This article was originally published in the Atlassian Community.
Organizations using ServiceNow and Jira often find it challenging to set up a reliable integration between the two platforms. We helped one such organization solve its workflow orchestration challenges, manage multiple complex relationships, and much more with an Exalate ServiceNow Jira integration.
Exalate created a bridge that held all their integration requirements together without disrupting daily business operations.
Understanding the Challenge
Over a discovery call, the delivery manager explained their integration scenario.
They use ServiceNow as their central hub for receiving customer requests, including incidents, service requests, HR inquiries, and more. On the other side, their development team relies on Jira to manage the software development life cycle (SDLC) tasks across multiple projects.
This setup led to several pain points:
- Lack of visibility: With work spread across two platforms, getting a consolidated view of all activities was difficult.
- Duplication of effort: Keeping data consistent between ServiceNow and Jira meant double entries, copying, and pasting, all of which created inefficiency.
- Real-time data sharing: Comments, custom fields, attachments, and other data needed to stay synchronized between a public ServiceNow instance and a private Jira instance in real time.
They needed a solution that could:
- Sync work items in real time, two-way, between ServiceNow and Jira
- Orchestrate workflows between service and development teams
- Connect public instances with instances behind firewalls
- Keep private conversations private
- Impersonate comments exchanged between ServiceNow and Jira
- Sync multiple ServiceNow entities like incidents, CMDB, change requests, and problems
- Sync custom fields between Jira and ServiceNow
Exalate: A Tailored Solution
Exalate provides a flexible and customizable solution to these integration challenges. Here’s how it addressed this organization’s needs:
- Customization through Groovy scripting: Exalate’s scripting engine gives you full control over how data is mapped, transformed, and synced. As Deepak, the Account Manager at Exalate, puts it: “More or less anything is possible if you write a piece of code for it.” You can map any ServiceNow entity (incidents, change requests, problems, CMDB CIs, catalog tasks) to the appropriate Jira work item types with custom field transformations tailored to your workflows.
- Bi-directional real-time sync: Exalate offers full two-way synchronization with real-time updates by default. Data is updated promptly between public and private instances of Jira, including attachments, descriptions, summaries, and historical data. Need to run a bulk sync of existing records? That’s supported too.
- AI-assisted configuration with Aida: Exalate’s AI-assisted configuration tool, Aida, helps you generate sync scripts from natural language prompts. Describe what you want to sync, and Aida will help create the mapping. This speeds up setup significantly, especially for complex field mappings like syncing SLA records or mapping urgency levels between platforms.
- Test Run before going live: Before pushing any sync configuration into production, you can use the Test Run feature to validate your scripts against real data. Select the work items you want to test, run the sync, and review incoming and outgoing replicas to confirm everything maps correctly.
- Unified management console: Manage all your connections and integrations from a single console. No need to switch between multiple instances. The console includes network visualization to see how your systems are connected, side-by-side views of both sides of a connection, and script versioning with rollback capability for safe configuration changes.
- Versatility: Exalate supports a wide range of platforms beyond ServiceNow and Jira, including Azure DevOps Cloud, Azure DevOps Server, Salesforce, Zendesk, Freshservice, Freshdesk, Asana, GitHub, and custom connectors. Whether you’re integrating with external partners, MSPs, or teams using different ITSM tools, Exalate adapts to your setup.
After a demo tailored to the organization’s pain points, the delivery manager said: “Everything looks good and Exalate seems to meet all our requirements.”
How to Set Up a Jira ServiceNow Integration with Exalate
Setting up a connection between Jira and ServiceNow in Exalate takes just a few steps. You do everything from the Exalate console at exalate.app. There’s no need to install anything separately on each instance.
Step 1: Log in and create a new connection
Sign in to the Exalate app. From your workspace, click “+ Add Connections” and select “Create new connection.”
Step 2: Add your first system
Enter the name and URL of your first system (System A). You can start with either Jira or ServiceNow. Once you enter the URL, Exalate runs a validation check. If the system is already in your workspace, authentication happens automatically.
For new systems, you’ll need to enter authentication details. ServiceNow uses Basic authentication (username and password), and Jira uses OAuth.
Step 3: Add your second system
Repeat the same process for the other side. Enter the system name, URL, and authenticate.
Step 4: Name your connection and create it
Give your connection a name and description. Click “Next,” review the details, and click “Create connection.”
Step 5: Configure your sync
Once the connection is created, select “Continue to configuration.” You’ll have two options:
- Quick Sync for a standard setup that gets you syncing right away
- Edit & Test for custom scripting with Groovy, where you can fine-tune field mappings, add conditions, and control exactly what syncs
Use Aida to help generate your scripts, or write them manually. When ready, use the “Start Test Run” option to validate against real work items before going live.
Security and Compliance
Exalate is built with enterprise security in mind:
- ISO 27001 certified
- Role-based access control (RBAC)
- Encryption in transit (TLS 1.2/1.3) and at rest
- Decoupled access control, so integration management is separated from ticketing system credentials
- Full audit trails for configuration changes
Review Exalate’s security documentation at the Exalate Trust Center.
Pricing
Exalate uses outcome-based pricing. You pay for active sync pairs (work items currently in sync), not user seats or per-transaction fees. Each integration is billed independently, so you can mix plan tiers based on complexity.
- Free trial: 30 days, full functionality, all supported systems
- Starter: $100/mo per integration ($85/mo annually) with 50 active items
- Scale: $280/mo per integration ($200/mo annually) with 200 active items
- Pro: Starts at $550/mo per integration (billed annually) with custom active items
- Enterprise: Contact Sales for unlimited active items
Calculate time and money savings from automated bidirectional sync.
To learn how Exalate can be tailored to your specific use case, book a discovery call with an integration engineer.
Start a free trial | Get Exalate on the Atlassian Marketplace
Recommended Reading:
- How to Sync SLA Records and Maintain State Updates From ServiceNow Incident to Jira Issue
- How to Sync Jira Issue Fields as Work Notes in ServiceNow
- Advanced Integration Use Cases
- How to Synchronize a ServiceNow Customer Case to a Jira Epic
- How to Sync Time-related Information between ServiceNow and Jira
- How to Use Exalate to Synchronize Insight Objects
