Upcoming data type changes in Enterprise Insights

To improve compatibility with data platforms that treat fixed-width character padding as significant, Enterprise Insights (EI) will change several column data types from NCHAR to NVARCHAR. This update prevents trailing and padding spaces from propagating into customer data warehouses and analytics tools, causing configuration and processing issues.

We plan to make this change to the Enterprise Insights schema in version 11.19, which first ships to environments on the continuous release track on December 5, 2025.

Please review this announcement to understand what’s changing, how it may impact your integrations, and what actions you need to take to prepare.

Why we’re making this change

We are changing the data type of several columns in EI to assure:

Downstream compatibility: Some systems (such as Snowflake) treat trailing spaces as meaningful characters, which can break joins, filters, and equality checks.
Data quality and consistency: NVARCHAR avoids automatic right-padding that occurs with NCHAR, reducing unexpected whitespace and the need for post-load trimming.
Operational simplicity: Reduces edge cases in ETL/ELT logic, improves report accuracy, and simplifies cross-system mappings.

Impacts of this change

As a result of these data type changes, the next Enterprise Insights schema will include differences that may interfere with existing integrations, models, and tests if they assume fixed-width (padded) values.

How to prepare

To prepare for the data type changes, you can take the following actions:

Review your downstream data models and dashboards for any explicit assumptions about fixed-width padding or trailing spaces.
Remove redundant TRIM, RTRIM, or LTRIM steps that were previously used to compensate for NCHAR padding where they are no longer needed.
Validate critical joins and equality predicates in Snowflake or other data warehouses to ensure they do not depend on padded values.
If your schema enforcement or testing frameworks pin data types, update expectations from NCHAR to NVARCHAR for impacted columns.

Columns affected

Use the table below to review the columns that will change from NCHAR to NVARCHAR.

View name	Column names	Old data type	New data type
Anchor Sprint	Duration Label	NCHAR(50)	NVARCHAR(50)
Epic	Epic State	NCHAR(50)	NVARCHAR(50)
Epic History	Epic State	NCHAR(50)	NVARCHAR(50)
Feature	Feature State	NCHAR(50)	NVARCHAR(50)
Feature History	Feature State	NCHAR(50)	NVARCHAR(50)
Jira State Mapping	Jira Align State Name	NCHAR(50)	NVARCHAR(50)
Jira State Object Mapping	Jira Align State Name	NCHAR(50)	NVARCHAR(50)
Program Increment	PI Number	NCHAR(10)	NVARCHAR(10)
Sprint	Sprint State Sprint Schedule	NCHAR(50)	NVARCHAR(50)
Story	State State With Accepted	NCHAR(50)	NVARCHAR(50)
Story History	State State With Accepted	NCHAR(50)	NVARCHAR(50)
Task	Task State	NCHAR(50)	NVARCHAR(50)
Theme	Theme State	NCHAR(50)	NVARCHAR(50)
Theme History	Theme State	NCHAR(50)	NVARCHAR(50)
Capability	Capabiltiy State	NCHAR(50)	NVARCHAR(50)
Capabiltiy History	Capabiltiy State	NCHAR(50)	NVARCHAR(50)
Region	Region Code	NCHAR(10)	NVARCHAR(10)

Join the Atlassian Community!

The Atlassian Community is a unique, highly collaborative space where customers and Atlassians come together. Ask questions and get answers, start discussions, and collaborate with thousands of other Jira Align customers. Visit the Jira Align Community Collection today.

Need to contact Jira Align Support? Please open a support request.