How Activision Enabled External Jira Access Without Group Dependency
Activision, one of the world’s top game publishers, streamlined and secured access for its external vendors and consultants on Jira Data Center using miniOrange’s SAML SSO app. By leveraging regex-based access control and smart redirection post-login, Activision eliminated the need to manage internal group memberships for external accounts, reducing administrative effort and ensuring clean access separation.
Activision's Business Challenge
Activision needed a scalable way to enable Jira access for external vendors and third-party developers, without manually adding them to internal user groups.
Managing External Access Without Granting Internal Group Memberships
As a global gaming giant, Activision frequently collaborates with external consultants, development partners, and QA vendors. These users needed access to Jira, but giving them group memberships tied to internal roles created security and operational risks.
The internal teams at Activision wanted to:
- Allow SSO access for external vendors via their own IdP.
- Avoid adding external users to internal Jira groups.
- Automatically redirect new or reactivated users to specific onboarding resources.
- Reduce admin workload related to provisioning and group management.
- Maintain strict access controls without compromising user experience.
No out-of-the-box Jira SAML SSO solution offered this level of flexibility. This is why Activision reached out to miniOrange.
How miniOrange Helped Solve Activision’s Challenge
Using regex-based access control and post-SSO redirection, miniOrange enabled Activision to separate external and internal users, without any need for predefined groups or manual intervention.
Regex-Based Access Control and Post-SSO Redirection for Jira External Users
To solve Activision’s challenge, miniOrange implemented a solution within the SAML SSO plugin for Jira Data Center, allowing external access without internal group mapping.
Here's how it worked:
- Regex-Based Rule Matching: Instead of relying on group membership, Activision used regex patterns (e.g., email domain or attribute filters) to detect whether a user belonged to an external partner.
- Access Policy Enforcement: Based on the regex match, miniOrange automatically assigned session-level access without linking users to permanent Jira groups.
- Custom Post-Login Redirection: When external users logged in (especially first-time or reactivated accounts), they were redirected to a designated Confluence onboarding page or vendor documentation, improving user experience and avoiding confusion.
- No Manual Provisioning Required: Admins didn’t need to touch group settings, which significantly cut down on configuration overhead.
The result was a clean, rules-based access layer that worked across multiple identity providers and external domains, without compromising internal system integrity.
Success Outcome: Flexible SSO Without Group Management
By removing the need to define internal groups for external users, Activision gained unprecedented flexibility. The team could securely onboard vendors through their own IdP, grant the necessary access levels via regex-based policies, and guide new users through onboarding with smart redirects.
With miniOrange, Activision was able to:
- Support secure Jira access for external collaborators using SAML SSO.
- Dynamically apply access rules without internal group mapping.
- Automatically redirect new or reactivated users to vendor-specific pages.
- Eliminate the risk of misassigned internal access.
- Reduce admin dependency for onboarding or provisioning.
This solution ensured that collaboration with external teams remained seamless, secure, and scalable.
Results & Business Impact
The implementation of miniOrange's SSO plugin delivered immediate operational and security benefits:
- Improved Security: External vendors were isolated from internal groups and permissions.
- Lower Admin Overhead: Regex-based rules removed the need for group provisioning.
- Faster Vendor Onboarding: Redirects ensured a smoother login and ramp-up experience.
- Enhanced Flexibility: IT could easily manage multiple external IdPs and domains using the same plugin.
About Activision
Activision is a global leader in game publishing, best known for its blockbuster franchises such as Call of Duty, Crash Bandicoot, etc. With a global network of studios and partners, Activision relies on powerful and flexible digital platforms to deliver world-class gaming experiences and maintain seamless collaboration across internal and external teams.