This article is also published on the Atlassian and the Azure DevOps communities.
Teams involved in a sprint need to exchange information in real time. This keeps all stakeholders and team members aligned on the same sprint data without manual copy-pasting.
Here’s a common scenario: a development team handles work items in Azure DevOps, while the IT team uses Jira for service management. For updates on one system to reflect on the other, Jira and Azure DevOps need to be connected.
Without a native sprint sync between these platforms, integration tools like Exalate bridge the gap. Let me walk you through how teams can sync sprints between Jira and Azure DevOps.
What to Consider When Syncing Azure DevOps and Jira Sprints
The first thing to keep in mind is security. Sensitive data flows between systems during sprint sync, so there needs to be measures to protect it at rest and in transit.
Exalate addresses this with ISO 27001 certification, encryption in transit (TLS 1.2/1.3) and at rest, role-based access control (RBAC), and decoupled access control that separates integration management from ticketing system credentials. You can review the full security details at the Exalate Trust Center.
Beyond security, consider the flexibility and scalability of the integration tool. As your sprint cadence increases and work item volume grows, the connection should scale without breaking.
Exalate provides Aida (AI-assisted configuration) and automated triggers that make Jira to Azure DevOps integration flexible and fast to set up. Aida helps generate and troubleshoot Groovy sync scripts, so you spend less time coding from scratch.
Another factor is customization. The more sync options and custom connectors available, the wider range of use cases you can handle. Exalate supports Jira, Jira Service Management, Azure DevOps Cloud, Azure DevOps Server, ServiceNow, Salesforce, Zendesk, Freshservice, Freshdesk, Asana, GitHub, and custom connectors.
Why Sprints Don’t Sync Natively Between Jira and Azure DevOps
Jira and Azure DevOps handle sprints differently at a structural level. In Jira, sprints live on agile boards and are tied to specific board IDs. In Azure DevOps, the equivalent concept is an iteration path, which is a hierarchical structure tied to projects and teams.
There’s no one-to-one mapping between these two. A Jira sprint has a name, start date, end date, and state. An Azure DevOps iteration path has a name, start date, finish date, and a path hierarchy. Because these data models don’t align natively, you need a scripting-capable tool to map one to the other and keep them updated in real time.
This is exactly the kind of scenario Exalate’s Groovy scripting engine is built for.
Use Case Requirements for Azure DevOps Jira Sprint Sync
Let’s say you want to sync a Jira sprint with Azure DevOps. Here’s what this entails from a technical standpoint:
- The connection should support data synchronization between standard fields (comments, attachments, etc.) and custom fields.
- If a sprint gets created in Azure DevOps, it should be automatically replicated on the Jira side with the same information.
- Work items created in Jira should be channeled to the correct sprint using the iteration path value from Azure DevOps.
- A custom field named “Team” (Azure DevOps side) should sync to a custom select field called “ADO Team” (Jira side).
- If any new values are added to the custom field on the Azure DevOps side, these should also be dynamically created on the Jira side.
How to Sync Sprints Between Jira and Azure DevOps
Exalate uses a Groovy scripting engine for setting up syncs between Jira and Azure DevOps. You can use it to configure a two-way integration with event triggers for real-time sync.
To get started, go to the Exalate app and log in or create an account. Set up a workspace, then create a connection between your Jira and Azure DevOps instances. Jira uses OAuth for authentication, and Azure DevOps uses an API token.
You can use Aida to generate your sync scripts from a natural language prompt or write them manually. You also have the option to test your scripts using the Test Run feature before deploying them to production.
The scripts are divided into incoming and outgoing:
- Outgoing sync (on the Azure DevOps side) defines the data being sent over to Jira.
- Incoming sync (on the Jira side) defines how the data from Azure DevOps is received and mapped.
Here is the code to send sprint data from Azure DevOps [Azure DevOps Outgoing sync]:
def res = httpClient.get("/<project_name>/<team_name_in_ADO>/_apis/work/teamsettings/iterations", true)
def flag = 0
int i = 0
for (; i < res.value.size(); i++) {
if (res.value[i].path == replica.iterationPath) {
flag = 1
break
}
}
if (flag == 1) {
replica.customKeys."sprint_name" = res.value[i].name
replica.customKeys."sprint_start" = res.value[i].attributes.startDate
replica.customKeys."sprint_end" = res.value[i].attributes.finishDate
}Code language: HTML, XML (xml)This snippet uses httpClient to fetch the iteration path and assign the sprint name, start date, and end date as custom keys on the replica.
Here is the code to receive sprint data in Jira [Jira Cloud Incoming Sync]:
def list = httpClient.get("/rest/agile/1.0/board/3/sprint")
int flag = 0
for (int i = 0; i < list.values.size(); i++) {
if (list.values[i].name == replica.customKeys.'sprint_name')
flag = 1
}
String startDate, endDate;
if (flag == 0) {
if (replica.customKeys."sprint_start") {
startDate = replica.customKeys."sprint_start".trim()
startDate = startDate.replaceAll("Z", ".000+05:00").trim();
}
if (replica.customKeys."sprint_end") {
endDate = replica.customKeys."sprint_end".trim()
endDate = endDate.replaceAll("Z", ".000+05:00").trim();
}
def res = httpClient.post("/rest/agile/1.0/sprint", "{\"name\": \"${replica.customKeys.'sprint_name'}\", \"startDate\": \"${startDate}\", \"endDate\": \"${endDate}\", \"originBoardId\": boardId}")
}
def res = httpClient.get("/rest/agile/1.0/board/<Board id>/sprint")
for (int i = 0; i < res.values.size(); i++) {
if (res.values[i].name == replica.customKeys.'sprint_name')
issue.customFields.Sprint.value = res.values[i].id
}Code language: PHP (php)This code fetches the sprint start and end dates as customKeys. The httpClient uses POST and GET methods to create the sprint on the Jira board and assign the correct work item to it.
After publishing your scripts, use Test Run to validate the sync against real data before going live.
Triggers for the Sync
Azure DevOps uses Work Item Query Language (WIQL) for triggers:
[Work Item Type] = 'Task' AND System.TeamProject = 'SprintMarch'
This triggers synchronization of any task-type work item in the project named “SprintMarch”.
On Jira, triggers use JQL (Jira Query Language):
project = SprintMarch AND labels = sprint
This starts the sync for any work item in the “SprintMarch” project tagged with the label “sprint”.
Common Sprint Sync Challenges and How to Handle Them
When syncing sprints between Jira and Azure DevOps, a few things can trip you up:
- Timezone mismatches. Sprint start and end dates may use different timezone formats across systems. Make sure your scripts handle timezone conversion properly (the incoming sync snippet above shows one approach using string replacement).
- Board ID mapping. Jira sprints are tied to board IDs, and Azure DevOps iterations are tied to team/project paths. If you’re syncing across multiple projects or boards, you’ll need a mapping strategy in your scripts.
- Dynamic custom field creation. When new values are added to a custom field on one side, they don’t automatically exist on the other. Your scripts should include logic to create missing picklist values dynamically.
- Sprint state transitions. A sprint that’s “Active” in Azure DevOps may need to be mapped to the right state in Jira. Plan for how sprint states (planned, active, closed) are handled on both ends.
Examples of Successful Jira to Azure DevOps Integration Using Exalate
Here are real business use cases for Jira to Azure DevOps sprint sync:
- An international broadcasting organization, EBU, increased process speed with secure and automated integration between Jira and Azure DevOps. EBU unified its IT team with the development team for faster ticket handling.
- A construction tech company, Nevaris, implemented Exalate to maximize workflow efficiency between the QA team and developers. This helped decrease work item handling times through automatic and accurate information exchange.
- A software company, Qualco, used Exalate to cut average incident resolution time by reducing the information travel time between customer support (Jira Service Management) and developers (Azure DevOps). Reporting went from days to minutes.
If you still have questions or want to see how Exalate fits your specific use case, discuss it with one of our experts right away.
Recommended Reads
- How to Maintain Issue Hierarchy When Integrating Jira Server and Azure DevOps
- How to Sync and Maintain Issue links, Relations, and Sub-task Mappings between Jira and Azure DevOps
- How to Sync Text, Date, and Picklist Custom Fields Between Jira and Azure DevOps
- How to sync priority in Jira to a Picklist custom field in Azure DevOps
- How Companies Benefit from AI-Powered Jira Azure DevOps Integration
