Setup Flower

Configure Flower for Jira Automation

Setup Flower

Flower does not store process data separately. It stores everything as Jira work items, so BPMN workflows fit naturally into Jira.

Before you start, two things need to be configured in the Flower Settings:

• Where Flower stores models, process instances, and tasks in Jira: a space and work types.
• Which work items start a process automatically: the work type mapping.

Both work the same on Jira Cloud and Jira Data Center, and only Jira administrators can change them. Data Center needs a few additional settings, see Flower for Jira Data Center.

Step 1: Define Default Values for Jira Integration

Flower creates a Jira work item for each of the following. Jira must know in which space and with which work type:

• BPMN models: The graphical representation of a process, stored as a work item that contains all versions.
• Process instances: Created when a BPMN model is executed.
• Tasks: Each BPMN user task, manual task, or plain task becomes a work item when the process reaches that step.

To configure these defaults:

1. Open the Flower Settings in Jira and go to the Jira Integration tab.
2. Select the Jira Space in which Flower creates its work items.
3. Select one work type each for Work Type Model, Work Type Process instance, and Work Type Task.
4. Click Save.

Choose work types without mandatory fields. Flower cannot fill in required fields when it creates work items.

By default, all tasks use the space and work type from these settings. You can override them for a swimlane or for a single activity in your BPMN model. See Defining Jira Space & Work Type.

Step 2: Configure the Work Type Mapping

Often you do not want to start processes manually. Instead, a process should start automatically when a certain Jira work item is created.

For this, you map a work type in a space to a BPMN model. Whenever a work item of this work type is created in this space, Flower automatically starts a process instance of the model.

To add a mapping:

1. Open the Flower Settings and go to the Work Type Mapping tab.
2. In the empty row at the top, select a Jira space, a Jira work type, and a model. Only published models are available.
3. Click + to add the mapping. It is saved right away.

To remove a mapping, click the delete icon in its row.

With a mapping in place, Jira users can start processes without opening the Flower app, just by creating a work item.
See Get Started with Automation to learn how to launch and manage process instances.

Optional: Use Flower with Jira Service Management

Flower works with Jira Service Management (JSM) without any special configuration.

Flower maps work types, not request types. In a service space, every request type is connected to a work type, and a request that a customer submits becomes a work item of this work type. If you map a work type of a service space to a model (Step 2), every new work item of this work type starts a process instance, whichever request type the customer chose.

• To start different processes for different request types, give each request type its own work type.
• Request types that share one work type start the same process.

Agents handle the request in JSM as usual, while Flower creates and tracks the process tasks as linked work items. Your existing JSM workflows stay unchanged.

We recommend storing your BPMN models in a separate space that is not a service space, with a work type such as “Flower BPMN Model”. Select it as Work Type Model in the settings (Step 1). This way, Flower works the same in service, business, and software spaces.

Flower for Jira Data Center

Flower for Jira Data Center works like the Cloud version. This section covers the requirements and settings that are specific to Data Center.

Requirements

• Jira Data Center 11.x
• Java 21, in line with the Jira 11 platform requirements. Java 17 is no longer supported.
• A legacy version for Jira 9.x and 10.x exists, but it is no longer supported and has limited functionality.

Installation

Install Flower for Jira Data Center directly from the Atlassian Marketplace. Then configure it like the Cloud version (Steps 1 and 2 above) and add the settings below.

Data Center Settings

Flower calls Jira’s REST API from within Jira. It needs to know how to reach Jira and which user it acts as. You set this on the Data Center tab of the Flower Settings:

Flower needs either a Personal Access Token or a username and password. Without one of them, Flower cannot call the REST API and processes do not start.

• Personal Access Token: If your Jira has disabled Basic Authentication , you must use a Personal Access Token (PAT) . Flower sends it as a bearer token with every request. A PAT is also the better choice otherwise, because you can revoke it at any time.
• Flower Username and Password: The alternative to a PAT.
• Base URL (optional): The address Flower uses for its REST calls to Jira, including the context path, for example https://jira.example.com/jira. If you leave it empty, Flower detects an address automatically and tries the Jira base URL first. Set it if Jira is not reachable under its base URL from the Jira server itself, for example behind a reverse proxy.

Permissions

In both modes, Flower executes all REST operations as one Jira user. This means:

• Everything Flower does is done on behalf of this user: creating, editing, and transitioning work items, adding comments, and assigning and linking work items.
• When Flower creates a work item for a BPMN activity, this user is the reporter.
• The user needs the matching permissions in every relevant space: browsing the space, creating, editing, and transitioning work items, adding comments, and assigning and linking work items.
• The user must have access to every target space. Otherwise, operations may fail without a visible error.

Logging

Flower writes its logs to stdout. Jira collects them in the logs folder of your Jira installation, typically in catalina.out. All Flower log lines start with [FLOWER], so you can filter for them. The logs contain expression evaluations, runtime errors, and process activity, which makes debugging easy.

If processes do not start, first check the log for No HTTP authentication configured. It means that neither a PAT nor a username and password is set.

Summary

• Flower stores BPMN models, process instances, and tasks as Jira work items.
• Default values on the Jira Integration tab define the space and work types in which Flower creates them.
• The work type mapping starts a process automatically when a work item of a mapped work type is created in a mapped space.
• JSM works without special configuration. Mapping a work type of a service space starts a process for every new work item of this work type, regardless of the request type.
• Data Center uses the same configuration and requires Jira 11.x. In addition, you set a PAT or a username and password.

Once these settings are in place, you are ready to run automated workflows with Flower in Jira.

What’s Next?

• Get Started with Automation: Run your model as a process and track it in Jira.
• User Tasks: Learn how activities become Jira work items and how to set the space and work type per activity.