In an JAll Ondemand instance,user having admin permissions only in JIRA is not allowed to create project using "External System Import" .

Atlassian Update – 06 December 2017 Hi everyone, We have recently reviewed this issue and the overall interest in the problem. As the issue hasn't collect votes, watchers, comments, or support cases from many customers during its lifetime, it's very low on our priority list, and will not be fixed in the foreseeable future. That's why we've decided to resolve it as Time Out . Although we're aware the issue is still important to those of you who were involved in the conversations around it, we want to be clear in managing your expectations. The Jira team is focusing on issues that have broad impact and high value, reflected by the number of comments, votes, support cases, and customers interested. Please consult the Atlassian Bugfix Policy for more details. We understand how disappointing this decision may be, but we hope you'll appreciate our transparent approach and communication. Atlassian will continue to watch this issue for further updates, so please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. Thank you, Ignat Alexeyenko Jira Bugmaster