What is case management in Jira Service Management?
Who this is for: HR and other teams using Jira Service Management to handle complex, sensitive, or long-running work, and the service space admins who set them up.
Data collected by this work category can only be protected by work item security at this time. More granular security to further restrict access to information collected in case notes is not yet available.
Case management gives HR teams a structured way to handle complex, sensitive, long-running work — like an investigation or a performance concern — separately from standard service requests. Cases live in your service space alongside the requests your team already handles, so HR agents can record allegations, findings, and outcomes in one place.
What you can do with case management
Handle cases separately from service requests: Cases are a distinct work category from your standard service requests, so HR work stays separate from day-to-day support.
Record allegations and findings: Capture what was raised and what your investigation concluded in a structured way.
Record outcome decisions: Capture the decision your team reached at the end of the case.
Use ready-made request types: Case management comes with three request types — Report workplace concern or incident, Performance management support, and Request health or wellbeing support — each providing the forms shaped for that kind of HR work.
Help seekers don’t see the case component. Cases are only visible to people in your service space who have access to the work item, controlled by your existing access settings.
Cases versus service requests
Cases and service requests live side by side in your service space, but they’re used for different kinds of work.
Use a case for | Use a service request for |
|---|---|
Complex, sensitive, long-running HR work, like investigations or performance concerns. | Transactional HR work that follows a known path, like a leave request or a benefits question. |
Work where you need structured allegations, findings, and outcomes on the same record. | Work where a standard request type and reply flow is enough. |
Work that only specific people in the service space should see. | Work that anyone with access to the request type can see. |
Who case management is for
Case management is built for HR teams using Jira Service Management:
HR agents open cases, log allegations and findings, and record outcomes.
HR operations leads oversee how the team uses cases and where they fit alongside existing service requests.
Service space admins turn case management on, map which request types create a case, and manage access in the service space.
When to use case management
Turn on case management if your HR team:
Runs investigations, performance reviews, or health and well-being matters that need structured findings.
Needs to keep some HR work separate from the rest of the service space.
Records the outcome of a case as well as the work that led to it.
If your HR team only handles standard, transactional requests today, you don’t need case management. Standard request types and queues may be enough.
How case management fits in the service space
Case management adds a new work category to your service space alongside the work categories your team already uses. The work category gives cases their own behaviour for findings and outcomes, while still using the rest of Jira Service Management — queues, automation, and the portal — in the same way as service requests.
Permissions
Case management uses the same permission model as other work categories in Jira Service Management:
Service space admins turn case management on and map request types to the case work category.
HR agents with edit work item permission can log findings and record outcomes on a case.
Other agents in the service space can view a case if they have work item access; standard issue security still applies.
Help seekers don’t see the case component.
Set up case management in your service space
Case management is enabled the same way as any other work category. How you set it up depends on whether your service space is new or already exists.
📌 You need to be an admin of the service space to turn on the work category and map request types.
In a new HR service space
New HR service spaces come with the Case management work category turned on out of the box, along with its ready-made request types. You don't need to turn anything on. If a request type is left unassigned when the space is created, assign it to the work category using the steps for an existing space below.
Turn on the work category in an existing service space
Go to your service space and open Space settings.
Open Features.
Turn on Case management.
Once the work category is on, the Cases navigation item appears in your service space.
Map your request types
Each request type you map to the Case management work category creates a case instead of a standard service request from that point on.
In Space settings, open Request types.
Find the Cases work category.
Add the request types that should create cases. You can use the request types that come with case management, or map your own.
What comes with the work category
Case Management includes pre-built request types covering common use cases like employee investigations, grievances, performance matters and compliance cases. When you enable Case Management, you choose which of these request types to assign to the Case Management work category, so your teams start with the right structure from day one without having to build it from scratch.
Control who can see cases
Case Management uses your existing Jira Service Management security model so there are no separate permissions to configure. Cases are only visible to people in your service space who have access to the work item, controlled by your existing access settings. Your employees (help seekers) don't see the case component at all. To restrict who can see and work on specific cases, use your service space's issue security scheme, the same way you control access to any other sensitive work in the space.
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