Best Practices for Automating Cross-Department Workflows in Jira Product Discovery

[Stephanie Ho]

I am working on setting up a cross-departmental workflow using Jira Product Discovery (JPD) in conjunction with Engineering, Supply Chain, and Manufacturing Jira projects. My goal is to improve automation, visibility, and hand-offs between departments while ensuring that Jira Product Discovery remains the central hub for tracking overall progress.

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Current Setup:

• Jira Product Discovery (JPD) is used to manage high-level product initiatives.
• Engineering (EN), Supply Chain (SC), and Manufacturing (MAN) each have their own Jira Software projects.
• When an idea is approved in JPD, I want to automate Epic creation in the relevant Jira Software project.
• Approvals are required at multiple stages, and each department follows its own workflow.
• JPD should track the progress of related Epics in different Jira projects automatically.

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Automation & Workflow Questions:

1. Linking Jira Software Epics to JPD Ideas Automatically

• Is Jira Automation able to automatically link newly created Jira Software Epics back to the originating JPD idea?
• Can the JPD idea status update automatically when all linked Epics reach a "Done" or equivalent status in Jira Software?
• Is there a way to automatically update custom fields in JPD based on the progress of related Epics?

2. Automating Epic Creation from JPD Ideas

• How can I automatically create an Epic in the appropriate Jira Software project when an idea in JPD is moved to “Approved”?
• Can automation dynamically determine which Jira Software project the Epic should be created in based on fields in JPD (e.g., labels, dropdown fields, or linked departments)?
• How do I ensure that Epics created from a JPD Idea retain a link to the Idea for traceability?

3. Managing Approvals in JPD

• What’s the best way to implement an Approver field in JPD that allows multiple stakeholders to approve an idea?
• Can Jira Automation handle multi-user approvals (e.g., transition the idea’s status when all assigned approvers approve)?
• Is there a way to automatically notify approvers and track pending approvals within JPD?

4. Tracking Linked Issues Across Departments

• How can I track the progress of all related Epics in JPD without requiring manual updates?
• Can JPD automation be triggered when a linked Epic in a Jira Software project reaches a specific status?
• Is there a way to roll up Epic statuses into a summary field in JPD?

5. Cross-Department Reporting & Dashboards

• What’s the best approach to visualizing the progress of an Idea and its related Epics across multiple Jira projects?
• Are there recommended Jira dashboards or reports that effectively aggregate cross-project work in JPD?
• How can I generate status reports automatically for high-level stakeholders without manual data entry?

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Looking for Recommendations

I’d love to hear from others who have set up similar workflows and any best practices you recommend. Are there existing Atlassian tools or integrations (such as Advanced Roadmaps, BigPicture, or third-party apps) that help optimize this automation?

Thanks in advance for your insights! 🚀

[Bill Sheboy · Accepted solution]

Hi @Stephanie Ho 

You have asked quite a few questions, many of which may require a higher-bandwidth channel to solve.  My first recommendation would be to meet with your Jira Site Admin to outline these needs and learn what is possible and who could help implement them.

Next, I will try to summarize some answers to your questions by area, not by each specific question.  Again, I recommend working with your Site Admin for help.

1. Linking Jira Software Epics to JPD Ideas Automatically -- Yes, all of those things are possible.

2. Automating Epic Creation from JPD Ideas -- If you can identify the other Jira projects from the JPD Idea data, adding and linking the issues is possible.

3. Managing Approvals in JPD -- In my opinion, there is no "best" way to do anything, even in Jira.  For approval management, the built-in approval features may be used, or workflow steps with custom fields and more detailed handling.  The specifics of your needs will determine better / worse ways to proceed.

4. Tracking Linked Issues Across Departments -- Yes, all of those things are possible, using Jira automation and JQL to identify and roll-up information.  For better presentation, custom fields in JPD views or Jira Dashboards could help.

5. Cross-Department Reporting & Dashboards -- In my opinion, there is limited ability in out-of-the-box Jira for advanced reporting, including in JPD.  I recommend pausing to define examples of what problems you want to solve with reports, what "answers" might look like, and then discuss with your Jira Site Admin if you have access to additional reporting or could get it from the Atlassian Marketplace.

Kind regards,
Bill

[Diana_Architect_ZigiWave]

@Stephanie Ho  hi. Hope you've found the answer you were looking for. Anyway, if you come across the same integration need in the future, feel free to check out ZigiOps - part of the Atlassian marketplace. It's a fully no-code integration platform that connects bi-directionally  Jira Product Discovery with Jira, ServiceNow and other systems. 100% secure - does not store any of the transferred data. 

Integrating a no-code integration solution like ZigiOps into your workflow can significantly enhance the automation, visibility, and efficiency of managing cross-departmental initiatives. ZigiOps excels at integrating different Jira projects, automating workflows, and ensuring seamless data transfer across multiple systems. Here’s how ZigiOps supports the automation and integration needs outlined in the questions above:

• Automated Epic Creation: ZigiOps can automate the creation of Jira Software Epics when a JPD Idea is approved, linking the Epics to the originating JPD Idea without manual intervention. This streamlines the hand-off between departments and keeps all stakeholders informed in real-time.

• Tracking and Reporting: ZigiOps helps in automating the status tracking across departments, ensuring that when an Epic’s status changes in Jira Software, it triggers an automatic update in JPD. Additionally, ZigiOps can aggregate cross-department data into a centralized dashboard, providing high-level stakeholders with automated reports on progress.

• Cross-Department Integration: ZigiOps supports cross-department integration by linking Jira Software projects (Engineering, Supply Chain, Manufacturing) with JPD in real time. This enables seamless communication and collaboration between teams, ensuring that all stakeholders are aligned and progress is tracked automatically.

Feel free to check it out - ZigiOps does have a Free trial so you can test its capabilities. 

Regards, D (part of the ZigiOps team)

[Dhiren Notani_Exalate_]

Hi @Stephanie Ho ,

I am Dhiren from the Exalate Team.

For an integration between Jira Product Discovery and Jira Software, I would recommend you to try out a fully decentralized and bi-directional integration solution like Exalate.

You can sync Ideas (JPD) with Epics (JS) along with all the fields (System + Custom).

Exalate provides you with a Groovy based scripting engine for limitless customizations.

We do offer a 30 days of free trial incase you are interested to evaluate the solution.

Thanks, Dhiren

[Marlene Kegel - codefortynine]

Hi @Stephanie Ho,

I am Marlene, product manager of codefortynine.

We provide two apps that might ease setting up your workflow, especially if there are any obstacles when you try it with Jira Automation. 

Deep Clone for Jira - With Deep Clone you clone Epics and Large issue trees, also automatically on a workflow transition. For your use case you could set it up in the following way.

• Set up a template epic, including child issues
• Set up Deep Clone Workflow Post-Function
• Either trigger workflow post-function manually, or set up automation to trigger the transition

It is often easier just to set up a template epic and then clone it with Deep Clone then setting up a Jira Automation. 

Quick Filters for Jira Dashboards - With our app you can set up cross-department reporting. I've published an article on building cross-project Jira dashboards in the Atlassian Community. 

You can also check out Quick Filters for Jira Dashboards without installation on our demo dashboards. 

If you need any help, feel free to reach out to us directly.