Create Assets object custom fields

15 min
Advanced

By the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to:

  • Explain the benefits of Assets object custom fields
  • Create and configure Assets objects custom fields
  • Filter objects to display values in Assets object custom fields

What are custom fields?

System fields are the core fields delivered with Jira. Custom fields are an essential tool for tailoring your project to meet your specific needs beyond the core system Jira fields. They allow you to capture important details specific to your workflows, such as customer information, asset details, or custom work types, ensuring that your service management setup is both flexible and comprehensive.
Jira admins create custom fields for all company-managed projects.
The field type controls how users enter data in the field. Some examples include:
  • Short text
  • Number field
  • Radio buttons 
  • Checkboxes
  • Assets Objects
Assets provides a generic Assets objects custom field type. This is an all-purpose field type that can display Assets object information and reference other custom fields. It also offers flexibility in terms of defining how a field behaves. The Assets custom field type can also be configured as a cascading field.

Asset objects custom fields

Assets object custom fields enable teams to access Assets objects directly from the Jira Service Management work details. New custom fields can capture extra information from customers. Once these fields are added at the product level, you can use them in SLAs, queues, reports, forms, and dashboard gadgets.
Displaying relevant object information on Jira Service Management work item helps agents resolve problems more effectively because all necessary context is gathered in one place.
Assets objects custom fields can appear as select lists, radio buttons, or checkboxes. 
👇 Click each tab below to explore examples of Assets object custom fields in use.
👇Here’s an incident request form containing two Assets object custom fields, called Affected Service and Business Service.
From the service portal you can select a Business Service when submitting a ticket. When the field is selected, it populates with the Business Service assets.

Connect objects and work items

When an Assets object is selected in a custom field on a Jira Service Management work item, a link is established between the object and the work item. These links can be viewed in the object schema, using the Object details view.
This is useful for incident management because the object details graph can be used to traverse dependencies and understand where things may have gone wrong. It’s also useful for evaluating change management risk by showing items that are dependent on the area being changed.
👇Click the icons below to explore an example of an Assets object selected in a custom field on a Jira work item and the corresponding Object details view in the schema.
A Jira ticket. On the right side of the ticket, the Product Family and Product are highlighted. These are Assets objects.
The Object details view in the Assets schema.

Benefits and restrictions of Assets object custom fields

👇Click each box to explore the benefits of using Assets object custom fields.

Switch between single or multi-select at any time

Different field settings for different contexts

Display different objects depending on context

Advanced filtering based on selected values in other fields

👇Click each box to explore restrictions on using Assets object custom fields.

Not available in some apps

Migration to another instance can be complicated

Create Assets objects custom fields

Assets objects custom fields are created in the same way as regular Jira custom fields.
Depending on their role in Jira Service Management, users interact with custom fields in the Assets object in specific ways.
👇Click the tabs to learn how each role interacts with custom fields.
Only Jira admins can create, configure, and edit Assets objects custom fields.
To create and configure Assets object custom fields, you must perform four high-level tasks. Only Jira admins can perform all the tasks but service project admins can only perform the last two.
  1. Create a Jira custom field and select an Assets custom field type.
  2. Configure the field to query Assets objects.
  3. Associate the field with Jira screens.
  4. Assign the field to request forms.
Assets object custom fields are created by Jira admins in the same way as any other custom field. Simply select Assets objects as the field type.
👇Watch this video to see how to create an Assets object custom field.

Only users with Jira admin permissions can create and configure custom fields.

Configure the custom field

The configuration screen provides settings to configure the field's behavior.
👇Click the icons to learn about each setting.
The custom field configuration screen in Assets.

Configure filters for Assets custom fields using a filter scope

The Filter Scope is the most important configuration for an Assets object custom field. Enter an AQL query in the Filter scope (AQL) field to identify which schema objects are available for selection in the custom field. The AQL filter is based on Assets objects and their attributes.
Although these fields are not required, a field cannot display any content unless at least a filter scope query is provided.
If you select objects from a schema that is different from the one configured in the Object Schema field, only objects in this object schema will be displayed.
Placeholders can't be used in the Filter scope (AQL) query.
👉For example: objectType = "Computer Model" AND "Manufacturer" = Apple
In this example, the query selects computer objects from a specific manufacturer.

Narrow the filter by referencing values of other fields on the work item

The Filter work item scope (AQL) field enables you to apply an AQL filter to further narrow the objects you can select in the custom field. This field supports placeholders, so it can reference other fields' values on a Jira work item.
In many cases it is useful to have the available values in an Assets custom field depend on values selected in other fields on a work item. Some examples are:
  • In one field, the user selects the type of hardware category (laptop, tablet, smartphone, etc.), and then another field displays only the valid hardware assets for the selected category.
  • A custom field only shows assets that belong to the reporter of a work item.
👇Click each box to explore different possible uses of the Filter work item scope setting.

Additional qualifier

Referencing other custom fields

Referencing Jira Service Management fields

To ensure a query returns the desired objects, test it out using the Advanced search in the schema view, before applying it to the custom field configuration.

👇Watch this video to see how to configure an Assets object custom field

Associate custom fields with Jira screens

Once a Jira admin creates an Assets object custom field, you can associate it with a Jira screen. As with regular Jira custom fields, Assets object custom fields need to be associated with Jira screens so they can be visible in the Jira Service Management interface. This involves adding the custom field to the appropriate screen scheme in a project.
👇Play the video to see how to add an Assets object custom field to a screen

Enable custom fields on the Jira Service Management portal

To make the custom field available to end users in the Jira Service Management portal and to agents in the work item view, the field needs to be added to the appropriate request forms in a project.
After selecting the request type, you can add the custom field and also position it on the form.
👇Watch this video to see how to add an Assets object custom field to request form
When all configuration steps have been completed, the Assets object custom field will be available on the Jira Service Management portal where users can select values for the fields. The fields and values will then be included in the work item that agents work with.

Let's see what you've learned!

QUESTION 1 0F 3

Laura, a service project admin, is configuring a custom field to link IT assets with their respective service work items for easier tracking. She wants to ensure that when a service work item is created or updated, the related IT asset can be directly referenced within the work item. Which type of custom field should Laura use to achieve this functionality?

Select the correct answer.

Submit answer
How was this lesson?

next lesson

Export and import asset data

  • Manage asset data efficiently
  • Export data from assets
  • Import data into Assets
  • Automatic data mapping
  • Manually mapping data
  • Run imports
Go to next lesson