Three automation hacks to save manual Jira work

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If you're getting bogged down with manual admin work, or tripped up by errors and inconsistencies in processes, Jira automations can help. Jira Cloud has some impressive automation capabilities right out of the box, and when combined with the power of ScriptRunner for Jira Cloud, the possibilities are almost endless. 

Over the last two years, independent consultant Sana Safai has become an expert at solving problems for his clients using clever automations and integrations in Jira Cloud. With particularly complex use cases, Sana leverages ScriptRunner for Jira Cloud to enhance and extend that native Jira functionality.

He recently shared with us three standout examples where he combined native Jira automation with his ScriptRunner know-how to automate away manual tasks, saving his client in the insurance industry hours of admin every week.

Automating insurance claim payouts with workflow extensions

The first use case was streamlining his client's claims process. Claims are submitted through an online platform and then reviewed by an agent for approval. With Jira Cloud automation, Sana's first step was to set up a process that automatically creates a Jira issue for every new claim submission. Agents can then work more efficiently as they're able to review and approve or deny claims from within Jira. 

But it gets better—using ScriptRunner, the necessary background checks after a claim is approved can also be automated to save the company time and money. Here's how:

1. Upon approval in Jira, a Script Listener triggers an API call to the third-party background check system.
2. If the check comes back successful, ScriptRunner also then triggers the payment process: automatically sending funds to the customer's bank account via a pre-integrated payment gateway. 
3. Finally, handing the baton back to Jira's in-house automation, a text message notification is triggered to send to the customer once the payment is complete.

Automating report generation with external systems integrations 

The next step in improving this client's process efficiency was to automate their regular report generation. Where previously the client's teams had been making JQL queries and exporting data manually, Sana saw an opportunity to save time and reduce human error in two ways:

1. Using a scheduled job in ScriptRunner to automatically query the client's Jira instance based on specific JQL criteria (e.g. tickets to be closed), with the results then formatted into a JSON file.
2. Using ScriptRunner to send the JSON file output directly to the endpoint system.

With the high-quality, highly searchable nature of Jira Cloud data and the advanced automation power of ScriptRunner, this new process' accuracy and time savings have freed up a significant portion of the client's budget each month. 

Dynamic custom field creation with Script Listeners 

Finally, Sana's client requested an automation that would create a third custom field based on the values of two existing custom fields when a ticket was closed in Jira. The client was keen to keep everything inside the Jira ecosystem for efficiency, consistency, and visibility.

Sana's solution again used ScriptRunner to make this possible: 

1. A ScriptRunner listener monitors for Jira ticket closures.
2. ScriptRunner then automatically creates and populates that third custom field within each closed ticket based on predefined logic. (ScriptRunner Behaviours can be used for this, so it's simpler than ever to set up!) 

The new process has eliminated manual field updates, reducing workload and improving accuracy for the client.

This client is now getting even more value from their Jira Cloud environment than ever before, and they're enjoying the full potential of their Atlassian stack with the custom automations and integrations made possible by ScriptRunner. With such significant improvements in efficiency and cost, Sana's client is a happy customer set up for continued success!

For more examples of how you can put Jira Cloud and ScriptRunner's combined automation power to work, check out another of our success stories here.