CLOUD | DATA CENTER AND SERVER

How to migrate R4J from Jira Data Center to Jira Cloud using ReqIF

Owned by Angelica Salazar
Last updated: Mar 13, 2023 by David SedlockVersion comment
3 min read

Overview

Requirements in R4J are, at bottom, Jira issues, so when you migrate your Jira Data Center instance to a Jira Cloud instance, you have thereby also migrated your requirements. However, R4J creates additional data in the Data Center instance to represent project trees, which you will also want to migrate to the Cloud instance. This page explains the steps to follow to migrate requirements and project trees from Data Center to Cloud.

We strongly recommend that the full migration be tried out first using a test instance of Jira Cloud.

Migrate issue data

The first step is to migrate the basic Jira issue data from your Data Center instance to your Cloud instance. Atlassian currently provides two tools to support the migration. To understand the differences and select the right tool for you, see Jira Data Center to Cloud Migration.

Depending on the size and complexity of the Jira DC instance, migration can be a daunting task. We recommend involving Atlassian support in your migration effort.

Export R4J tree data

The next step is to export R4J data from your Data Center instance in the “ReqIF” format. The procedure depends on the version of R4J you are using:

  • R4J 4.12 or later: You should use the bulk ReqIF export - see ReqIF Operations. Be sure to include all the R4J projects you want to appear in Jira Cloud.

  • Previous R4J versions: You must individually export each project using a required mapping configuration. See the following pages that explain how to configure this mapping and generate a project-specific export:

R4J Issue Specification Type = Issue

R4J Folder Specification Type = folderSpecType

Jira Value

XML Value

Jira Value

XML Value

Folder Name

Summary

Folder Description

Description

Attachment

Attachments

Key

Key

Prepare Jira Cloud

  • Set the folder Issue type - see Specify Folder Issue Type.

  • If you use security levels:

    • Add the project role “atlassian-addons-project-access“ to “Browse Project“ permission in all the security levels configured for the projects to be migrated - see Manage project permissions.

    • Temporarily set the default security level to “None” in all issue security schemes used by the projects to be migrated - see Configure issue security schemes. This is necessary so that folder issues can be created during import. After the import, you will set the default security level back to the original level.

Import R4J tree data

The final step is to import the R4J data in the “ReqIF” format that you exported in the previous step.

  • Go to Settings > Manage apps > ReqIF Import in the R4J section.

  • Upload the exported ReqIF files.

  • Select Validate. After validation, you will be notified about how many issues will be created or moved and about any errors. Validation allows you to identify problems and solve them before the actual import of data.

  • Select Start new import. The process runs in the background. Refreshing the page shows the current status of the import.

  • If you use security levels, after the import finishes you should do the following:

    • Change the security level from “None” back to the original level.

    • Search for folder type issues and set their security to the desired level with a bulk edit.

Limitations

  • If a folder was created via the reuse functionality of R4J DC:

    • In versions below 4.11, its attachments will not be migrated.

    • In versions 4.11 and above, its attachments will be migrated IF it was reused with copied attachments.