Jira Service Management: A Quarterly Roundup of Innovation (January 2025)
Brandon Davies
Atlassian Certified Expert at Elegance Group | MSc Computing at Cardiff University | Living and Creating Future Forward Solutions in Atlassian Tools
Jira Service Management has introduced a series of updates in the last quarter, here is a roundup of the last 3-4 months of Jira Service Management.
JSM has been focusing on AI-driven enhancements, service management improvements, change management integrations, incident management optimisations, and enterprise-level features. This article provides a brief technical breakdown of these updates, highlighting their use cases, benefits, and potential drawbacks while making everyone aware of these features.
1. AI-Driven Enhancements
1.1 AI-Suggested Topics for Knowledge Base Growth
Description: AI proactively identifies gaps in the knowledge base by analyzing recent customer requests. It suggests new topics for knowledge articles to improve self-service experiences and ticket deflection.
Use Case: Ideal for organizations looking to reduce ticket volume by enabling customers to find solutions independently.
Positives:
- Reduces repetitive tickets.
- Enhances customer satisfaction through better self-service.
Drawbacks:
- Requires high-quality data to generate accurate suggestions.
- May require some manual reviews to ensure relevance and focus
1.2 AI-Generated Draft Replies
Description: AI creates draft responses based on historical agent comments for similar requests, streamlining communication.
Use Case: Useful for support teams handling high volumes of repetitive queries.
Positives:
- Saves time for agents by using information from the previous comments and tickets then drafting a reply to be easily edited.
- Ensures consistent communication.
Drawbacks:
- Potentially lacks emotion and personalisation.
- Needs manual review as AI hallucinations could happen if there is not enough information to rely on
1.3 NLP-Powered Similar Issue Finder
Description: Natural Language Processing (NLP) identifies similar issues by analysing request titles, reducing manual effort in issue resolution.
Use Case: Helps teams resolve recurring issues faster by referencing past solutions.
Positives:
- Speeds up issue resolution by combining other tickets knowledge
- Reduces redundant work if doubling effort on duplicate tickets
Drawbacks:
- Dependent on accurate issue titles, this only looks for similar summaries.
- May struggle with nuanced or ambiguous language.
1.4 Bulk Assignment of Issues to Correct Request Types
Description: AI intelligently assigns issues to the correct request type in bulk, reducing manual sorting.
Use Case: Beneficial for teams managing large volumes of incoming requests although I would usually request a more robust way to classify "Emailed Requests" such as NLP based automations, if this isn't possible due to an overwhelming amount of outcomes, this could be the best option for now.
Note: Rovo can also assist with automating this.
Positives:
- Saves time and improves efficiency.
- Ensures accurate request categorization.
Drawbacks:
- Requires initial setup and training around the request types and what they are used for.
- May misclassify complex or ambiguous requests, AI in Atlassian is still in Beta and can get it wrong on occasion as its using its best guess based on ticket information.
1.5 Real-Time Customer Sentiment Analysis
Description: AI assesses customer sentiment (positive, neutral, negative) based on ticket context and updates it in real-time.
Use Case: Enables agents to prioritize and address frustrated customers proactively, it's important to note the sentiment can be used in JQL which enables Queues, SLA's and automations to take action on negative or positive tickets also.
Positives:
- Improves customer satisfaction by prioritising unsatisfying or neutral tickets, giving them extra care and support.
- Helps agents tailor responses based on sentiment while automating actions such as surveys or notifying others in Email/Slack.
Drawbacks:
- May misinterpret tone in written communication, this would need to be tested carefully overtime as you wouldn't want to automate certain actions for the wrong sentiment also
- Requires continuous monitoring for accuracy
1.6 Alert Grouping Based on Similarities
Description: AI groups similar alerts to help responders focus on high-priority items.
Use Case: Ideal for teams managing large volumes of alerts, such as IT operations.
Positives:
- Reduces alert fatigue.
- Improves incident response times.
Drawbacks:
- May group unrelated alerts if patterns are not distinct.
- Requires fine-tuning for optimal performance.
2. Service Management Improvements
2.1 Rich Content Editing for Help Centers
Description: Premium and Enterprise customers can now customize Help Centers with rich content, reordering and hiding sections, adding new content blocks for a better user experience.
Use Case: Enhances self-service portals with visually appealing and informative content which could possible replace some paid addons to save money.
Positives:
- Improves customer engagement.
- Allows for more dynamic content creation, this allows flexible beautiful portals for your customers without addons.
Drawbacks:
- Limited to Premium and Enterprise tiers.
- Requires design and content expertise.
2.2 Linking Projects to Help Centers
- Description: Admins can link service projects to Help Centers, controlling where and how customers access resources.
Use Case: Ensures customers find relevant information based on their project context.
Positives:
- Streamlines resource access.
- Improves user experience and confusion on which projects they should be accessing.
Drawbacks:
- Requires careful planning to avoid confusion.
- Current and past customers may now be missing that project they used to access so they would need notifying.
2.3 CSV Importer Tool (Open Beta)
Description: A new tool for importing data (issues, users) from CSV files into JSM, with field mapping capabilities.
Use Case: Simplifies migration from other unsupported service desk tools.
Positives:
- Reduces manual data entry.
- Speeds up onboarding and migration processes.
Drawbacks:
- Still in beta, may have bugs or limitations.
- Requires familiarity and skill up with CSV formatting.
2.4 Cascading Fields in Forms
Description: Creates dynamic hierarchies in forms, where one field’s selection influences another’s options.
Use Case: Ensures help-seekers provide accurate and relevant information for customers, limiting options to only the related parent options.
Example: Providing a cascading dropdown for Countries and Cities, when a customer selects Australia, they are not expecting to see London in the City dropdown, they will only see Australian Cities.
Positives:
- Improves data quality and reduces clutter.
- Enhances user experience.
Drawbacks:
- Requires configuration and may affect existing automations/workflows.
- May increase form complexity.
2.5 Smart Values for Forms
Description: Enables native dynamic data retrieval from submitted forms for automations and reporting.
Use Case: Automates workflows and improves reporting accuracy without the use of external addons such as Entity Properties.
Positives:
- Reduces manual data entry.
- Enhances automation capabilities.
Drawbacks:
- Requires setup, testing and advanced automation knowledge.
- Limited to JSM forms currently.
2.6 Request Type Groups for HR Projects
Description: Categorizes related request types within HR and other JSM projects for better organization and reporting.
Use Case: Streamlines HR and other Jira Service Management projects.
Positives:
- Improves documentation and reporting.
- Enhances operational efficiency.
- Drawbacks:
- Limited to HR projects.
- Requires initial setup.
Atlassian article on how to enable and use: https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Service-Management-articles/Introducing-Request-type-groups-for-HR-projects/ba-p/2889828
Detailed documentation: https://support.atlassian.com/jira-service-management-cloud/docs/using-request-type-groups/
2.7 Improved Issue Security Management
Description: Combines issue security levels and request type restrictions in one place.
Use Case: Ensures better control over who can view or raise requests.
Positives:
- Centralizes security settings.
- Enhances data protection.
Drawbacks:
- Requires careful configuration.
- May increase administrative overhead.
2.8 Updated Project Settings Navigation
Description: Aligns JSM project settings navigation with other Jira products for consistency.
Positives:
- Improves usability and customisation.
- Reduces learning curve.
Drawbacks:
- Requires adjustment and fine tuning for what you want to sees.
3. Change Management Integrations
3.1 Connecting Assets Objects with Change Management
Description: Links Assets objects (hardware, software) to change and incident requests for a holistic view.
Use Case: Ensures all affected items are tracked during changes.
Positives:
- Improves change management accuracy.
- Enhances visibility.
Drawbacks:
- Limited to Premium and Enterprise customers.
- Requires integration setup.
4. Incident Management Optimizations
4.1 Operations Global Admin Role
Description: Grants Opsgenie admins admin privileges for operations work without making them Jira product admins.
Use Case: Simplifies role management for operations teams.
Positives:
- Reduces administrative overhead.
- Enhances security.
Drawbacks:
- Limited to Opsgenie admins.
- Requires role configuration.
4.2 Site-Level On-Call Schedules and Escalations
Description: Admins can associate on-call schedules and escalations at a site level.
Use Case: Streamlines incident response across multiple teams.
Positives:
- Improves coordination.
- Enhances response times.
Drawbacks:
- Requires careful planning.
- Limited documentation on this feature
Atlassian Article for further details: https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Service-Management-articles/December-launch-4-new-IT-Ops-features-in-Jira-Service-Management/ba-p/2867947
4.3 Atlassian Operations Provider for Terraform
Description: Enables creation and management of teams, users, integrations, escalations, and schedules using Terraform.
This new provider will allow you to create and manage the following resources with Terraform:
Atlassian Article for further details: https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Service-Management-articles/December-launch-4-new-IT-Ops-features-in-Jira-Service-Management/ba-p/2867947
Technical documentation for Terraform:
5. Enterprise-Level Features
5.1 Bulk Actions for Portal-Only Accounts
Description: Admins can perform bulk actions (e.g., delete, migrate) on up to 1,000 portal-only accounts.
Use Case: Simplifies external account management for large organizations.
Positives:
- Saves time.
- Enhances scalability and migrations
Drawbacks:
- Requires careful execution to avoid errors.
Atlassian Article: https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Service-Management-articles/Bulk-Actions-for-JSM-Portal-only-accounts/ba-p/2861198#M5254
Conclusion
The updates in the last 3-4 months to Jira Service Management bring significant advancements in AI, service management, change management, incident management, and enterprise features.
While these updates offer numerous benefits, such as improved efficiency, enhanced customer experiences, and streamlined operations, they also come with potential drawbacks, including setup complexity and limitations for certain tiers or use cases. Organizations should evaluate these updates based on their specific needs and workflows to maximize their impact.
If your organisation needs to evaluate and utilise these features, please reach out to an Atlassian solutions partner such as Elegance Group below and I would be happy to assist with evaluating the project and executing it using our years of experience in Atlassian tools.
Elegance Group - Atlassian Platinum Partner
Proudly sponsored by Elegance Group, a distinguished Atlassian partner recognised globally and awarded Partner of the Year in 2022 and still conducting elegant solutions.
For expert Licensing or Services from an acclaimed Atlassian Partner, reach out to Elegance Group. Book a meeting with us to enhance your business with our unparalleled Atlassian solutions.