Before you anonymize any information, make sure that you have gone through Preparation (v 2.0). And please keep in mind that anonymization cannot simply be undone. Only if you are sure about this process, you should perform the anonymization.
Who can anonymize data?
SINCE VERSION 2.0
Starting with version 2.0, you can restrict who has access to the anonymization using permissions.
Generally, users who belong to a group that has JIRA System Administrator permissions can anonymize user data. In Jira default configuration, this is everyone in the group jira-administrators because the group has JIRA System Administrator permissions.
If you want to make sure that only a specific group of users can anonymize data, you need to create separate groups for those with JIRA Administrator permissions and those with JIRA System Administrator permissions. Only the latter group will be able to anonymize data.
For further information regarding the administration of groups in Jira, please refer to the Atlassian documentation on managing global permissions.
Anonymization process
You can access the configuration in the Jira Administration (choose Cog icon > Add-ons at top right of the screen) via the menu item Anonymizer Management → User Anonymizer in the panel on the left side. Alternatively, you may use the keyboard shortcut: type "gg", then "User Anonymizer".
Configure the User Anonymizer
The app can only anonymize users who are still active in Jira. If you’re looking for a way to anonymize an already disabled or deleted Jira user, take a look at this anonymization guide.
Please enter one or more users you want to anonymize (1) in the User Anonymizer form (see Image 1).
Set the technical anonymous user (2) you created manually before.
Optionally, you may enter any JQL query (3) to limit the anonymization process to a subset of Jira issues.
Anonymize project settings
You may enable the checkbox (4) to anonymize all project settings. Using this feature will not only anonymize issues, but also anonymize project lead, component lead and project roles for all Jira projects (regardless of what subset of Jira issues were selected by the JQL query in step (3)).
Test anonymization
Click “Test anonymization” (5) to test the anonymization with the currently selected options. In this step, no personal data will be changed, it is safe to click this button.
As a result, you get a list of the elements that matches your selected users and will be anonymized (Image 2).
You will receive an email when the test anonymization is complete. You can close the browser tab once you have started the test anonymization.
Execute anonymization
The result table of "Test anonymization" (Image 3) gives you an overview of the elements that will be anonymized. Click "Execute" (6) to anonymize the personal data.
Anonymization cannot be undone. You will not be able to restore previous personal data. Please check your settings twice.
The anonymization process may take a while, depending on the number of issues.
SINCE VERSION 2.0
Starting with version 2.0 you will be notified via email when the anonymization is complete. You can therefore close the browser tab once you have started the anonymization process.
The email will contain an overview over the results of each anonymization step.
Start new anonymization
After the anonymization process finishes, you can start a new personal data anonymization by clicking "Start new anonymization" button at the bottom of the anonymization table.
Image 4: Start new anonymization process
Scheduled tasks
SINCE VERSION 2.0
Using this option, you can schedule anonymization tasks. These tasks will anonymize all the users present in the issues of the selected project.
Image 5: Overview of scheduled tasks (click to enlarge)
The overview of scheduled tasks will show you if the task is scheduled, that means active or inactive, in the "Status" column. Apart from the name of the task, date, and time of the last execution and execution time in seconds, you can also see when the next execution will take place. The next execution time is only displayed, if the task is scheduled.
Create a new job
To set up a new job, you need to enter the following information:
Name | Details |
|---|---|
Job Name | Distinctive name for the new task. |
Target user | Anonymous user that you created in the Preparation (v 2.0) step. |
Choose a Project | Select the project to anonymize issues in. |
Define Schedule | Insert a CRON expression to define the schedule for the task. When configuring the schedules, please make sure to select different time slots, since only one anonymization task can run at once. |
Issues to anonymize | You are able to filter issues further using the Jira Query Language (more details see Advanced Search), if only some issues need to be anonymized in the selected project. Scheduled anonymizations always iterate through all issues that match the JQL query to anonymize all users. It is therefore recommended to narrow the issues to a time span, e.g., updated > startOfMonth() |
Email recipients to be notified | Enter the user(s) who should be notified when the scheduled task has been completed. |
Schedule Job | Check this box, if the task should be scheduled to run according to the defined schedule. If you leave the box empty, the configuration will be saved, but the job is disabled. |
Finally, confirm that you understand that all user data that you defined with the project and "Issues to anonymize" above will be anonymized when the job runs next.
Anonymization cannot be undone. You will not be able to restore previous personal data. Please check your settings twice.
Options for existing jobs
Image 6: Options for scheduled task
You can either Run a scheduled task directly from the overview, or click the menu (...) for further options.
You can enable or disable the task by clicking on Scheduled. If the task is enabled, there's a check mark in front of the menu entry.
Furthermore, you can Edit its configuration or Delete the task.
Email notifications
Every time a scheduled anonymization task has finished, an email is sent out with the results to the configured email recipients.