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Team & operations

IT and equipment requests from Slack to Jira

Request approval automation gives staff one Slack form for equipment, software and access. Their manager approves in Slack, a Jira ticket is raised for IT and the asset list is updated when the work is done.

An example of how the studio would build it. No live services are connected.

From a request in Slack to a tracked, approved ticket.

  1. Step 01

    Request made

    The person fills in a short Slack form with what they need, why and by when.

  2. Step 02

    Manager approves

    Send the request to their manager with approve and decline buttons, and a reminder if it waits too long.

  3. Step 03

    Ticket raised

    Create a Jira ticket for whoever handles IT, with the request details and the approval attached.

  4. Step 04

    Assets updated

    When the ticket closes, record the laptop, licence or access granted against the person in Google Sheets.

  5. Step 05

    Requester told

    Reply in Slack at each stage, so the person knows where their request has got to.

The result

Requests are tracked from asking to done, with no lost messages.

Nothing is ordered or granted until the manager has approved, and anything with a cost also goes to whoever holds the budget. Each request has one Jira ticket, so pressing a button twice can’t create another.

Before we connect it.

Where this is useful

Useful for offices and agencies where IT is handled by one person or an outside provider, and requests arrive by chat, email and in passing. A sensible first version covers software and access requests, then adds equipment and the asset list.

What we need to connect

  1. 01A Slack app that can open forms, send approval messages and reply to the person who asked.
  2. 02Jira access to create and update tickets in the project your IT support works from, including an outside provider’s project where they allow it.
  3. 03Who approves which kinds of request, any spending limits and the columns you want in the asset list.

What needs careful handling

Managers are sometimes away, so each team has a backup approver and nobody can approve their own request. Access to sensitive systems, such as finance or customer data, can need a second approval from the system’s owner. When a ticket is reopened or reassigned, the requester is updated, but the asset list only changes when the ticket is closed again.

Questions people ask.

Couldn’t we use Slack Workflow Builder for this?

For simple requests, yes, and it is a good place to start. A custom workflow helps when approvals depend on the type or cost of a request, when tickets need the right fields in Jira or when the asset list needs updating.

Can it grant the access automatically?

For some tools it can, such as adding someone to a group in Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 after approval. We would usually start with a person making the change, then automate the common, low-risk ones.

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