Roadmunk Jira Integration – Your Complete Guide

A Roadmunk Jira integration enables you to keep your high-level strategic roadmap synchronized with the day-to-day, and hour-by-hour progress you make towards tasks and objectives in Jira.

If you’re considering using Roadmunk with Jira, or already have both tools in place, then you’ll want to know more about the integration between the two tools.

In this article, we’ll cover:

• The cost of integrating Roadmunk with Jira
• How the integration works
• How well the integration works
• Benefits of integrating Roadmunk with Jira
• Alternatives you should consider

Hopefully by the end you have a much clearer view of whether you should, and how you can, integrate Roadmunk with Jira.

If you want a free way to create Jira roadmaps that are flexible, fully customizable, and look great, using a two-way integration with Jira – then you should try Visor. Visor is a project portfolio management tool that unlocks greater productivity and insight for you and your stakeholders.

Roadmunk Jira Integration Options

If you want to integrate Roadmunk and Jira you have a few different options. Predictably, the best option is also the more expensive one. Here I’ll explain why and then show you what they cost.

It also makes sense to consider why you’re after a Jira Roadmunk integration. Are you using Jira for software projects, or non-software projects? That might inform how useful pairing Jira with Roadmunk might be.

One-Way Roadmunk Jira Integration

The first (and cheaper) option Roadmunk gives you is a one-way integration with Jira. 

Essentially this means you are exclusively passing Jira data into Roadmunk. Any changes you make in Roadmunk will not sync back and update Jira. 

From my point of view, a one-way integration is not really an integration; it’s more akin to a sophisticated upload of data. 

Not to mention that one-way integrations come with a number of drawbacks. 

Firstly, you will need to spend time updating Jira manually if you (or anyone in your team) has made updates in Roadmunk. 

Secondly, manual updates like this increase the likelihood of human error, which in turn increases the odds of errors in your Jira data. 

Thirdly, if someone forgets to make an update or inputs an error then you will have conflicts between the information in Roadmunk, and Jira, meaning you have lost that single source of truth that an integration should give you. This is true for supplementary data too such as Jira testing and QA logs.

You could avoid these problems by not updating anything in Roadmunk, instead just entering everything in Jira.

Connecting Jira and Visor with two-way integrations

If you want to take that route – which most people don’t – then you’ll need to demand that everyone in your team never updates any data points in Roadmunk that also exist in Jira, and somehow enforce that. 

Obviously this restricted approach also largely wipes out the benefits that Roadmunk should be giving you, as a collaborative roadmapping tool where you can share, collaborate on, add to, and update items on your roadmap with your team and wider stakeholders.  

In my view, if you’re sensible, you will want a two-way integration (also called a bi-directional integration) between Roadmunk and Jira.

Two-Way Roadmunk-Jira Integration 

Unlike a one-way integration, a two-way integration between Roadmunk and Jira will enable you to keep both systems in sync, and up-to-date, no matter whether you make an update in Jira or Roadmunk.

The integration is easy to set up (see the instructions and video at the end of this blog), and there’s extensive documentation from Roadmunk to help you modify it. As part of the integration setup you can determine which fields you want to import, choose whether to sync date fields, and schedule automated syncs.

Roadmunk’s two-way integration with Jira does have problems, most importantly it won’t:

• Preserve your Jira hierarchies. This means you have to manually reconnect and hierarchize tasks and subtasks in Roadmunk after integrating. 
• Import your custom Jira fields. This means you will need to roadmap without some critical custom data points specific to your company/projects. 
• Support data from Portfolio for Jira (now called Jira Advanced Roadmaps). So if you were hoping for a simple migration that won’t be possible.

While you can’t integrate multiple Jira projects into one roadmap, Roadmunk does include Portfolio Roadmaps as part of its Business level plan (starting at $49 per editor per month, with additional costs to add the two-way Jira integration). This allows you to “roll-up” multiple projects into a single portfolio roadmap view.

Unfortunately, as you might expect, the two-way integration between Roadmunk and Jira is a much more expensive option. Depending on your plan and number of collaborators there are additional costs to consider too. Full details below.

How much does the Jira Roadmunk Integration Cost?

As I’ve explained above, Roadmunk offers two types of integration with Jira, a one-way or two-way integration. 

I hope the section above has made clear that, in my opinion, a one-way integration is not a true integration at all, and brings with it a set of headaches and risks you should consider before making a purchasing decision.

There might be some instances where you would prefer a one-way integration, but these will be the exception rather than the norm, and as you might expect this means the two-way integration between Roadmunk and Jira is more expensive.

If the options below prove too steep for your budget, scroll down or use the menu on the right of the screen to find your best alternative options. 

Roadmunk’s Jira Integration – Estimated Total Costs 

Of course you’ll want to double-check Roadmunk’s own pricing page for the latest and most accurate pricing information. 

However, the below should give you a rough idea of how much you could pay for a Roadmunk account that is integrated with Jira, while taking into account all the variables for numbers of users per license type.

Users on Roadmunk’s Starter plan (charged at $19 per month) can only use a one-way integration with Jira. 

Users on Roadmunk’s Business, Professional, or Enterprise plans can use either one-way or two-way integration with Jira. 

The Business plan is $49 per editor per month, with a maximum of five reviewers per account. The Professional plan is $99 per editor per month with a maximum of ten reviewers per account.

For Business plan users there is an additional cost of $9 per collaborator, per month for the two-way Jira integration.

The estimates in the table below are based on using:

• Using three editor licenses
• Having five collaborators
• Not paying for any additional viewers above what’s included per plan

Alternative To The Jira Roadmunk Integration 

Roadmunk has a wide variety of different alternatives that achieve similar results – and some may be better for your particular use case than others. Options like Swanly and Productplan are often held up as the go-to swap for PMs who aren’t completely satisfied with Roadmunk. But if your usecase is more Jira-integration specific, there’s a clear standout choice.

If you’re deterred by the cost of Roadmunk’s integration with Jira and seeking an alternative, then I’d recommend you try Visor. 

Visor is free and has a two-way integration with Jira included (unlike with Roadmunk, you don’t need to pay an additional fee for this if you use Visor). You can also choose whether you want to sync or just import data from Jira from within the app, giving you added flexibility for cases where you don’t want to affect the data in Jira.

You can use Visor to create beautiful, colorful, detailed roadmaps that jump off the screen and into the hearts of everyone… even those stakeholders that are especially hard to please or hard to explain complicated plans to. 

A quarterly product roadmap in Visor

You can use your own fields, formatting, and filters to further customize different views for different stakeholders. You can toggle between timeline views, boards, spreadsheets in a click, without needing to change the underlying Jira data. 

You can share customized views with different stakeholders, teams, and anyone else you want to. Set the permissions you want, and if you like you can lock your views or roadmaps down so no one can mess with your formatting or lanes.

Keeping Jira Data intact:

Importantly, Visor preserves all the characteristics of each field in your Jira project. This means that character limits, drop-down options, character type restrictions (such as numbers and symbols), are all integrated intact. 

A Jira-integrated roadmap in Visor

The impact of this is that you’re not at risk of having data in one system that won’t fit, or be accepted by another (Jira). This prevents the syncing issues you could encounter with Roadmunk or any other system that integrates with Jira and hasn’t taken the step to preserve field characteristics when creating the integration. 

Visor also respects any nesting you have set up in Jira and imports it intact so that you don’t have to spend time realigning tasks and sub-tasks. 

Roadmunk or Visor’s Jira Integration – Quick Comparison

If you’re curious about the level of integration offered by Visor (or even just our lower price), then be our guest and try Visor now. It’s free, you don’t need to enter a credit card, and there’s a step by step wizard to set up your Jira integration for you.

When Jira has so many great plugins and integrations, unless Roadmunk truly fulfills a niche need for your business, there’s really no reason to pay more for it.

Still not convinced? Then read what Jira users say about Visor or check out Visor’s 3.8/4 stars in the Atlassian Marketplace!

How to set up the Roadmunk to Jira Integration:

This video from Roadmunk explains how to set up their integration with Jira, you can also review their documentation for more detailed information.

Setting up the Roadmunk to Jira Integration – Key Steps

1: Ensure you are an account admin 

2: Click on Account Settings

3: Click the Integrations tab

4: Click “Add an integration”

5: Select “Jira Software”

6: In the next window add your Jira Server Name and Jira Server URL

7: Click “Create Integration”

8: Navigate back to your roadmap and click the integration icon

9: Select your Jira Server, then select one-way or two-way synchronization and syncing schedule

10: Use the next screen to select the Jira project you would like to import and configure/filter the data to be imported (such as the issue types you wish to import)

11: Select whether you want to map Jira dates to Roadmunk and if so configure what fields should be used as start dates and end dates

12: Check the summary and click “Next”

Pro Tip! Make sure to check that your Jira hierarchies are maintained the way you want!

Selecting Jira hierarchies in Visor

Roadmunk Jira Integration

Integrating Roadmunk with Jira can give you the combined strengths of a strategic roadmapping and visualization tool, with the nitty-gritty, day-to-day tactical execution management you get in Jira. 

To unleash the true potential of both tools and to minimize human error in your records, you should opt for a two-way integration.

With a two-way integration between Roadmunk and Jira, you can utilize roadmaps as the front-end of your project plans and progress. You can also share different, customized views with stakeholders 

Roadmunk’s integration with Jira is not without significant limitations though, and Roadmunk is not the only roadmapping tool to integrate with Jira either. Given Jira’s ubiquity in software development most roadmapping tools have some form of integration with it. 

Visor is one option you should consider. It’s a good choice for most roadmapping use cases. It also has (we think) the best integration with Jira of any roadmapping, or visualization tool available at the time I’m writing this. 

In my opinion, if you want to stay integrated with Jira, then Visor is the best roadmapping and visualization tool for you. It’s even a better option than both Jira’s own Advanced Roadmaps and Roadmunk.

I am biased of course. But fair minded, independent reviewers agree with me, too:

Visor:

• Is free
• Has a full spec, two-way integration with Jira
• Preserves your Jira hierarchies
• Includes your custom Jira fields
• Has a Jira integration wizard to take care of the integration setup for you

If you want to see why Alex is so impressed (or you want to try and prove myself and Alex wrong!) then try using Visor and see what you think.

Visor is a project portfolio management system that gives you greater insight through every step of every roadmap. It’s free to get started, and you can integrate with Jira, Asana, and more right out of the box.

James Taylor

James Taylor

Senior Digital Marketing Manager

James Taylor is Visor's Senior Digital Marketing Manager. Originally from the UK, he has 8+ years experience writing about all things software and technology, project management and organizational processes. When he's not working you'll find him hiking a hill, attempting to cook ambitious recipes, or gorging on hours of history podcasts and documentaries.