Why Higher Ed Institutions Are Rapidly Shifting from Cherwell to Jira Service Management

Higher education institutions face a unique set of challenges when it comes to managing IT services. From supporting thousands of students and faculty to keeping administrative systems running across departments like admissions, facilities, and research—colleges and universities need ITSM tools that are reliable, adaptable, and easy to manage.

As Cherwell approaches its End of Life (EOL) in 2026, many institutions are reassessing their existing platforms. Increasingly, the replacement of choice is Atlassian’s Jira Service Management (JSM).

But why are colleges and universities making this shift now—and what makes JSM a better fit for the modern campus?

This blog explores the top reasons higher ed institutions are moving away from Cherwell and adopting Jira Service Management for their next phase of IT service delivery.

Cherwell's EOL: A Prompt for Change

The announcement that Cherwell will reach its EOL in December 2026 has triggered a wave of platform evaluations in the higher education sector. While many universities have used Cherwell successfully for years, the EOL timeline introduces unavoidable implications:

• Security patches and updates will stop
• Vendor support will taper off
• Integration compatibility will degrade
• Custom scripts and features may become fragile

This scenario has encouraged many higher ed IT leaders to proactively seek a platform that will not only replace Cherwell but better meet the current and future needs of campus environments.

Why Jira Service Management Is Emerging as the Preferred Choice

Jira Service Management is gaining traction in higher ed for a number of reasons—some related to technical capabilities, others driven by practical operating needs of university IT teams.

Let’s break down what’s driving the migration.

1. Support for Multiple Departments & Use Cases

Higher education institutions rarely use ITSM tools for IT alone. Service desks must support areas such as:

• Facilities Management
• Library Systems
• Student Support Services
• Research Computing
• HR & Finance
• Campus Safety & Operations

Jira Service Management enables institutions to create separate service projects for each department, with customizable workflows, request types, and permissions. This allows each group to operate independently—while still benefiting from centralized management and reporting.

What It Solves: Departments can work the way they need to, without the overhead of managing multiple ITSM platforms.

2. No-Code Configuration for Agility

Cherwell is highly customizable—but often requires specialized knowledge, scripting, or dedicated admin resources to maintain and update.

In contrast, Jira Service Management offers a more approachable configuration model. IT teams can:

• Set up request forms using drag-and-drop tools
• Modify workflows through visual editors
• Adjust automation using simple if-this-then-that rules

This allows university IT teams to respond more quickly to changing requirements without long development cycles.

What It Solves: Adaptation to new policies, semester timelines, or support structures can happen faster—with fewer dependencies on consultants or technical staff.

3. Simplified Licensing Model That Fits Budget Cycles

Budget constraints are a reality in most educational institutions. Cherwell’s licensing—often based on concurrent users or modules—can lead to unpredictable costs, especially as service needs expand.

Jira Service Management takes a per-agent approach. Unlimited portal users (students, faculty, staff) can submit tickets without consuming licenses, and approvals or collaboration from non-agent users is included at no additional cost.

What It Solves: Costs scale more predictably with actual usage, which aligns better with academic budget planning and annual forecasting.

4. Integration with the Atlassian Ecosystem

Many universities already use Atlassian tools like Jira Software, Confluence, or Bitbucket for software development, academic research tracking, or knowledge management.

Jira Service Management plugs directly into this ecosystem, offering out-of-the-box integration with:

• Confluence for student FAQs and knowledge bases
• Opsgenie for incident alerting
• Assets (formerly Insight) for hardware, software, and lab equipment tracking
• Slack or Microsoft Teams for real-time collaboration

What It Solves: A single platform can cover both development and operations (DevOps) and support a unified digital campus experience.

5. Cloud-Ready with On-Prem Options

Many higher education institutions are pursuing cloud-first strategies, but not all departments or data can be moved immediately due to compliance or infrastructure considerations.

Jira Service Management offers flexible deployment options:

• Cloud (with certifications like SOC2, ISO27001, GDPR)
• Data Center for self-hosting in more controlled environments

This hybrid flexibility allows institutions to choose what works best today—while keeping doors open for future migration.

What It Solves: IT leaders gain flexibility to meet compliance requirements without locking into an architecture that limits long-term options.

6. Built-In Self-Service and Knowledge Sharing

Students and staff expect consumer-grade experiences when interacting with support systems. They want to:

• Submit requests from their phone or laptop
• Search for answers without opening a ticket
• Track their requests in real-time

JSM provides a modern service portal and deep integration with Confluence to serve articles and how-to guides contextually—without the need to open a ticket for common queries.

What It Solves: Reduces ticket volume and improves satisfaction for users who prefer to find answers independently.

7. Fast Implementation and Reliable Support

University IT teams often face tight windows for system upgrades—between semesters, over summer breaks, or during maintenance periods.

Compared to Cherwell, which can take months to implement or modify, Jira Service Management projects can go live in 4–6 weeks for standard use cases.

Working with Atlassian Solution Partners like Clovity further accelerates timelines through:

• Prebuilt templates for higher ed
• Proven migration frameworks from Cherwell to JSM
• Post-go-live support and training for university staff

What It Solves: Institutions can complete migrations on their schedule, with minimal disruption to academic or administrative operations.

8. Stronger Community and Vendor Ecosystem

Jira Service Management benefits from Atlassian’s global community of users, admins, and developers. This means:

• More how-to content and best practices
• Regular product enhancements
• An extensive marketplace of vetted apps and plugins
• Faster resolution of support queries

In contrast, Cherwell’s community has grown quieter post-acquisition and ahead of its EOL.

What It Solves: Higher ed institutions get access to a vibrant ecosystem that evolves with their needs.

9. Improved Visibility Across Campus Operations

With all departments working from one platform, campus IT leaders can track metrics such as:

• Mean time to resolution (MTTR)
• Volume by request type
• SLA compliance by department
• Asset usage across labs and buildings

Dashboards and reports in JSM provide real-time insights that help with resource planning, budgeting, and performance management.

What It Solves: Leadership gains a consolidated view of service performance across campus.

A Closer Fit for Modern Campus Service Delivery

Cherwell served its purpose well for many years, but the demands of higher education have shifted. Universities now require tools that:

• Work across departments
• Don’t require extensive custom development
• Fit within limited budgets
• Scale with user growth
• Deliver quick, reliable access to support

Jira Service Management aligns with these priorities—offering a practical, sustainable path forward as Cherwell sunsets.

What Higher Ed IT Leaders Are Saying

“We cut our service desk response time by 30% after switching to JSM.”

“Students now get support from IT, HR, and Facilities in one place.”

“JSM’s interface made adoption easy—even for non-technical departments.”

Thinking About the Move?

If your institution is currently using Cherwell, there’s no need to wait until 2026. Migrating early gives you:

• Time to plan on your own terms
• Greater access to migration expertise
• The ability to pilot new processes with minimal pressure

Clovity has helped colleges and universities across the U.S. and Canada successfully migrate from legacy ITSM platforms to Jira Service Management—without extending project timelines or interrupting support operations.

📧 Contact us at sales@clovity.com or visit 🌐 atlassian.clovity.com to get started today.