Limit edits on certain Jira work types to a specific group

Summary

Currently, there is no direct way to restrict a specific group of users from editing work items of selected types. The permission scheme does not provide options to prevent editing based on type (for example: sub-tasks) or for specific hierarchies. There is also not a way to have separate permission schemes for individual work types.

This is being tracked as a feature request currently under consideration: JRACLOUD-10075

However, there is a workaround to achieve this by using a workflow property for all statuses of a certain work type.

Solution

Prerequisite

In order to implement the workaround, the work type that you want to restrict editing on must have its own workflow. Workflow properties will be applied to all steps in this workflow, so it must not be shared across other work types. To learn how to achieve this, refer to our documentation: Create a new workflow for an existing work type.

Configure workflow properties to restrict editing

We'll need the Group ID for any groups that you want to allow to edit this work type. To retrieve a group ID:

1. Navigate to admin.atlassian.com

2. Choose your Organization (if you have more than one)

3. Select Directory > Groups

4. Find the relevant group and select it

On the group membership page, the group's ID will follow /groups/ in the URL. Copy the group ID and save it for the next steps.

To edit a workflow:

1. Visit the project in question

2. Navigate to Project settings > Workflows

3. Edit the workflow for the desired work type

4. Select one of the workflow Statuses, then select Properties

5. Add property:

   1. Key: jira.permission.edit.group

   2. Value: Group ID of the desired group you want to allow to edit

6. Save the property

7. Repeat steps 4-6 for all statuses in the workflow

8. Publish the workflow changes

Once complete, only users from the specified group will be able to edit any fields of the work type. Please refer to Workflow Properties for further details on how properties operate, and what properties are available in Jira.