Optimize work item security schemes

Identify and remove unused security levels from your work item security schemes. This helps keep your configuration lean.

This feature is available on the Free, Standard, Premium, and Enterprise plans.

Required permissions

To optimize work item security levels, you must be a Jira site administrator.

Work item security levels

Work item security levels control which users and groups can see specific work items. They are configured in work item security schemes, which you associate with one or more projects.

Each work item security scheme can contain multiple security levels. When you apply a security level to a work item, only users who meet the level’s membership rules can view that work item.

Optimize work item security levels

Over time, work item security schemes can accumulate security levels that are no longer used. These unused levels add complexity and can negatively impact your Jira site.

Criteria for unused security levels

A security level is considered unused when it is not applied to any work items in any project that uses that scheme.

To find and optimize unused work item security levels:

  1. Go to Settings.

  2. Select Work items.

  3. Select Work item security schemes.

  4. Select the work item security scheme you want to optimize.

  5. Select the Optimize tab or action for that scheme.

Run or update a scan

The Optimize tool works by scanning all work items that use the selected work item security scheme to find levels that are not applied anywhere.

To run or update a scan:

  1. Open the Optimize view for the work item security scheme.

  2. If a previous scan exists, review the timestamp shown for the last scan to understand how recent it is.

  3. Select Update scan to start a new scan of all work items linked to this scheme.

  4. Wait for the scan to complete. The page will refresh to show the current list of unused security levels for that scheme.

You can rerun the scan at any time if you suspect that security levels have been added, removed, or reassigned since the last scan.

Download the list of unused security levels

After a scan completes, the Optimize view displays all security levels in the scheme that are currently unused.

To download a copy of this list:

  1. In the Optimize view for the scheme, review the list of unused security levels.

  2. Select Download.

  3. The downloaded file typically includes details such as the security level name, ID, and the work item security scheme it belongs to.

Remove unused security levels in bulk

Once you have reviewed the unused security levels, you can clean them up directly from the Optimize view.

To remove unused levels in bulk:

  1. Open the Optimize view for the work item security scheme.

  2. Select Review Actions to start the cleanup process.

  3. Confirm removal.

    1. In the confirmation dialog, review the summary of what will be removed, then confirm to delete the security levels.

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