A workflow is a very complicated component in JIRA as it makes use of other components, such as custom fields and screens. JIRA is used to provide a way for you to export your workflows into XML, but due to the difference between systems, it is often very difficult to import workflows into another system.
Since JIRA 5, there is a new concept called workflow bundle, which makes it possible for people to share their workflows with others. With workflow bundles, it is much easier to export and import workflows from one JIRA to another. So, we will take a look at how to create a workflow bundle based on one of our own workflows.
For this recipe, we need to have the JIRA Workflow Sharing add-on installed. This add-on comes bundled with JIRA, but if you do not have it installed, you can download it from the following link or install it directly using the Universal Plugin Manager:
https://marketplace.atlassian.com/plugins/com.atlassian.jira.plugins.jira-workflow-sharing-plugin
Perform the following steps to export an existing workflow as a workflow bundle:
- Navigate to Administration | Issues | Workflows.
- Select the workflow you want to export.
- Select the As Workflow option from the Export drop-down menu.
- Click on Next.
- Review and update the special instructions. JIRA will autogenerate these instructions based on the add-ons used and the components that are stripped away from the workflow.
- Click on Export to create the workflow bundle.
Once the workflow bundle is created, you can import it into another JIRA instance using the following steps:
- Navigate to Administration | Issues | Workflows.
- Select the Import Workflow option from the Import menu.
- Select the From My Computer option.
- Choose the exported workflow bundle file (
.jwb) and click on Next. - Give a name to the new workflow and click on Next.
- Map the statuses in the workflow bundle (left-hand side column) to existing statuses in your system (right-hand side column), or you can choose to simply create the missing statuses as part of the import. Once they are mapped, click on Next.
- Review the import summary and click on Import to start the process.