Jira, GitLab, Asana and Trello

Focus keeps its projects and tasks in sync with Jira, GitLab, Asana and Trello: issues become tasks, and a task’s status and name go back to the issue. With Jira and GitLab, the time people log on a task can be sent back as well. Issue tracker sync is part of the Premium plan. Owners and admins set it up in Settings → Integrations, which is also where calendar sync and user import, both part of Pro as well, and the developer settings start (calendar sync, user import).

If Workify360 has not set up a provider yet, its card says it is not available (integration_not_configured).

Connect a provider

Provider	How it connects
Jira Cloud	Sign in at Atlassian and allow access. Focus uses the first Jira site of the account.
GitLab	A personal, group or project access token with the api scope. For a self-managed GitLab, also its address; it must be a public https address.
Asana	A personal access token.
Trello	An API key and a token of the Trello account.

Each provider account can be connected once per organization (connection_exists). Focus checks a token when you add it and refuses one the provider does not accept (provider_rejected). The connection runs on behalf of the organization: the changes it makes in Focus are recorded in the audit log under the connection’s own name, not under a person’s.

Link a project

Open the connection and choose Link a project. Pick a project of the provider, and either an existing Focus project or a new one that Focus creates for it. A provider project and a Focus project can be linked only once per connection (project_link_exists). For each link you choose what is synced:

Option	Default	What it does
Import issues	On	Issues become tasks of the Focus project
Send status	On	A task’s status (and its name) goes back to the issue
Create issues	Off	A task created in Focus becomes a new issue
Send logged time	Off	Time assigned to a task is added to the issue as logged time (Jira and GitLab only)

The first sync starts right after you link the project. Removing a link stops the sync; the tasks stay in the Focus project.

How the sync works

• Schedule: every 10 minutes Focus asks the provider for the issues that changed. Sync now on the connection starts a sync at once, at most once a minute (sync_too_frequent). Focus does not receive the providers’ own webhooks.
• Task names: an issue becomes a task named after its key and summary, such as MOB-12 Login screen. Changing the project’s name at the provider does not rename the Focus project.
• Status: each provider’s states are mapped to the task statuses open, in progress and done (see the table below).
• Assignee: when the issue’s assignee has an e-mail address the provider shares, and that person is a member who may work on the project, they become the task’s assignee; otherwise the task has none.
• Conflicts: when an issue and its task both changed since the last sync, the provider wins: the task takes the issue’s values and is marked as a conflict until the next clean sync. The connection’s problem list shows these.
• Deleted issues: a task whose issue was deleted or moved out of the project is archived, not deleted, because time may be assigned to it. Archiving a task in Focus leaves its issue unchanged.

Send logged time

With Send logged time on, time that people assign to a linked task is added to the issue:

• Jira: as a worklog, which is changed or deleted when the time in Focus changes.
• GitLab: as spent time; a correction is sent as negative spent time, because GitLab has no separate entries.

The worklog’s comment says “Workify360”. Only when you choose to name the person on the link does it also carry the person’s name. The logged time is then in your issue tracker, which your organization manages; erasing someone in Focus does not remove it there.

What each provider supports

Capability	Jira	GitLab	Asana	Trello
Connect, list projects	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (boards)
Issues become tasks	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (cards)
Status mapping	Status category (to do, in progress, done)	Open or closed, plus an in-progress label (doing by default)	Completed or not	Lists: the first list is open, the last is done, the ones between are in progress
Task status back to the issue	Yes (a workflow transition)	Yes (close, reopen, label)	Yes (completed)	Yes (moves the card)
New task becomes an issue	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (in the first list)
Task name back to the issue	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Send logged time	Yes	Yes	No	No
Assignee by e-mail	Yes (when the e-mail is visible)	Yes (when the public e-mail is set)	Yes	No
Estimate, due date	Yes, yes	Yes, yes	No, yes	No, yes

When Jira has no transition to the status a task needs, the issue stays as it is and the problem list shows it.

Pause, take over or remove a connection

• The connection belongs to the admin who connected it. If that person stops being an owner or admin, or leaves, the connection pauses and the other admins are notified; another admin takes it over to resume it. A paused connection refuses a sync (connection_paused).
• If the provider stops accepting the access, the connection asks for a new sign-in or token (integration_needs_reauth).
• Removing a connection stops every sync. Projects, tasks and assigned time stay in Focus. Focus withdraws its Jira access at Atlassian; GitLab, Asana and Trello tokens are withdrawn by you at the provider.

Error messages

Code	What to do
integration_not_configured	Workify360 has not set up this provider yet
provider_unavailable	The provider did not answer; Focus tries again later
provider_rejected	The provider refused the request, for example an invalid token or a project the account cannot see; check the token or the provider’s permissions
connection_exists	This provider account is already connected
connection_not_found	The connection was removed; reload the page
connection_paused	Take over or resume the connection first
sync_too_frequent	Wait a minute before you start the next sync
project_link_exists	The provider project or the Focus project is already linked
remote_project_not_found	The provider project no longer exists or the account cannot see it
project_link_not_found	The project link was removed; reload the page
integration_needs_reauth	Reconnect the provider, or enter a new token
oauth_denied	Access was not allowed at Atlassian; connect again and allow it