Overview

Closed Beta

The Out of Office Assistant is currently in Close Beta while it undergoes the Google verification process. You can apply to enter the group of beta testers here.

The integration of Out of Office Assistant for Jira Cloud with Google Calendar ensures that users always have their OoO status activated in Jira when they schedule Out of Office events in their business Google account.

What you need to know

• The integration syncs Out of Office events from Google Calendar into Jira.
• The integration currently does not sync the time periods defined in the Gmail vacation responders. Please raise a ticket with us if this is something you'd like to be able to do.
• The details of the OoO rules activated by the events are defined in templates.
• Out Of Office Assistant connects a simple default template with a standard message. This rule should be enough to inform other Jira users when somebody is Out of Office.
• The advanced configuration allows to define additional templates, such that auto replies trigger multiple Out of Office rules for different projects and/or issue filters. For example:
  
  • An approvals rule, to delegate approvals to a coverer in a specific JSM project
  • A delegation rule, to reassign specific request types to a coverer 
  • A generic Out of Office message, for everything else.

Syncing speed

To optimize performance, data from Google Calendar will be synced into Jira automatically within the hour after setup or any change. If this isn't enough, please use the "refresh integrations" button placed below the list of Out of Office rules or at the top of the integrations directory.

Making the Connection with Google Calendar

Navigate to the Integrations tab in Out of Office Assistant for Jira

1. Click on Connect Google Calendar

2. Select your Google Account

On the next screen, you will be prompted to select the Google account that you want to connect to.

Important: Make sure that you select a business account, as Out of Office events don't work with personal accounts and the connection will fail.

Give your Consent

On the next screen, you will be asked to give your consent to the app for accessing your calendar events.

Since the app is undergoing the validation by Google, the current flow displays a security warning.

• If you want to proceed, click on Advanced.

• Then, click on the link at the very bottom, to proceed to the Out of Office  app

3. Create an Out of Office Event

• If you haven't created your Out of Office event yet, you can just click on "Open Calendar". This will open the connected calendar so you can create one or more Out of Office events.

• Once on the calendar, click on a date to trigger the event creator

• Then, select the "Out of Office" tag

• Finally, define the duration of the event. By default, the event:
  • will be set to "All day"
  • will have the same Start Date and End Date
  • and will be set to "Does not repeat".

The app will support any configuration that you decide, with some limitations covered in the next section.

4. Access the Google Calendar rule in the Out of Office Assistant

• To see the new rules from Google Calendar, click on the Rules tab

• Then, look for any rules that have Google Calendar in the Source column

Scheduling Out of Office Events - Options and limitations

• The integration supports Out of Office events with a duration of less than one day, as specified in Google Calendar
• The app will create a maximum of 10 Out of Office events per user at a time, syncing again to catch newer events as other events go into the past. Please reach out to our support team if you need to raise this limit.
• Events can be synced into Jira a maximum of 6 months in advance.
• With the above limitations, the integration supports recurring events. This means that you can schedule recurring time off, i.e. 4 hours off every afternoon, one day per week, etc.

How to modify Google Calendar rules

Note that Google Calendar rules are read only. However, they can be modified in two ways from the configuration page:

• To modify the dates, change the defined interval in the corresponding Out of Office event in Google Calendar.

• To modify the rule configuration, edit the corresponding template

Any of these changes will be automatically synced periodically.

However, it's also possible to refresh the data manually by clicking on the "Refresh integration" button

Configuring the Google Calendar integration

Upon its first connection, Out of Office offers a default template that shares a simple Out of Office message whenever an Out of Office event in Google Calendar is active.

However, we recommend configuring the integration to implement automatic delegations and handovers.

In order to access the configuration:

• Click on the Integrations tab
• Click on the Configure button next to the "Connected" badge.

Note

This action must be conducted per each end user.

Editing the Default Template

The configuration page displays a table with the connected templates.

From this page you can:

• See all existing templates

• Access the settings of the Outlook Automatic Replies

In particular, the table of connected templates allows to:

• Edit connected templates

• Connect additional templates by adding them to the table

• Remove connected templates from the table

• Deactivate templates (without removing them from the table)

There is no limit to how many templates you can connect to the Auto Reply. For each connected template, a different rule will be created. Every rule will have the dates and times set for the Auto Reply.

To learn more about how templates work, read this article: Out of Office Templates.

• To modify the Default Google Calendar Template, just click on the name or click the pencil button on the right.

This will open the template form, where you can make any changes, including the name.

Be mindful when making changes to templates, as they may be in use by other connections as well.

Creating new Out of Office events in your Google Calendar from the Out of Office app

The Calendar button allows you to quickly make changes to your Google Calendar, where you can:

• Add new events

• Edit the dates and times of existing events

• Set events to be recurring