This article describes howto use Jira for Your own Form and Workflow system

You can use Jira as Service Desk, ordering system, development control, assest management, small crm




Why use JIRA?

  • Excellent Workflow Editor - And I am talking about the TEXT one, not the graphical crap..
  • Very Stable and very many releases with new features
  • A lot of 3rd party options - both free and commercial
  • Java based

Why not to use JIRA?

  • Not free - and even though license costs are low, it all add's up. Free alternatives are available
  • Requires quite a lot of resources and possibility
  • The Download version requires direct server access (Windows or Linux)
  • Java based

Not free? Well, if You are a non-comercial organisation, Open Source Project or a private person - try to apply for a "Open Source License" at Atlassian

A nice starter package could be


  • JIRA 10 User = $10
  • Some free plugins


= $10 / Year



OnPremise (Server) or Atlassian Cloud?

Atlassian Cloud

(thumbs up) Plusses

Cheap and simple, but very limited towards plugins and manipulating on filelevel

Upgrades just "happends" without any effort put into it

See the Plugin List here

(thumbs down) Downsides

Not all plugins available

Plugins run outside Atlassian Cloud and are NOT covered by any SLAs.

No control over upgrades


onPremise (Server)

(thumbs up) Plusses

Full flexability regarding OS and resources

OS must be maintained/upgraded

Upgrade paths/time are for selfdecision

(thumbs down)  Downsides

More Expensive

More Maintenance




When the decision is made for using JIRA :

If You want to control it Yourself, read the JIRA Install Cookbook


Secondly, I will recommend these plugins ( (thumbs up) = Testet and/or tried and found very usefull):

In the Atlassian Eco-system - 3rd party plugins, a lot is currently moving from free towards payable. So dont expect a current free plugin to stay free for long