How to automate manager approval using Okta and Jira Service Management

Looking to build a self-service workflow for Okta apps in Jira Service Management w/ manager and app owner approvals? Click here.  

A typical use case for many Jira Service Management customers is to route approvals to a requestor's manager. 

Multiplier can help automate this, as long as you have the manager's email stored as a profile attribute in Okta.

Multiplier uses Jira's post functions to automate adding or removing a user from a group. Learn more about post functions in Atlassian's documentation.

Once you've installed the app from the Atlassian marketplace, and completed the initial setup, follow the steps below to automatically set a user's manager from Okta as the request approver:

1. Navigate to the Jira workflow that is associated with the relevant request type.

2. Select the Create issue transition, and click on Post Functions.

3. Click on Add post function.

4. On the next screen, select the Multiplier: Assign issue approver post function.

5. Select the Issue Approver Field, making sure that it's the same one that you've configured for the approval step in the workflow. This is typically called Approvers.

Next, you'll also need to specify the Okta field that contains the manager's email. Click on Add when done.

Don't forget to check that the Issue Approver Field is the same as the approver field specified in the workflow. 

6. That's it. Remember to hit 'Publish Draft' at the top of the page to save your changes.

Now, when an end user raises a request that follows the workflow you've just edited, it should automatically route the request to the requestor's manager for approval.