Written by: Riley Venable

About the Author: Riley Venable is an experienced Atlassian consultant with deep expertise in cloud migration, ITSM, and workflow optimization. With a strong background in helping organizations maximize their use of Atlassian tools, Riley is dedicated to driving efficiency and delivering tailored solutions for clients across various industries. Passionate about the latest developments in the Atlassian ecosystem, Riley shares insights on how teams can leverage technology to achieve their goals.

Introduction

As organizations grow, so do the demands on their tools and platforms. Atlassian Compass offers two distinct versions, Standard and Premium, each designed to cater to different needs. While the Standard plan provides essential features for smaller teams or straightforward workflows, Compass Premium is tailored for organizations that require advanced permissions, customization, and governance capabilities. In this document, we'll explore the key differences between Compass Standard and Premium, highlighting the value Premium brings to complex, large-scale environments without dismissing the capabilities of Standard.

Comparison Table: Compass Premium vs Standard

Granular Permissions in Compass Premium vs Standard

Compass offers two permission policies, Open and Restricted, to enforce who can take specific actions within the platform. The Open policy allows most actions by basic and full users without admin privileges, while the Restricted policy limits critical actions to product admins, component owners, and scorecard owners. This distinction allows Premium users to enforce greater control and governance over essential components and metrics.

Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

Compass Premium is perfect for:

• Companies with over 1,000 Jira Product Enterprise Users: Organizations with substantial Jira user bases will benefit from Compass Premium's advanced features, particularly those focused on governance and data retention.

• Mid-journey Digital Transformation: Companies amid their digital transformation journey will find the compliance, customization, and incident response features especially valuable as they scale their operations.

• Focus on Risk Management, Compliance, and Developer Experience: Premium's enhanced features can effectively help organizations improve risk management, maintain compliance, and standardize developer practices.

Security Compliance Focus

Some companies may have to meet specific compliance needs, making it crucial for their tools and platforms to offer comprehensive security features. Compass Premium is designed with security compliance in mind, making it ideal for organizations that must meet regulatory requirements such as SOC 2 and ISO/IEC 27001. This section details the Premium features that contribute to maintaining a secure and compliant environment.

1. ISO/IEC 27001:2013 Certification: Compass Premium benefits from implementing ISO/IEC 27001:2013, which outlines a comprehensive Information Security Management System (ISMS). This certification helps ensure that security practices meet rigorous standards, which is critical for organizations that handle sensitive data or operate in regulated industries. Premium features like granular permissions and IP allowlisting directly support compliance with these standards by ensuring that only data access is restricted to authorized users.

2. SOC 2 Type 2 Compliance: Atlassian undergoes regular SOC 2 Type 2 audits, which verify that internal controls for security, availability, and confidentiality are in place and effective. Compass Premium's audit logging capabilities are vital in meeting these requirements, providing a detailed history of who accessed or modified components. This feature is essential for organizations that need to demonstrate compliance during audits.

3. Granular Permissions: Premium's restricted permission policy helps enforce the principle of least privilege, an essential aspect of most compliance frameworks. Compass Premium minimizes the risk of unauthorized changes and supports secure collaboration across teams by limiting actions to component owners, scorecard owners, and product admins.

4. Data Retention Policies: Premium's extended data retention for up to two years ensures that organizations maintain a comprehensive history of changes, often required for compliance. This retention policy supports long-term accountability and provides historical insights into the development and operational decisions made by teams.

5. IP Allowlisting: Compass Premium includes IP allowlisting, an essential feature for organizations that need to restrict platform access based on IP addresses. This feature helps ensure that only users connecting from trusted networks can access critical components, adding an extra layer of security crucial for meeting industry-specific compliance requirements.

Advanced Admin Features

1. Sandbox Environment (Coming Soon): Compass Premium will soon offer a sandbox environment, allowing admins to test changes without impacting the live environment. This feature is crucial for large-scale teams that must validate configurations before fully rolling them out, ensuring stability and reducing the risk of disruptions.

2. Release Tracks (Coming Soon): Release tracks will allow admins to control when and how user changes are released. This feature will help organizations minimize disruptions by enabling more predictable and controlled updates, which is particularly important for large teams that need operational stability.

3. Admin Insights (Coming Soon): The upcoming Admin Insights feature will provide detailed data on product usage, security levels, and user activity over time. This visibility is crucial for compliance reporting and understanding how the platform is used, empowering teams to make data-driven decisions to improve efficiency and security.

Market Opportunity and Scalability Insights

1. Market Growth: According to Gartner, enterprise adoption of internal developer platforms is expected to grow 66% by 2026. This trend underscores the increasing importance of tools like Compass Premium that provide governance, support, and scalability for large engineering organizations.

2. DevOps Market Expansion: The growing DevOps software market, projected to be worth $10B, presents a lucrative opportunity for organizations adopting Compass Premium. Compass helps engineering leaders position their teams for success in a competitive landscape by standardizing platform teams and their development processes.

Key Differences Explained

1. Permission Policies: In Compass Standard, teams have roles like basic users, full users, and admins, but permissions are not fully enforceable. This may be suitable for smaller groups with straightforward requirements. However, Compass Premium provides granular permissions, allowing control across teams, components, metrics, and environments, and offers more enforceable permissions for different roles. This enhanced control allows for more effective governance, ensuring only authorized individuals can modify critical services and components. Premium users can enforce restricted policies, which limit access to key actions based on the user's role, making premium ideal for larger teams where accountability and security are crucial.

2. Data Retention and Governance: Data governance is critical for maintaining security and compliance. While Compass Standard offers one-year data retention, Premium provides two-year data retention. These features are particularly beneficial for organizations that must meet audit requirements and regulatory standards, as they ensure that a detailed history of changes is available for review when necessary.

3. Customization: Compass Premium includes extensive customization options, allowing teams to leverage up to 100 custom fields, 100 scorecards, and 200 custom metrics compared to the limits in Standard, 50 custom fields, 50 scorecards, and 100 custom metrics. This level of customization helps organizations create a developer experience that matches their specific needs, allowing for a more efficient workflow and better alignment with business processes.

4. Configurable Software Templates: Compass Premium provides access to 40 configurable software templates compared to 20 in Standard. This allows teams to more effectively adapt Compass to their unique workflows, ensuring the tool supports rather than limits their processes.

5. Security Controls: Security is a priority for any organization, and Compass Premium delivers enhanced security controls beyond the basic measures offered in Standard. Features like IP allowlisting and advanced admin tools help ensure that only authorized entities can access sensitive information, making Premium suitable for companies in regulated industries or those prioritizing data security.

6. Support & Reliability: Compass Standard offers 9/5 regional support without guaranteed uptime, which may suffice for smaller teams or non-critical projects. On the other hand, Compass Premium provides 24/7 support and a 99.9% uptime SLA, making it a reliable choice for organizations where uptime is crucial. This ensures that support is always available and any issues are resolved quickly, minimizing disruptions.

Key Use Cases

1. Large Cross-functional Teams: For organizations with multiple teams working together, Compass Premium's advanced policies are essential for maintaining control and ensuring that access is granted appropriately across different roles. In Standard, permissions are limited and not strictly enforceable, which may lead to confusion or unauthorized changes. Premium's enforceaPremium's'sssions ensure that everyone has the appropriate level of access, reducing the risk of errors and enhancing overall governance.

2. Complex Component Management: Well-structured controls are vital when managing a large number of components and services. Compass Premium's audit loPremium's extended data retention helps maintain accountability and visibility, making it easier to track changes and ensure that teams are operating efficiently and securely. Standard lacks these features, making maintaining complete visibility over long-term projects and changes harder.

3. Scalability and Customization Needs: As teams scale, the ability to customize workflows, scorecards, and metrics becomes increasingly essential. Compass Premium allows organizations to implement these customizations at a larger scale, ensuring consistency across departments while meeting specific team needs. In contrast, Standard's custom standard can hinder the ability to fully align the tool with evolving organizational processes.

4. Operational Reliability: Compass Premium provides a 99.9% uptime SLA and 24/7 support, ensuring services remain available whenever needed. This reliability is essential for teams working on mission-critical projects, where downtime could significantly impact productivity and business outcomes. Standard's limited support can lead to delays in resolving critical issues, affecting the ability to keep projects on track.

Conclusion

Compass Premium is designed to meet the needs of growing organizations that require enhanced governance, security, and customization. While Compass Standard is a great starting point for smaller teams or straightforward use cases, Premium offers the tools necessary to manage complex workflows effectively, scale with confidence, and maintain a secure and compliant environment. The advanced features in Premium, such as granular permissions, extended data retention, configurable templates, and enhanced support, make it the ideal choice for organizations looking to maximize productivity, security, and reliability.

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