Interviewee
Paul Wilkinson, Certified Jira Administrator & Senior Consultant, GBDS Network SA, Chiasso, Switzerland.
Client Overview
At GBDS Network SA, we specialize in IT consultancy, focusing on enhancing operations management and minimizing risks in IT operations.
Our client, an insurance firm within a financial organization, utilizes the Atlassian suite we provided and tailored to streamline their IT operations. Specifically, GBDS Network SA facilitates:
- Analysis and design of IT business processes,
- Comprehensive customization of Atlassian products, including Jira Software (JS), Confluence, and Jira Service Management (JSM) across various projects,
- Jira interfacing with other software solutions.
During the Customer Service project's rollout, there arose a need to integrate Jira Service Management (for internal IT tickets) with ServiceNow (for external ticketing by Business Partners or clients).
Objective of the ServiceNow Jira Integration
Business Partners, be they territorial agents or consumers, employ ServiceNow (Now) to relay requests to the insurance company's commercial units. Notably, a significant portion of these requests, which previously were communicated via error-prone emails, pertained to software issues, necessitating their redirection to IT Operations.
This integration aims to:
- Automate synchronization from Now to JSM and back, ensuring external IT-related requests are effortlessly directed to the IT group's Jira Service Management project, which already manages all internal requests.
- Allow IT agents to directly engage with Business Partners or external customers using JSM, eliminating the need for emails or ServiceNow logins.
The goal is for this integration to be utilized seamlessly by both IT and SNow Customer Service Agents.
Integration Details
When a Task in SNow necessitates IT group intervention, the Getint app autonomously generates a ticket within the JSM project. These IT tickets can range from Incident Reports to Service or Change Requests, each with its unique workflows, fields, and regulations.
Information such as Request Type, Application, Context, and Affected Version auto-determines the ticket type and assignee within JSM. Throughout the ticket creation and update processes, various system and custom field values, inclusive of attachments, are shared bi-directionally. Synchronized statuses are maintained.
Furthermore, the JSM Ticket can autonomously generate linked Incidents or Changes within other Jira Software projects. When these updates occur or are released, the Task in Now is auto-updated.
For communication, external comments (or Now's Work Notes) relay messages. JSM can directly email Now task assignees to notify of updates or urgent requests.
Additionally, a Rich Filter Dashboard in Jira provides a comprehensive overview and management of all IT requests in Now.
Success Indicators
Key benchmarks include:
- Reliability: The integration must operate seamlessly, handling thousands of synchronizations daily, without any discrepancies.
- Minimal Maintenance: The system should require little to no regular oversight.
- User-friendly Interface: It should be easy to set, adjust, and maintain synchronization rules, especially as Jira and Now evolve.
However, a current challenge lies in user mapping, which requires extensive, potentially unreliable workarounds. Getint has acknowledged this and plans an imminent update.
Recommended Vendor Selection Criteria
We prioritized:
- On-premises software compatibility, especially with the Oracle database.
- An intuitive UI that is both easy to set up and future-ready.
- Proactive post-sales support.
Why Getint?
While we did contemplate other tools and direct integration using Rest APIs, Getint's solution, albeit with a few tailored modifications, was almost instantly deployable.
After our request for Oracle integration and additional comment and attachment management features, Getint delivered a product that resonated with our client from the first demonstration, rendering other options redundant.
Good tool, easy to use with fast and professional support. Data integration interfaces between Jira DC and Snow (or Jira 2 Jira) are configured in a minute without coding. between !!! - Andrea Colombo
Discover how a fintech firm streamlined IT operations by enabling real‑time ServiceNow–Jira sync—automated ticket flow, secure collaboration, and lower risk.
