Replace a Connect reporting app before January 2027

Atlassian ends Connect support on January 31, 2027. What that means for a reporting app, and an order of work that does not panic.

First, find out whether this affects you

In Jira settings → Apps → Manage apps, look at each reporting app you have. Vendors that have moved to Forge have usually said so on their Marketplace listing. If a listing is silent on it this close to the date, ask the vendor directly and get the answer in writing.

Being on Connect is not a criticism of an app. It does mean a decision with a deadline on it.

Why Forge matters beyond the deadline

• Where your data goes. A Connect app runs on the vendor's own servers, so your work item data leaves Atlassian to be processed. RollGrid runs entirely on Atlassian infrastructure, with no egress at all — which is a much shorter conversation with a security team.
• Who the app acts as. RollGrid reads Jira in your browser, as you, so a report cannot show anyone work items their own permissions would hide.

An order of work

1. Now: list which reports people actually open. Most sites find a third of theirs are unread, and those need no replacement at all.
2. While the old app is still installed: run RollGrid's move assistant → Find. It reads your existing dashboard gadgets and lists which old report each one shows, on which dashboard. Once the old app is uninstalled, its gadgets can no longer be read.
3. Rebuild the reports that matter, from templates or from an Excel export of the old report.
4. Check the totals against the old app while you can still run both.
5. Run both for a sprint, with the new gadgets beside the old ones on the same dashboards.
6. Then remove the old gadgets and the old app.

What not to do

• Do not uninstall the old app first. Its saved reports go with it, and so does the only description of what each was meant to show.
• Do not rebuild all of them. Rebuild what is read; wait for someone to ask for the rest.
• Do not leave it to January. Not because anything breaks early, but because checking totals needs both apps running, and that option disappears on the deadline.

What a rebuild honestly costs

A familiar report — points by assignee, a weekly timesheet, an epic roll-up — is a few minutes from a template. An unusual one is maybe half an hour, most of it spent deciding what the old report really meant. The checking is what takes the time, and it is the part worth taking.