How to integrate Metabase with Jira Service Management Data

Metabase is an open source data visualization tool that allows users to create interactive dashboards. When paired with CData Connect AI, users can easily create visualizations and dashboards linked to live Jira Service Management data. This article describes how to connect to Jira Service Management and build a simple visualization using Jira Service Management data.

CData Connect provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for Jira Service Management, allowing you to easily integrate with live Jira Service Management data in Metabase — without replicating the data. Connect looks exactly like a SQL Server database to Metabase and uses optimized data processing out of the box to push all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to Jira Service Management, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return Jira Service Management data.

Configure Jira Service Management Connectivity for Metabase

Connectivity to Jira Service Management from Metabase is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Jira Service Management data from Metabase, we start by creating and configuring a Jira Service Management connection.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
👁 Adding a Connection

2. Select "Jira Service Management" from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting a data source

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Jira Service Management.

   You can establish a connection to any Jira Service Desk Cloud account or Server instance.

   Connecting with a Cloud Account

   To connect to a Cloud account, you'll first need to retrieve an APIToken. To generate one, log in to your Atlassian account and navigate to API tokens > Create API token. The generated token will be displayed.

   Supply the following to connect to data:

   • User: Set this to the username of the authenticating user.
   • APIToken: Set this to the API token found previously.

   Connecting with a Service Account

   To authenticate with a service account, supply the following connection properties:

   • User: Set this to the username of the authenticating user.
   • Password: Set this to the password of the authenticating user.
   • URL: Set this to the URL associated with your JIRA Service Desk endpoint. For example, https://yoursitename.atlassian.net.

   Note: Password has been deprecated for connecting to a Cloud Account and is now used only to connect to a Server Instance.

   Accessing Custom Fields

   By default, the connector only surfaces system fields. To access the custom fields for Issues, set IncludeCustomFields.

   👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Jira Service Management Connection page and update the User-based permissions. 👁 Updating permissions
   

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give the PAT a name and click Create. 👁 Creating a new PAT
   
4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

With the connection configured and a PAT generated, you are ready to connect to Jira Service Management data from Metabase.

Connect to CData Connect AI from Metabase

After creating the connection in Connect AI, navigate to your Metabase instance. Use the SQL Server interface to connect to Connect AI.

1. Navigate to the administration screen (Settings -> Admin) and click "Add Database" from the "Databases" tab 👁 Adding a new database connection to Metabase.
   
2. Configure the connection to Connect AI and click "Save"
   • Database type: Select "SQL Server"
   • Name: Name the connection (e.g. "Jira Service Management (Connect AI)")
   • Host: tds.cdata.com
   • Port: 14333
   • Database name: The name of the connection you just created (e.g. JiraServiceDesk1)
   • Username: A Connect AI username (e.g. [email protected])
   • Password: The PAT previously created
   • Click to Use a secure connection (SSL)
   👁 Configuring the connection to Connect AI.
   

Execute Jira Service Management Data with Metabase

Once you configure the connection to Connect AI, you can query Jira Service Management and build visualizations.

1. Use the "Write SQL" tool to retrieve the Jira Service Management data 👁 Click the 'Write SQL' button.
   
2. Write a SQL query based on the Jira Service Management connection in CData Connect AI, e.g.
   
   

   SELECT RequestId, ReporterName FROM Requests WHERE CurrentStatus = 'Open'

   👁 Collected data (Salesforce is shown).
   
3. Navigate to the "Visualization" screen, choose a visualization, and configure the visualization 👁 Collected data (Salesforce is shown).
   

More Information & Free Trial

At this point, you have built a simple visualization from Jira Service Management data in Metabase. You can continue to work with live Jira Service Management data in Metabase just like you would any SQL Server database. For more information on creating a live connection to Jira Service Management (and more than 100 other data sources), visit the Connect AI page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live Jira Service Management data in Metabase today.