Overview | Dependency Governance Documentation

Overview documentation.

What is Depencency Governance for Jira?

Depencency Governance for Jira is a Jira Cloud application that helps teams control, standardize, and audit work item relationships across Jira spaces.

Instead of allowing unrestricted work item linking, the app introduces a rule-based linking model that lets administrators define exactly which work item links are allowed, for which spaces and work types — and then enforces those rules consistently across Jira.

With Depencency Governance, teams can:

• Prevent invalid or accidental work item relationships
• Improve clarity of complex dependencies
• Enforce process and architectural rules
• Audit and clean up existing work item links

In short: if work item links matter in your Jira instance, Depencency Governance gives you control over them.

📌 Purpose of the Documentation

This documentation introduces Depencency Governance for Jira and explains how to use it effectively to manage work item relationships in Jira Cloud.

It covers:

• Administrative configuration of allowed work item links
• Usage of the custom Dependencies Panel on work items
• Single and bulk link creation operations
• Visibility and customization of linked work item details
• Reporting and auditing of invalid work item links
• Tracking configuration changes over time

The documentation is intended for:

• Jira administrators managing space governance
• Enterprise Jira owners enforcing consistency at scale
• Consultants and solution architects designing Jira processes
• Teams working with complex dependencies or compliance requirements

📁 Supported Platform and Architecture

Depencency Governance for Jira is designed exclusively for Jira Cloud.

• Built using Atlassian Forge
• Fully compliant with Atlassian Cloud security standards
• Runs entirely within Atlassian infrastructure
• Does not require external services, databases, or integrations

The app respects Jira’s native permission model and does not modify data without explicit user actions.

🔑 Key Concept: Control Work Item Links

Allowed Work Item Links Model

At the core of Depencency Governance is the Allowed Work Item Links model.

For each:

• Space
• Work Type

administrators define which work item link types are allowed
→ See: Allowed Work Item Links Configuration

A link can be created only if:

• The link type is allowed for the source work item (space + work type), and
• The same link type is allowed for the destination work item (space + work type)

If either side does not allow the link, the operation is blocked.

This model ensures:

• Symmetrical governance of relationships
• No one-sided or accidental dependencies
• Predictable and auditable work item structures across Jira

All core features of Depencency Governance are built on top of this validation logic:

• Work Item view panel enforcing allowed links
  → See: Dependencies Panel
• Single work item linking with validation
  → See: Link Work Item Action
• Bulk linking from filter results
  → See: Bulk Link Operation
• Detection of existing invalid links
  → See: Invalid Work Item Links Report