Best way to provide external clients access to specific Kanban boards only?

[Dani Lynch]

I have a business need to have our DataCenter Jira instance accessible by only internal team members (for regulatory purposes), but a small subset of the data needs to be shared with external clients - primarily from Kanban boards. 

I’ve proposed Issue Security schemes of internal/external but there seems to be less of an appetite for this as our users will not reliably set the flag accurately and it would not reference board type. (There’s also still the regulatory piece of external vs internal user accessibility to Jira)

Some options being explored are: use of Miro, Trello or a separate Cloud instance where the external users are able to be provisioned and the needed issues are synced from Jira. Miro seems to be a solid solution, but there are different challenges here since we rely heavily on Elements Connect fields for Jira workflow validations

Looking for feedback to from the community on how folks have accomplished this sort of work sharing mechanism outside of orgs. Do others face this challenge of balancing regulatory access constraints with client agreements on visibility of work?

[Etienne Frère_Elements]

Hello @Dani Lynch 

I’m the Product Marketing Manager at Elements. Since you’re already using Elements Connect, it directly covers your use case: keep the Kanban board internal while giving external clients a curated, read-only status so they see progress without broad project access.

As Christos mentioned, you can use JSM Cloud because external clients won’t need a Jira license. Implement a small subset of data on the JSM portal by implementing custom fields directly on it so the customer gets selective and dynamic information you control.

Quick path: create a JSM project and Organization for the client, link the relevant issues/epics from your Kanban, then place a few Connect fields on a simple “Project status” request so the portal becomes their living status page without exposing the board.

Here are some alternatives without JSM:

• Jira Software + Elements Connect with screens/field schemes so external groups only see Connect fields
• Publish a Confluence space with filtered Jira reports enriched by Connect data
• Targeted updates via Jira Automation (email/webhook) or a lightweight external portal using the Jira REST API with Connect-enriched data

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need more information. We will be happy to help !

[Dani Lynch]

Etienne thank you! We would need to leverage a non JSM solution but these are helpful!

[Christos Markoulatos]

Hey @Dani Lynch  👋

This is a tricky one because Jira Data Center doesn’t have a built-in way to give someone access to just a Kanban board without also giving them broader project visibility. Boards are tied to filters and projects, so if they can see the board, they can usually see the underlying issues too. Issue Security Schemes can help, but as you mentioned, they rely on users setting the right level, which isn’t always reliable.

Here are some approaches that work well, depending on what matters most:

If Kanban boards are the top priority

• External Share for Jira: Lets you share boards or issues via secure links without creating Jira accounts. You can control view-only, comments, attachments, and expiry dates.
  Note: The Marketplace page mainly mentions Server, but vendor docs suggest Data Center support, worth confirming before committing.
• Sync to Trello: Trello is Kanban by design. Tools like Unito and Getint can sync selected Jira issues to Trello with two-way updates. This gives clients a familiar Kanban experience without exposing your Jira instance.

If compliance and structured customer interaction matter more

• Jira Service Management (JSM) Cloud + Exalate: JSM is built for external customers. They get a portal (no Jira license needed), and you keep internal work in Jira Data Center. With Exalate, you can sync only the issues you want to share, with full control over fields and filters. This is the cleanest option for regulated environments, even if it’s not a Kanban-style view.

Other options:

• Static snapshots in Confluence: If real-time updates aren’t critical, apps like Jira Snapshots for Confluence let you embed board views in Confluence pages that external users can access.

Links that might help:

• External Share for Jira
• Unito Jira–Trello Integration
• Exalate for Jira

Hope this gives you some solid options 😊

[Dani Lynch]

This is helpful thank you Christos!