Prevent specific users from executing workflow transitions in Jira
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Summary
This article explains how to prevent specific users, groups, or project roles from transitioning issues/work items, either universally (all transitions) or specifically (only specific transitions).
This can be applied in scenarios where, let's say, only the assignee can determine the status of a task, or when outside users need to access the project but shouldn't be able to change a status.
Solution
There are two different approaches to accomplishing this. One blocks the execution of any transition on a certain project, and the other "hides" transitions to which certain users don't have permission to execute.
Set up permission for all transitions in a project
You can choose to only allow certain users, groups, or project roles to perform transitions on issues.
Jira Cloud
Go to Project Settings.
Click Permissions.
Open the Actions drop-down menu and click Edit Permissions.
Locate the Transition Issues permission.
Now, you can either delete the granted permissions or add new ones.
Another option is to configure the permission scheme at Administration > Work items > Permission Schemes. See also Managing project permissions.
Jira Data Center
Jira 6.3 and above
As of Jira 6.3, a "Transition Issues" permission has been added, as described in JRASERVER-11564—Need a "Transition Issue" permission. Implementing such permission allows Jira Administrators to fine-tune the users who can easily transition issues.
Follow the steps below to configure the user groups or project roles that will have this permission.
Go to Project Administration.
Click Permissions on the sidebar.
Open the Actions drop-down menu and click Edit Permissions.
Locate the Transition Issues permission.
Now, you can either delete the granted permissions or add new ones.
Another option is to configure the permission scheme directly so that it can be applied to more than one project. To do so, go to Administration > Issues > Permission Schemes. See also Managing project permissions.
Earlier Versions of Jira
In earlier versions of Jira, there was no permission that controlled the ability to transition issues universally. Instead, each individual transition can be configured with a condition. See below for instructions for setting up Conditions on the transitions to be restricted.
Set up permission per transition
With this approach, you can block certain transitions from being performed by setting up Conditions on the workflows associated with the project.
Jira Cloud
Go to the Project Settings.
Select Workflows.
Click Edit (the pencil icon) next to the workflow you want to edit.
In Diagram view, click the transition you want to configure the permissions for.
You will need to click on the transition (arrow) to configure the condition. Clicking on the status will not have any conditions to be configured.
Under the Conditions tab, add new conditions and select whether all conditions should be matched or just any of those.
Publish the workflow.
Another option is to configure a scheme or a specific workflow directly at Settings > Work items > Workflow Schemes to configure schemes, or Settings > Work items > Workflows to configure workflows.
For more information, check out:
Jira Data Center
Go to Project Administration.
Click Workflows.
Click Edit (the pencil icon) next to the workflow you want to edit.
In the Diagram view, click the transition you want to configure the permissions for.
You will need to click on the transition (arrow) to configure the condition. Clicking on the status will not have any conditions to be configured.
Under the Conditions tab, add new conditions and select whether all conditions should be matched or just any of those.
Publish the workflow.
Another option is to configure a scheme or a specific workflow directly so that it can be applied to more than one project. For that, go to Administration > Issues > Workflow Schemes to configure schemes or Administration > Issues > Workflows to configure workflows.
For more information, check out:
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