Automate assignment once an Epic is cloned

[Bryan Grosbach]

Hello all,

My organization is using JIRA to track setup tasks for client training.  We've created an Epic template containing child subtasks outlining each prep step for setting up training.

When a training is scheduled, we currently clone the template epic (including all subtaks), and then assign each subtask in the clone to the appropriate person. We wanted to assign the individuals who always complete certain subtasks in the template so that the assignment clones over, but that causes confusion on which version of the subtask to work.

Is there a way to set automation to automatically assign certain tasks to certain assignees every time the Epic is cloned?

[Bryan Grosbach · Accepted solution]

I went ahead and used Bill's suggestion and set automation to run with the trigger of "Work item created."  I created a new field in the subtask, and set it to role 1 or role 2.  The automation has an "If/Then" where it assigns one person or another depending on the role in that new field.

Thnaks all!

[Lisa McCann]

Hi Bryan, 

When you say clone, are you using the "clone" option or are you using automation to create the training tasks? 

If you use a manual trigger automation to create tasks and subtasks, you could probably then use automation to assign the applicable sub-task.

[Bryan Grosbach]

Good question-- it's the former-- the clone function ran manually.

[Lisa McCann]

Ok, try creating a manually triggered automation option that creates pre-defined tasks and subtasks, then use automation to assign the newly created items?

[Walter Buggenhout]

Hi @Bryan Grosbach and welcome to the Community!

I am not entirely sure if I understand where the confusion on the version of the subtask is coming from. I would suspect that simply filling out the assignee in the sub-task templates for those subtasks that have a fixed assignee (and leaving it blank for the ones with a dynamic assignee) should be able to cover your use case.

Hope this helps!

[Bryan Grosbach]

Hi, Walter, thanks for your response!  The confusion comes from a few of our resources being inexperienced with JIRA. 

For example, if we have two trainings scheduled and need them to accomplish tasks, they'll have three versions of the subtask assigned to them:  the original template subtask, and the two cloned subtasks.  They sometimes get confused about which task needs accomplishing vs which is the template.

We have talked about some obvious things: The subtasks always start with "Clone" and our business process includes adding due dates for the actionable tasks (and not the template tasks).  But I was trying to think of a way to make it even easier for them by not having them assigned to the template, but then hopefully automate assigning it so that I don't have the overhead of manually assigning 25 subtasks every time we clone the template. 

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @Bryan Grosbach -- Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Adding to your and Walter's ideas, I believe you have described a good approach:

Do not pre-assign the issues in the templates, and instead do so in the automation rule when they are cloned.

And if you are concerned about the correct person being assigned, perhaps a custom field could be used in the templates (e.g., Planned Assignee) and then use that field to make the assignment.

Kind regards,
Bill