Jira-Salesforce Integration: How To Set This up With Unito

In most organizations, collaboration between salespeople and developers is only possible with lengthy email chains and constant status update meetings. When a deal depends on development work to go forward, any delays in that collaboration can lose you customers and jeopardize your sales goals.

But with Unito’s Jira-Salesforce integration, your teams can work together seamlessly, with all the data they need right at their fingertips in the tool of their choice. In this guide, you’ll learn how to build the Unito flow you need to make this happen.

What is a Jira-Salesforce integration?

A Jira-Salesforce integration is a piece of software that bridges the gap between these two tools, pushing data between Jira projects and Salesforce workspaces. Some of these integrations are built right into Jira and Salesforce, while others are third-party apps that support hundreds of other integrations.

Why integrate Jira and Salesforce?

Integrating Jira and Salesforce improves visibility between software teams and salespeople while eliminating manual administrative work (e.g., copying and pasting status updates) and inefficient alignment meetings. Stakeholders in sales and engineering also get better reporting, as data in both Salesforce and Jira can be represented in their dashboards and reports.

Common integration approaches

Teams working across Jira and Salesforce have a few options when integrating these two tools:

• Native connectors like Salesforce’s MuleSoft, which have the advantage of being built right into the tools you’re already using. Some come at an extra cost, while others are included in your main tool subscription.
• Marketplace apps like Appfire on the Atlassian Marketplace, which can vary in their effectiveness and integration depth.
• Custom API work, which requires using internal development resources or contracting development work out to third parties.
• Two-way sync platforms like Unito, which sync data back-and-forth in real-time. These platforms can typically be deployed in days, compared to other apps which can take months.

Overview

• Tools: Jira and Salesforce
• Use cases: Ticket escalation, product management, software development
• Great for: Sales, customer success, software developers, product managers, RevOps

Unito’s two-way sync integration for Jira and Salesforce allows users of any technical background, from product managers to software developers and team leads, to sync Jira issues with Salesforce objects. This integration syncs updates back and forth between both tools, creates new work items, and can even automate repetitive actions. This in-depth guide shows you how that’s done.

Use case overview

Salesforce is the operations center for your sales efforts, post-sales support, and whatever work needs to happen to get and keep customers. But if you’re selling products and services that require technical work from software developers and other specialists, your sales team will need to tag them in. In most organizations, that happens through a mess of emails, Slack messages, and offline requests. That makes it tough to keep track of what’s happening unless someone manually copies data between Salesforce and Jira.

With a Unito integration, you can automatically pair Salesforce cases with Jira issues, streamlining collaboration between these two teams.

Setup in Jira

If you’re connecting Jira to Unito via OAuth2, then simply follow the on-screen instructions when adding your account for the first time:

Not using OAuth2 to connect your Jira Cloud workspace? You’ll have to set your Jira contact email visibility to anyone in your Jira profile page. Then, you’ll have to set up an application link in Jira to sync your issues to Salesforce.

If you’re connecting an on-premise Jira Server instance to Unito, you’ll need to follow this guide. You can also use ngrok to connect Jira Server to Unito.

Step 1. Connect Salesforce and Jira to Unito

1. Go to the Unito App and click +Create Flow.
2. Click Start Here to start connecting Jira and Salesforce.
3. Choose the accounts you want to connect.
   • When you connect a tool for the first time, you’ll need to authorize it in Unito so your work items sync over properly.

Here’s what the tool connection screen in Unito looks like once you’ve connected Jira and Salesforce.

If you ever need to connect more Jira projects to Salesforce, you can just duplicate this flow once it’s done, modifying it as needed.

Step 2. Set a flow direction between Jira and Salesforce

In Unito, flow direction controls where new work items are created. In this case, that means Jira issues and Salesforce cases. When setting flow direction, you have three options:

• 2-way, which creates new Salesforce cases and Jira issues to match work items created in either tools.
• 1-way from Salesforce to Jira, which creates new Jira issues to match Salesforce cases you create manually. Creating Jira issues manually won’t create new Salesforce cases.
• 1-way from Jira to Salesforce, which creates new Salesforce cases to match Jira issues that are created manually. Creating Salesforce cases manually won’t automatically create new Jira issues.

Note that this only affects the creation of work items, not the direction of updates for individual fields (e.g. due dates, assignees, comments). Even if you create a 1-way flow, you can tailor the flow direction of individual fields in the last few steps of this guide.

Step 3. Set rules to sync specific Jira issues and Salesforce cases

Think of rules like filters. They allow you to tailor your flows so only some work items get synced between Salesforce and Jira. For example, you could decide to filter out any Jira issues with a certain status (like Completed) or a specific label (like Level 1 for a support ticket).

To start creating a rule, click Add a new rule. From there, you can choose what will trigger that rule and what will happen when it is triggered.

You can learn more about setting rules here.

Step 4. Map fields for your Jira-Salesforce sync

When it’s time to map your fields, you have two options. Click Map automatically to let Unito do all the work for you — which works for most use cases. If you want more precise control over your mappings, you can click Map manually to start mapping fields from scratch. Note that even if you let Unito map your fields automatically, you can customize them after.

If you map your fields automatically, you’ll see something like this.

You can click +Add mapping, then Select a field to sync additional fields. Unito will automatically suggest compatible matches for any field you add through a drop-down menu.

Fields with cog icons can be customized further (e.g. linking specific labels between apps).

Step 5. Launch your Jira to Salesforce integration

That’s it! You’ve built your first flow and you’re ready to launch. Once you do, Unito will automatically sync Jira issues with Salesforce cases, keeping all fields updated automatically. Any questions? Don’t hesitate to reach out to our team by clicking the chat bubble in the lower-right corner of your screen!

Common use cases for Jira-Salesforce integration

Teams collaborating across Jira and Salesforce usually start using integrations to cover one or more of these popular use cases:

• Ticket escalation: Support agents in Salesforce can’t always resolve the tickets sent to them. When they need to escalate a ticket to developers, crucial context often disappears in the gap between the two tools. That’s why the team at Anderson Business Advisors uses Unito to triage and dispatch tickets in Salesforce to developers in Jira.
• Sales-to-engineering handoff: When sales reps close a deal that requires custom development, a Salesforce opportunity needs to turn into a Jira epic so developers can plan work with full context. Unito can automatically create the new Jira epic and keep everything in sync across the two tools, including comments and questions from developers.
• Product release coordination: Salespeople don’t always have visibility on product features as developers work on them in Jira. A Unito integration can turn a shipped feature in Jira into a status update pushed to Salesforce, so the sales team knows what to promote in conversations with prospects.
• Cross-team reporting: Sync Jira sprint data to Salesforce dashboards or sync data from both Jira and Salesforce to a spreadsheet so leaders can get better visibility on software projects and how they contribute to revenue.

FAQ: Jira-Salesforce integration

What Salesforce objects can I sync with Jira?

Unito can sync Jira issues with Salesforce opportunities, tasks, contacts, leads, and cases. Each Unito flow syncs one type of object for each tool.

How long does it take to implement a Jira-Salesforce integration?

The time it takes to integrate Jira and Salesforce depends on the integration platform you use. Pre-built connectors like Salesforce Connector for Jira can be deployed in a few weeks, though more complex iPaaS (integration platform as a service) platforms can take months. Unito’s two-way sync can be deployed within a few hours, whether you have technical knowledge or not.

Why should I integrate Jira with Salesforce?

Integrating Jira with Salesforce allows salespeople and development teams to collaborate more effectively. Whether it’s for planning Jira sprints with context from Salesforce or giving salespeople more visibility on product launches, integrations eliminate manual copying-and-pasting and constant status update meetings.

What workflows does Unito’s Salesforce-Jira integration support?

Unito’s Salesforce-Jira integration can support a number of workflows, including:

• Ticket escalation
• Software development
• Project management
• AI agent integration
• Time tracking and billing
• Record syncing

Which Jira versions does Unito support?

Unito supports Jira Cloud, Jira Server, and Jira Service Management.

Can I sync custom fields between Jira and Salesforce?

Yes, Unito supports syncing custom fields in both Jira and Salesforce. You can map them with other custom fields or standard fields.

Is Unito’s Jira-Salesforce integration bidirectional?

Yes, Unito’s Jira-Salesforce integration is a bidirectional sync by default, turning Salesforce items into Jira work items and vice-versa. Data from both tools also moves back and forth, meaning everyone has access to the same context, no matter where they’re working from.

How does Unito handle Salesforce API limits?

Salesforce limits API access to some plans, meaning that Unito integrations will only work if you use one of these Salesforce plans. Unito flows don’t usually hit Salesforce’s rate limits.

Do I need admin access to set up the integration?

You’ll find a full list of permissions you need to sync Salesforce in this Unito documentation. You don’t necessarily need admin access, but you will need API access, edit rights on any field included in your flow, access to custom fields included in flow, view all data permissions.

To sync Jira data with Unito, you’ll need both project-based and issue-based permissions. You’ll find a full list of these permissions here.

What happens to synced data if I disconnect the integration?

Unito doesn’t delete any of your data, so even if you disconnect an integration, you won’t lose any of the work items it’s created. Unito just won’t sync any new information.

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