Jira has long been the de facto standard for IT teams—processes are configured, workflows are established, and years of data have accumulated. But when a business grows to the point where portfolio management at the program and project level becomes necessary, the capabilities of a task tracker are no longer sufficient. The client in question faced exactly this challenge: keep Jira as the operational tool for development teams while simultaneously gaining a unified space for portfolio management at the executive level. The solution was integration with X-Lance, a modern platform for project and portfolio management.
Context: Why This Was a Non-Trivial Task
The client had been using Jira for many years. Over time, it had become layered with dozens of custom fields, its own hierarchy of issue types, complex role models, and non-standard workflows. A standard „out-of-the-box“ import would not have worked here—a full-fledged integration with bidirectional mapping and exception handling was required.
Additional complexity came from information security requirements: basic authentication for automations was prohibited. Every integration request had to pass through a dedicated proxy with identification, and all data had to be transmitted through specific technical accounts.
Solution Architecture
The integration was built on the „single source of truth“ principle: Jira remains the operational system for IT teams, while X-Lance receives up-to-date data via API and becomes the single point of reference for portfolio management at the management level.
Source — Jira:
- REST API for retrieving issues and links
- PAT authentication (Personal Access Token)
- Identification key in HTTP header for the proxy
- Dedicated technical account for each integration
Target — X-Lance:
- Pre-configured reference data: types, statuses, priorities
- 13 custom fields created to match Jira’s data structure
- Technical account for data ingestion
- Storage of Jira Key in a separate field for future delta synchronization
Five Stages We Completed
Stage 1. Field Audit and Mapping
We obtained a complete list of Jira fields—both system and custom—with descriptions of data types and the business logic behind each. For every field, we determined the corresponding element in X-Lance: a system field, a configurable field, or a new entity that needed to be created.
Stage 2. Pre-configuration of X-Lance
Before starting data migration, we deployed the full infrastructure in X-Lance: created issue types and configured the hierarchy (Epic → Story → Task → Subtask), set up statuses and priorities, configured workflows allowing issue creation in any status, established required user roles, and created custom fields for „Project“ and „Issue“ objects.
Stage 3. Integration Script Development
We developed a specialized script that accesses the Jira REST API, extracts data across all fields, converts data types, and writes them into X-Lance through a technical account with administrator privileges.
Stage 4. Handling Complex Cases
The most demanding work involved relationships between issues: Epic Link, Linked Issues, and parent-child hierarchy. Each Jira link type was mapped to the corresponding type in X-Lance. Missing users were handled separately—they were replaced with a default technical account, with the original value recorded in a comment.
Stage 5. Pilot, Verification, and Production Migration
We validated the correctness of all reference data and user mappings on a pilot sample, then launched the full migration with verification through checksums.
Non-Trivial Technical Solutions
Dynamic Reference Data Updates
One requirement was handling reference field values that exist in Jira but are absent in X-Lance. We implemented automatic addition of new values to the reference data upon first occurrence—without manual intervention.
Additionally, the client has multiple Jira instances deployed simultaneously, and the sets of reference values may differ. During migration, we create a unified reference directory with all values, eliminating duplicates by name.
Relationship Hierarchy and Parent Issues
Jira supports several link types: is blocked by, duplicates, is part of, contains, and others. In X-Lance, relationships are implemented through issue_relations with types relates, duplicates, precedes, blocks, and copied_to. „Part of epic“ relationships are converted into hierarchical parent-child links via issues.parent_id. Custom parent-child relationships—created in Jira to bypass nesting level limitations—were also migrated as hierarchical links, allowing X-Lance to display the actual structure of all work.
Request Identification Through Proxy
The client required that every integration request be signed with a unique key in the HTTP header. The key was constructed from the integration task number and the technical account suffix. Unsigned requests were blocked at the proxy level—meaning any error in header formation could completely halt the migration. We isolated key generation in a separate configuration module with validation before each request.
User Mapping and Default Account
Not all Jira users existed in X-Lance at the start of migration. For these cases, we implemented logic to create missing users in X-Lance. If a user in Jira lacked sufficient attributes for creation, the issue was assigned to a technical user, with the original Jira login preserved in a comment for subsequent manual adjustment. This prevented the migration from being blocked due to an incomplete user directory.
Product Perspective
„Integrating X‑Lance with Jira is not just a technical data migration task. It is a strategic decision that enables companies to preserve their investments in existing infrastructure while gaining a modern portfolio management tool. Our approach has always been to offer clients a solution that works with their current processes, not one that disrupts them,“ comments Olga Kashintseva, Director of Product at X-Lance.
Results
The integration eliminates the need to choose between „keep Jira“ and „switch to X-Lance“—both tools work together, each within its area of responsibility. Jira remains the development team’s tool, while X-Lance becomes the management system for the project office and top management.
X-Lance as a Project Management Platform Provides:
- Complete financial control: budgeting, plan-actual analysis, cash flow, recognized revenue, integration with accounting systems
- Resource planning: employee workload tracking, timesheets, competency matrix
- Baseline plans: storage of up to 12 plan versions with deviation comparison capabilities
- BI reporting: dashboard builder and ready-made reports for management
- Rapid deployment: from 2 weeks without programming, requiring just one analyst
For the client, this means not just data migration, but a transition to a new level of management: portfolio transparency, resource and financial control, and the ability to make management decisions based on real-time data.
About DataScale
DataScale is a company specializing in the development and implementation of effective digital solutions for banks and financial institutions using cutting-edge technologies. We bring together experts with years of experience in international projects and deep knowledge of global best practices to create optimal, comprehensive solutions for each client.
DataScale continuously expands its product portfolio, offering clients modern project management tools such as X-Lance. This enables us to provide customers with the flexibility to choose the most suitable set of solutions for their specific needs and development strategy.
If your organization is looking for a modern project management system that works seamlessly with your current task tracker, we are ready to conduct a pre-project assessment and demonstrate exactly how integration would work in your case.
Contact us at datascale.uz or request a demo—we will show the system in action and answer all technical questions from your team.
