
## Elevating ITSM with Jira Service Management {#fortify-your-defenses}

IT service management platforms (ITSM) facilitate workflow management and data collection so businesses can plan, automate, control, and deliver seamless digital experiences. [According to the Gartner report Magic Quadrant for IT Service Management Platforms](https://www.atlassian.com/gartner/magic-quadrant-it-service-management-tools#:~:text=31%20October%202022.-,Atlassian%20is%20a%20Leader%20in%20the%202022%20Gartner%C2%AE%20Magic,service%20marks%20of%20Gartner%2C%20Inc.), Atlassian, with its Jira Service Management, is a leader in this area. In the ever-evolving landscape of IT service management (ITSM), seamless service delivery isn't just a goal; it's a necessity. 

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However, with the exchange of sensitive data being the norm, security isn’t just an option, it’s become the cornerstone of trust in such applications. Ensuring robust security for external customer portals has become paramount. Many organizations grapple with the challenges of Single Sign-On (SSO) integration and the complexities of managing a multitude of customer accounts. These hurdles can impede the seamless operation of Jira Service Management (JSM) Cloud, creating roadblocks for both businesses and their valued customers.
What was once a challenging endeavor has now been simplified with a groundbreaking solution: [SAML/OAuth SSO for JSM Customers](https://www.miniorange.com/atlassian/sso-for-jsm-customers) brought to you by [miniOrange](https://www.miniorange.com/).

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In this article, we delve deep into the realm of security enhancements, shedding light on the transformative capabilities of SSO for portal-only customers within the JSM Cloud environment and a couple of other extensions that would add value to your ITSM.


### Enhancing Security for Portal-Only Customers in JSM {#enhancing-security-for-portal-only-customers}

Single Sign-On (SSO) capabilities have been a significant challenge for Jira Service Management (JSM) Cloud users, particularly those with portal-only customers. Managing thousands of customer accounts can become cumbersome. However, imagine the convenience of allowing external customers to log in via SSO to your JSM portals. **miniOrange presents an exclusive solution** – [SAML/OAuth SSO for JSM Customers](https://www.miniorange.com/atlassian/sso-for-jsm-customers).
Our app extends SAML SSO capabilities to portal-only customers effortlessly. You only need to connect to your identity provider (e.g.miniOrange,Okta, AzureAD) through the app, enabling a secure and streamlined authentication process for external customers. 

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![Configuring SSO With Multiple Identity Provider](/blog/assets/2023/jsm-configure-idps.webp)

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Once authenticated through their identity provider, users establish a session on the JSM portal. With this session, they can access and monitor the progress of their tickets and perform relevant actions. This solution grants users access to the portal using their existing authentication credentials from a trusted identity provider.

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Let's explore how these improvements can empower your IT service management.

### Unlocking the Benefits {#unlocking-the-benefits-empowring-itsm-enhanced-security}

Enhanced security measures for portal-only customers within Jira Service Management Cloud offer not just protection, but a gateway to a world of advantages that elevates your IT Service Management (ITSM) strategy.

**Enhanced Security:**

By adding an additional layer of authentication, it ensures that your external customers must prove their identity before accessing the portal. This helps verify the legitimacy of users and prevents automated bots from creating accounts and submitting spam tickets easily.

![Mapping your specific customer portals](/blog/assets/2023/portal-access-management.webp)

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**Centralized User Management**

Leveraging an identity provider allows you to maintain a single source of truth for user identities and access controls of your external customers.
In addition to these benefits, our integration offers some notable features:

- Support for both SAML + OAuth/OIDC Protocols: This support allows you to seamlessly connect Atlassian Cloud to your OAuth/OIDC provider, ensuring a smooth authentication experience.

- Organization Mapping Based on Customer Domains and IDP Groups: Automatically assigns customers to specific organizations based on email domains and IDP groups, streamlining support workflows.

![Mapping your organizations based on email domains](/blog/assets/2023/organization-mapping.webp)

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- Multiple Identity Provider (IDP) Support: Users can choose from different trusted authentication sources when logging into the system.
- Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) on top of SSO: Adds an extra layer of security by requiring two forms of verification before granting access, enhancing portal security.
-  Easy User Management and Custom Domain Support: Simplifies user management, audit logs, and troubleshooting with quick access to help center links and configurable ticket fields.

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While [SAML/OAuth SSO for JSM Customers](https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1229212/saml-oauth-sso-for-jsm-customers?hosting=cloud&tab=overview) addresses the pressing issue of security and user management in ITSM, a well-rounded ITSM solution demands more. As organizations of all sizes embrace Jira Service Management, we delve deeper into its core functionalities and explore how it fosters collaboration among development, infrastructure, and business teams.


### How to boost Jira Service Management {#how-to-boost-jira-service-management}

To truly enhance the customer-agent relationship and improve workflow efficiency, additional functionalities are often necessary in Jira Service management. Agents frequently encounter challenges such as insufficient information or delays in ticket resolution due to waiting for customer responses. This is where solutions like **'Customer and Organization Management' or ‘Feature Bundle for Jira Service Management' by Appsvio come into play**. Let’s check these extensions out…


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![Jira Customer Fields](/blog/assets/2023/jira-customer-fields.webp)

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**Customer and Organization Management**

This app addresses the information gap by facilitating fast and easy data gathering. It allows agents to collect additional customer context directly from the issue view. Customizing forms is straightforward; users can select field types and drag and drop them into the customer view. The collected data can be used to define JQL and SLA criteria, expediting request creation by copying values from the customer's profile to the issue.

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![Mapping your organizations based on email domains](/blog/assets/2023/troubleshoot-jira-ticket.webp)

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Customer and Organization Management also supports bulk actions, making it possible to assign customers to projects and organizations efficiently. This not only saves time for agents but also enhances communication by providing easy access to customer and organization information.


## Feature Bundle for Jira Service Management {#feature-bundle-of-jira-service-management}

Effective communication with customers is another key aspect of the Jira Service Management Portal. The 'Feature Bundle for Jira Service Management' offers banner functionality, enabling businesses to keep customers well-informed without inundating them with emails and announcements.
It's time to put more into customers' hands! With this feature, you can allow customers to edit their requests. Changing minds is natural. Why engage agents every single time to apply changes? Imagine that you have to modify dozens of requests one day – a waste of time. In our scenario, customers can decide on their own and make changes with ease.

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As an admin, you can define who is able to edit the request: Reporter/Participants/ Organizations. Appsvio once again uses drag-and-drop functionality to make it possible to create a form. Decide which fields can be edited. What’s interesting, it also supports Assets formerly known as Insight, so you can customize it as you need. 

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Another feature that empowers customers’ is the ability to display a customer's workflow can greatly improve the customer experience. Similar to tracking a package delivery, customers can now see where their requests stand in the process. With Feature Bundle, you can add workflow information to the request view and define conditions for when steps change, providing customers with real-time updates.

![Workflow displayed on the request view](/blog/assets/2023/workflow-display.webp)

## Final Word {#final-word}

Jira Service Management and SSO Integration are powerful tools in the realm of ITSM. While SSO Integration enhances security and user convenience, Jira Service Management thrives when complemented by extensions like 'Customer and Organization Management.' These solutions collectively empower ITSM to meet the evolving needs of businesses, ensuring seamless digital experiences for customers and streamlined operations for teams. Together, they represent a comprehensive approach to ITSM that drives efficiency, security, and customer satisfaction.

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Try out our plugin today at the Marketplace - [SAML/OAuth SSO for JSM Customers](https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1229212/saml-oauth-sso-for-jsm-customers?hosting=cloud&tab=overview). If you have any other security requirements for Atlassian Cloud, do reach out to us at info@xecurify.com and we’ll surely help you out. 
Reach us at +1 978 658 9387 for a demo or email your queries to info@xecurify.com, we would be glad to take it forward from there. And you can also visit [Appsvio](https://www.appsvio.com/). 



Single Sign-On (SSO) capabilities have been a significant challenge for Jira Service Management (JSM) Cloud users, particularly those with portal-only customers. Managing thousands of customer accounts can become cumbersome. However, imagine the convenience of allowing external customers to log in via SSO to your JSM portals.

Elevating ITSM with Jira Service Management: A Spotlight on Security and Customer Service


## How to Eliminate Unused JSM Agent Licenses and Save Thousands Annually {#eliminate-unused-jsm-agent-licenses}

Managing licenses for Jira Service Management (JSM) can be a tricky and costly endeavor, particularly when agent licenses go unused. Often, businesses invest heavily in these licenses, only to find that many of them remain inactive. The result is an unnecessary expense that could be better allocated elsewhere.

Fortunately, you can cut down on these expenses by regularly auditing your JSM agent licenses and taking steps to remove inactive users. 

Let’s dive into how miniOrange can help you curb these unnecessary expenses by effectively managing unused agent licenses in JSM.
 


### Understanding the Cost of Unused JSM Agent Licenses {#cost-of-unused-jsm-agent-licenses}

Imagine you’ve purchased 30 agent licenses but only 25 are actively being used. The remaining five licenses represent a portion of your budget that is essentially being wasted. Over time, this can accumulate into significant and unnecessary costs.

If this is happening in your organization, it’s time to address the issue and reclaim those wasted resources.



### The Real-World Impact: How Unused Licenses Inflate Your Budget {#the-real-world-impact}

Let’s take a look at the numbers to better understand the financial impact.


 **Standard Plan Example:**
    - **Scenario**: You have 30 agent licenses but only 25 agents actively using them.
    - **Cost for 30 agents**: ~$9,100 annually.
    - **Cost for 25 agents**: ~$4,900 annually.
    - **Savings**: $4,200 annually.
 
By simply revoking access for the five inactive agents, you can reduce your annual cost by a substantial $4,200.

 **Premium Plan Example:**
    - **Scenario**: You have 70 agent licenses but only 50 agents actively using them.
    - **Cost for 70 agents**: ~$44,000 annually.
    - **Cost for 50 agents**: ~$22,500 annually.
    - **Savings**: $21,500 annually.


In this case, removing the access for 20 inactive agents can lead to savings of over $21,500 annually. 

In larger organizations, the financial impact is even more profound. For companies managing a vast number of JSM agent licenses, reclaiming these costs can lead to significant long-term benefits.


### The Solution: Remove Inactive Agents {#remove-inactive-agents}

Many organizations make the mistake of assigning licenses to users without performing periodic audits to assess if they are still necessary.

By identifying and deactivating agents who haven’t used their JSM license for a specified period—say, the past 30 or 60 days—you can recover these unused licenses and assign them to active users as needed. 

A great thing about this approach is that removing JSM agent access doesn’t interfere with a user's overall Jira license. This ensures you're focusing solely on cutting unnecessary JSM costs without disrupting their Jira access.


### Automating License Management: Bulk User Management for JSM {#bulk-user-management-for-jsm}

Manual audits can be tedious and prone to oversight, but there are tools that can streamline this process. 

One such tool is the miniOrange Bulk User Management application. 

This tool allows you to automatically identify and remove inactive JSM agent licenses, offering a simple and efficient two-step process:


1. **Identify Inactive Agents**: Using a built-in scheduler, the app runs daily checks to identify agents who haven’t logged into JSM for a predefined period.
2. **Remove JSM Agent Access**: Once identified, the app automatically removes agent access for inactive users while keeping their regular Jira user licenses intact.

With this automation in place, you ensure that your JSM agent licenses are always optimized without the need for manual intervention. Additionally, the freed licenses can be reassigned to other users as your business needs evolve, ensuring you’re always paying for the exact number of agents you need.


### Benefits of Optimizing Atlassian Jira Service Management Licenses {#benifits-of-optimizing-jsm-licenses}

By regularly auditing and managing your JSM agent licenses, you can achieve several key benefits:
    
- **Cost Efficiency**: Only paying for the licenses your agents actively use translates to significant savings.
- **Improved Resource Allocation**: Funds saved on unused licenses can be redirected toward more pressing business needs, such as software upgrades, employee training, or expansion projects.
- **Scalability**: By automating the management of your agent licenses, your business can scale efficiently without worrying about spiraling costs due to inactive users.

### Conclusion {#conclusion}

Overpaying for unused JSM agent licenses can place an unnecessary burden on your business, but it doesn’t have to be that way. By taking a proactive approach and utilizing tools like miniOrange’s Bulk User Management application, you can reclaim unused licenses and optimize your costs effectively.

You can start saving today by auditing your JSM agent licenses and enjoying the financial benefits of a more streamlined, cost-effective licensing strategy.

For a hands-on demo of the miniOrange Bulk User Management application or to get started, reach out to us at [mahima@xecurify.com](mahima@xecurify.com) or [info@xecurify.com](info@xecurify.com).




Stop overpaying for unused Jira Service Management (JSM) agent licenses. Explore effective strategies for auditing and reclaiming costs while optimizing your licensing with miniOrange’s Bulk User Management, ensuring you pay only for active users.

Stop Overpaying: How to Eliminate Unused JSM Agent Licenses and Save Thousands Annually


## Introducing ‘Portal Only Customers SSO’ Integration to Enhance Your JSM Security and Seamless Customer Access {#Portal Only Customers SSO }

“Excellent support team who showed huge dedication to get us set up from start to finish. The app provides us with functionality we can’t get elsewhere and the team have rolled out a number of new features in the short time I have been using the app.”

Always a delight to start off with what our customers have to say, as it keeps us motivated. 


**Let’s Get to The Brass Tacks**

As we know, Jira Service Management (JSM) is a powerful service management solution designed to streamline your support processes. However, JSM portals often face the challenge of dealing with spam tickets generated by malicious actors or automated bots, especially if it’s a public-facing platform. 

Now, by requiring users to authenticate themselves before accessing the Jira portal via Single sign-on (SSO), businesses ensure that only authorized individuals can raise tickets. It’s a simple yet effective way to maintain order and efficiency within your ticketing system. Not only does authentication help prevent the creation of spam tickets, but it also ensures that the tickets raised are legitimate and come from trusted sources. 

That’s just one and probably the major issue but you can’t ignore other pain points such as manual addition of customers to Jira, especially in large numbers, can be a cumbersome task and prone to human errors. You can also add to the list the tedious and time-consuming task of managing direct access control that causes unnecessary delays and loss of productivity.

For that, we’ve come up with [‘SSO Integration With Helpdesks’](https://miniorange.com/atlassian/sso-for-jsm-customers) that will change the game for you. And here’s the best part: **you don’t need any prerequisites! Users with any email domains would be able to login via SSO to the customer portals.** It provides you with the best of both worlds, prevents spam ticket creation by enabling SSO for external customers and eliminates the need to add them as users in Jira or grant them Atlassian access. Our plugin seamlessly integrates with JSM, elevating its functionality and acts as a valuable extension.

It’s a win-win situation! an extraordinary solution that enables external customers to effortlessly log in to your Jira Service Management portals. Let’s take a look at the features and uncover the benefits that our plugin brings…


### Features Aimed at Efficiency {#portal-only-sso-features}

Our **‘SSO Integration with Helpdesks’** can enhance the functionality and security of JSM, providing greater flexibility, improved authentication, and more efficient customer management. 

**Multiple IDP support**

With multiple IDP support, we refer to the ability of our plugin to integrate with and authenticate users from multiple Identity Providers. This feature would allow users to choose from different trusted authentication sources when logging into the system. 

**All protocols supported**

Our plugin provides extensive support for all industry-standard protocols such as SAML and OAuth etc. It is built to adapt and deliver optimal performance regardless of the chosen standard thus providing you with a unified and reliable authentication experience. 

**Organization mapping based on IDP groups and email domains**

The plugin automatically assigns customers to specific organizations based on their email domains and IDP groups. This helps to streamline support workflows and ensures better organization and management of customer accounts and their associated support tickets. With the use of our plugin, it becomes easier to keep track of customers’ tickets and communicate the resolution or support.

**Control access to portals based on IDP groups and organizations**

Administrators can manage and regulate entry by leveraging the IDP groups and organizations associated with user identities. Enforcing access permissions and restrictions, granting or denying entry to users based on their assigned group or organization becomes much easier and ensures secure and tailored access to the Jira portal.

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**Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) on top of SSO**

If you are looking to add an extra layer of security on top of Single Sign-On (SSO) that would require users to provide two forms of verification before they can access the portal, you can enable ‘Two-Factor Authentication’ using our inhouse brokering solution. This will ensure that even if someone gains access to a user’s login credentials, they still need the second factor to successfully log in. 

That’s not all, in addition to the above mentioned, our plugin offers a **range of configurations** that can enhance your experience. You have the flexibility to configure the visibility of specific fields for individual tickets through **‘portal fields’**. **‘Customizing domains’** becomes effortless, and **‘managing user accounts’** becomes more streamlined with detailed information on logged-in users and **‘audit logs’** based on user data. Furthermore, if you encounter any difficulties, our **‘quick troubleshooting tab’** provides prompt access to possible solutions, ensuring a smooth and efficient user experience. 


### Benefits It Brings to The Table {#benefits-of-jsm-sso}

Integrating our portal only customer SSO functionality with your JSM provides a robust solution to counter spam or fake ticket generation.

- **Spam Tickets Prevention:** Say goodbye to ticket overload! With our powerful plugin, wave goodbye to spam tickets and embrace smooth sailing for your JSM workflow. Keep your focus on the real issues that matter. 

- **Direct Access Control:** You could assign groups to your users in your IdP and the access to the portals could be managed accordingly.

- **Restricted Portal:** Step into a world of controlled efficiency! Our plugin works seamlessly with restricted portals where only admins or user agents can add customers. Bid farewell to unauthorized meddling and savour the peace of mind. 

- **Automated Customer Additions:** Be done with manual labour! Our add-on automates the process of adding customers, freeing up your valuable time and eliminating errors. Say hello to seamless customer onboarding with just a few clicks..


What you do need to remember is that each business entity’s implementation of SSO may vary depending on its chosen identity provider and specific requirements. Therefore, it’s essential to consult the documentation and resources provided by our SSO solution for detailed instructions on integrating SSO with Jira Service Management.

### What We Offer... {#what-we-offer}

Is an SSO integration with JSM, that not only bolsters security but also enhances user convenience. Say goodbye to the noise of spam and hello to a harmonious support ecosystem. With our SSO integration, you protect your JSM portal, gain tighter control over user access, and unleash the full potential of efficient customer support. 

It’s time to level up your JSM game and embrace the power of our ‘SSO Integration with Helpdesks.’ So, why wait?  miniOrange JSM SSO solution compliments your Atlassian product so that you get to deliver an exceptional user experience. Welcome a smoother, more efficient customer engagement and support.

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Reach out to us at **support-atlassian@miniorange.atlassian.net** or raise a support ticket by [clicking here.](https://miniorange.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portal/2)

### Additional Resources {#additional-resources}

Check out more Atlassian App Security products by miniOrange,

-   [Atlassian SSO and User Sync](https://miniorange.com/atlassian/)
-   [Confluence 2FA/MFA](https://miniorange.com/atlassian/two-factor-authentication-2fa-for-atlassian-data-center-dc-and-cloud/)
-   [Confluence 2FA/MFA](https://miniorange.com/atlassian/confluence-two-factor-authentication-2fa)

Jira Service Management (JSM) is a powerful service management solution designed to streamline your support processes. However, JSM portals often face the challenge of dealing with spam tickets generated by malicious actors or automated bots, especially if it’s a public-facing platform.