Jira Freshdesk Integration

Introduction of Jira-Freshdesk Integration
In this blog post, we will explore the implementation process of the Jira Freshdesk integration via a custom app in Freshdesk that automates Jira ticket creation, along with the functionalities of a sidebar app for enhanced ticket management and synchronization. By harnessing the capabilities of this custom app in Freshdesk, businesses can significantly enhance their workflow efficiency, minimize manual tasks, and elevate their customer support capabilities to new heights.
Automating Jira Ticket Creation
The core functionality of the Jira Freshdesk integration lies in its ability to automatically create Jira tickets based on configurable scenarios within Freshdesk. By mapping custom fields in Freshdesk to projects in Jira, the app ensures that only relevant and mapped projects trigger ticket creation. If a project is not mapped to a Freshdesk field, the app intelligently prevents the creation of unnecessary Jira tickets.
To configure the Jira – Freshdesk app’s behavior, an admin can access the configuration page and set rules for ticket creation. For example, by defining a rule such as “when the status is moved to ‘Product Development’ and the value is populated in the Freshdesk fied,” the app can automatically generate a Jira ticket. The custom app securely stores the Freshdesk ticket ID, avoiding any duplication when creating Jira tickets. The app will also have a field mapping section between Jira and Freshdesk and the mapped field values would sync from Freshdesk to Jira while the ticket creation is happening.

Enhanced Ticket Management with Sidebar App
In addition to ticket automation, the Jira Integration custom app also provides a sidebar app within Freshdesk for seamless Jira ticket management. With this functionality, agents can search for Jira tickets using their issue IDs and link up to five Jira tickets to an existing Freshdesk ticket. A summarized view of the primary ticket, including configurable Jira fields, offers agents a convenient overview of the relevant information. The user can able to select the Jira fields that need to be displayed on the app for the agents to view the relevant information from the Jira.
In the Jira Freshdesk integration, By default, the first linked Jira ticket becomes the primary ticket. However, the sidebar app empowers agents to change the primary ticket as needed. While both primary and secondary tickets remain accessible, the summarized view is exclusively reserved for the primary ticket, offering a concise overview of crucial details. Whenever an agent clicks on a ticket, a comprehensive and detailed view seamlessly unfolds in a convenient pull-out drawer, providing a wealth of ticket information at their fingertips. Additionally, the app equips agents with the ability to unlink tickets that are deemed irrelevant, ensuring precise ticket management and maintaining a streamlined workflow.
Criteria for Synchronization
To ensure effective synchronization of the Jira – Freshdesk integration, certain criteria are established. Only primary tickets are synchronized, preventing further sync actions on older primary tickets. Any comments added to the primary Jira ticket are synced as private notes in Freshdesk, maintaining a clear and private communication channel. Conversely, private notes added in Freshdesk are synced with the primary Jira ticket, ensuring seamless collaboration across platforms. While ticket attachments from Freshdesk to Jira are supported, the app does not handle attachments from Jira to Freshdesk. Attachments added in Freshdesk notes are reflected exclusively in the primary Jira issue, with references to the attachments included in the comments.

The Role of Middleware
To facilitate communication and data exchange between Freshdesk and Jira for the Jira- Freshdesk integration, a middleware component is utilized. The middleware performs several crucial functions in the integration process. It persists configuration information, including field mappings and sync preferences, ensuring consistent behavior.
By employing a middleware component, the Jira-Freshdesk becomes effortless. This intermediary system fulfills several vital functions in the integration process, ensuring a smooth and consistent experience.
One of the core responsibilities of the middleware is to persist configuration information, encompassing essential aspects like field mappings and sync preferences. This guarantees that the integration behaves consistently and adheres to the specified settings.
To facilitate seamless data transfer, the middleware performs data parsing before transmitting updates between Freshdesk and Jira. This preprocessing step enables the effective exchange of information, minimizing potential compatibility issues.
In instances where failures occur due to platform limitations, the middleware takes charge by handling retries. This proactive approach safeguards data integrity, ensuring that any temporary setbacks are overcome and the information successfully reaches its intended destination. It’s worth noting that the middleware distinguishes between failures caused by validation errors or system errors from the target systems, which are excluded from the automatic retry process. In such cases, a note is appended to the respective ticket in Freshdesk through a custom app, promptly alerting agents about the encountered issue.
By subscribing to webhooks on Jira, the middleware remains updated on ticket changes based on the specified sync preferences. Additionally, the middleware establishes separate endpoints to listen to update requests from both Jira and Freshdesk, enabling bidirectional communication.F
Maintaining data integrity is a paramount concern for the middleware. As a result, it carefully filters out requests from Jira and Freshdesk that lack the respective ticket references from the target system. This ensures that only valid and relevant data is processed, reducing the chances of errors or inconsistencies.
In addition to handling data exchange, the middleware also manages the synchronization of various ticket elements, including status changes, comments, attachments, and custom fields. By overseeing these aspects, the middleware guarantees that ticket information remains consistent and up-to-date across both Freshdesk and Jira.
In summary, the middleware component plays a pivotal role in facilitating effective communication and seamless data exchange between Freshdesk and Jira. Through its functions such as configuration persistence, data parsing, retry handling, and error exclusion, it ensures a reliable and consistent integration experience. By managing ticket updates and maintaining data integrity, the middleware acts as a bridge, connecting and synchronizing the two systems seamlessly.