TL;DR
Project Automation triggers an action (e.g., post an incident to Teams)
Once posted, the Preset defines how the linked items behave going forward (e.g., post Jira updates to Teams)
Project Automation and Presets let you automate both the creation of connections between Jira and Microsoft 365, and the behavior of those connections over time. Understanding how these features interact helps you design efficient, cross-system workflows tailored to your project needs.
Project Automation and Presets form the foundation of all use cases you can configure in the Getting Started section of our app. You can also set them up directly within your project settings from scratch.
These two configuration scopes handle different parts of your workflow: Project Automation, like manual creation, establishes a link between a Jira work item and a Microsoft 365 conversation. This is a built-in automation, and not connected to Jira Automation. Presets define what happens after the link is created.
Step 1 – Establish a connection between Jira work item + Microsoft 365 communication
Project Automation → Automatically posts & creates the link
manual creation → User creates the link implicitly, e.g. by creating a chat
Step 2 – Manage the connection
Preset defines how Jira and Microsoft 365 items interact going forward
+--------------------+ +--------------------+
| Project Automation| | Manual Creation|
| (Auto post & link) | | (User shares & link)|
+--------------------+ +--------------------+
\ /
\ /
\ /
\ /
v v
+-------------------------+
| Link is created |
| (Jira + Teams/Outlook) |
+-------------------------+
|
v
+--------------------------+
| Preset applies |
| (Manage ongoing behavior)|
+--------------------------+
The Project Automation feature is still evolving. While this page explains the concept, currently only incident management is available for configuration.
Example: Incident management
Project Automation
→ Automatically posts Jira incidents into a Microsoft Teams channel when they are created or reach a specific status.
→ Example: Post all major incidents to the “Incident Response” Teams channel as soon as status = In Progress.Link is created
→ Once the incident is posted in Microsoft Teams, a connection is established between the Jira incident and the Microsoft Teams thread, so you can see all communication in both Jira and Microsoft Teams.Preset applies
→ The Preset you selected controls, how updates flow between Jira and Microsoft Teams after that:
• When the Jira incident is updated (e.g., status changes), a Microsoft Teams notification is posted automatically.
But what about Automation in the global app settings?
Automation in the global app settings is separate from Project Automation and Presets. It provides actions and triggers for Microsoft 365 that you can connect to Jira automation. These automations are not built-in; you’ll need to configure them manually, and they count against your Jira automation plan.
For clarity we’ll soon rename “Automation” on a global settings level to “Actions and triggers”.