TL;DR
Cloud work management platforms bring planning, tracking, documentation and automation into one hosted service, and now include AI as standard. For Atlassian customers the move is no longer optional: Data Center stopped being sold to new customers on 30 March 2026 and reaches end of life on 28 March 2029. Australian organisations can keep core product data in Sydney through data residency on Standard, Premium and Enterprise plans, and Atlassian Cloud has been assessed at IRAP PROTECTED. Plan the move around your integrations and apps, not just your data.
Work management covers how teams plan, track and document their work: projects, requests, approvals, knowledge and the automation that connects them. For most organisations it now lives in the cloud. The questions that remain are which platform, which plan, and how to move without disrupting the teams who depend on it.
What a cloud work management platform does
- Plans and tracks work across teams, from software releases to marketing campaigns and HR onboarding, in list, board, timeline and calendar views.
- Holds the knowledge behind the work: requirements, decisions, policies and how-to guides.
- Automates the routine: assignment, approvals, due dates, notifications and hand-offs between teams.
- Reports across the portfolio, so leaders can see progress and capacity without asking for status updates.
- Includes AI that summarises work, drafts content, answers questions from your own knowledge and, increasingly, carries out tasks.
In the Atlassian world, that's Jira for work tracking, Confluence for knowledge, Loom for video and Rovo for AI, sold together as the Teamwork Collection.
Why the timing matters
Atlassian ended support for its Server products in February 2024, and Data Center is following:
- 30 March 2026: Data Center stopped being sold to new customers.
- 28 March 2029: Data Center reaches end of life, and existing licences stop being supported.
Three years sounds like plenty, but large or multi-instance estates take several months to migrate, apps need replacing or rebuilding, and integrations need redesigning. Atlassian's new capabilities, including Rovo AI and the Collections, arrive in Cloud. Every year on Data Center is a year without them. Our Data Center to Cloud migration guide covers the timeline in detail.
What Australian organisations should check
Data residency
Atlassian's data residency lets you pin product data to the Australia (Sydney) region on Standard, Premium and Enterprise plans. It covers Jira, Jira Service Management, Jira Product Discovery, Confluence and Loom, plus Assets, Rovo and some Marketplace apps. Pinned data includes work items, comments, attachments, pages and whiteboards.
Know what it doesn't cover. User account details such as names and email addresses sit in Atlassian's central identity service, and cached data, data in transit and logs can be held elsewhere for up to 30 days. For most organisations that's acceptable; for some regulated workloads it needs a risk assessment.
Security assessment
Atlassian Cloud has been assessed at IRAP PROTECTED for Jira, Confluence and Jira Service Management, which supports use by Australian government agencies and their suppliers. An IRAP assessment isn't a certification, so agencies still make their own risk decision using the assessment report.
Identity and access
Plan single sign-on and user provisioning from your identity provider, such as Microsoft Entra ID. These are included on Enterprise plans and need Atlassian Guard on others.
Choosing a plan
| Plan | Usually suits | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Small teams trying the platform | Up to 10 users; no Rovo AI; no data residency |
| Standard | Most growing teams | Data residency, Rovo AI with a monthly credit allowance |
| Premium | Organisations planning across many teams | Cross-team planning, sandboxes, approvals, 99.9% uptime SLA, 24/7 support |
| Enterprise | Large or regulated organisations | Multiple sites, 99.95% uptime SLA, single sign-on included, Atlassian Analytics and Data Lake |
Atlassian raised Cloud list prices on 13 October 2026 and now meters Rovo AI credits and automation steps, with extra usage billed from 3 December 2026. Model your usage before choosing a plan. Our Atlassian licensing guide covers buying in Australia.
Planning the move
- Assess. Inventory users, spaces, apps, custom fields, workflows and integrations. Most of the risk is in apps and integrations, not data volume.
- Clean up. Archive unused spaces, merge duplicate fields and workflows, and remove inactive users. Migrating clutter makes Cloud slower and harder to run.
- Check apps. Confirm each Marketplace app has a Cloud version, or a built-in Cloud feature that replaces it. Atlassian's older Connect framework reaches end of support on 31 January 2027, so prefer apps built on Forge.
- Redesign integrations. Point-to-point scripts against Data Center APIs usually need rebuilding for Cloud APIs, authentication and rate limits.
- Test migrate. Run at least one full trial migration with Atlassian's free Cloud Migration Assistant, and have real users test it.
- Move and support. Migrate in waves or in one cut-over, with training and a hypercare period afterwards.
Beyond Atlassian
Atlassian isn't the only option. Microsoft Planner suits organisations that want simple task and project management inside Microsoft 365, and there are many specialist work management tools. Choose based on who needs to work together, what the platform must connect to, and where your data must live. Running several work management tools side by side is a common cause of tool sprawl, so decide deliberately.
How Great Minds helps
Great Minds is an Atlassian Silver Solution Partner. We assess Data Center and Server environments, clean up and migrate them to Cloud, replace or rebuild apps, and reconnect Jira and Confluence to the rest of your stack, from Salesforce and Dynamics 365 to identity and HR systems. See our Atlassian Cloud migration service.
Frequently asked questions
When does Atlassian Data Center reach end of life?
On 28 March 2029. Atlassian stopped selling Data Center to new customers on 30 March 2026.
Can we keep our Atlassian Cloud data in Australia?
Yes. Data residency lets you pin product data such as work items, pages and attachments to the Sydney region on Standard, Premium and Enterprise plans. Some data, such as user account details and logs, is handled centrally.
Is Atlassian Cloud approved for Australian government use?
Jira, Confluence and Jira Service Management Cloud have been assessed at IRAP PROTECTED. Each agency still makes its own risk decision based on the assessment.
How long does a migration to Cloud take?
A standard migration typically takes 4 to 12 weeks. Large or multi-instance environments with many apps and integrations take several months. The assessment phase gives you a realistic estimate.
Is Rovo AI included in Atlassian Cloud?
Yes, on Standard, Premium and Enterprise plans, with a monthly credit allowance per user. It isn't included in the Free plan.
Where to start
List every app and integration connected to your Atlassian instance, and who depends on each. That list drives the migration timeline more than anything else. We're happy to review it with you and give you a realistic plan.