for filing issues.



  3. Under the JIRA Projects column, you can choose to file issues in all JIRA projects or only the specified projects from the drop-down menu.
    To customize the mapping, do one of the following:
  • Select File an issue in all projects. [All JIRA projects are selected]
  • Click Submit.

    (OR)
  • Select File an issue in selective projects.
  • Click the Add icon (  ) alongside the drop-down menu.
  • Select the projects you would like to create issues in, on the slider window.
  • Click Save inside the slider window.



Also Read:      Filing Tickets as Issues

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