Change Workflow Status upon a Child Issue being present

[Adam Rosenbaum]

I have a S/W project with a Kanban board with 3 columns (Not Yet Started, Epic In Progress, Done). The only Issue type here is Epic. An  Epic will be created on this board, each time a new issue is created in another service project and will be set to Not Yet Started status. Other teams will link their tasks to this Epic. Once the first task is linked the the status of the Epic will move to Epic in Progress. Below is a screenshot of the rule that I created, but it doesn't seem to be working.

[Ste Wright]

Hi @Adam Rosenbaum 

I assume when you state "link their Tasks" you mean set a child's parent as the Epic?

If yes, the Trigger Issue Linked won't work, as this is for sibling relationships (eg. blocks, clones), rather than a parent/child relationship.

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Instead a rule like this should work (which is triggered from the child Issue):

• Trigger: Field Value Changed
  • Field to Monitor = Parent
• Condition: Issue Fields Condition
  • Field = Issue Type
  • Condition = equals
  • Value = Task
• Condition: Related Issues Condition
  • Related Issues = Parent
  • Condition = Exists
• Branch: Related Issues
  • Type = Parent
    • Branch-Condition: Issue Fields Condition
      • Field = Status
      • Condition = equals
      • Value = Not Yet Started
    • Branch-Action: Transition Issue
      • Destination = Epic In Progress

---

Let us know if this works!

Ste

[Adam Rosenbaum]

Sorry I think I may have replied in the wrong place. Does this look correct and can you explain this rule in more detail as i would like to make this a learning experience. Are you suggesting that the parent in the issue linking to the Epic which is the child?

[Adam Rosenbaum]

actually did not work but also note that I had to add task as a Issue Type

When I link a task to my epic via the epic link field, and I see that task show up in my epic under Child Issues, is that the Parent field I am seeing that task in?

So if the parent change field changes and the issue type is task and a value exists in parent then move the status. Should it be does not exist?

[Ste Wright]

Hi @Adam Rosenbaum 

Yes, that's the Parent field.

Atlassian is deprecating the "Epic Link" field soon - see this article - replacing it with Parent. So using this option in the rule is more future-proofed.

---

The rule works as follows...

• When an issue's parent field (eg. Epic Link) is modified, trigger the rule
• If...
  • The Issue Type is Task
  • And a Parent is present
• Then locate the task's parent (i.e the Epic)
• And if the Epic isn't already in "Epic In Progress", transition it

---

A few notes...

• I assumed the Issue Type needed to be "Task" from your original question. If this is not the case, and it's just any child of an Epic, you could add more Issue Types here (eg. Story, Bug, etc).
• If an Epic is in "Not Started" the assumption is it has no children. So once one is added, the rule transitions it across.

Ste

[Adam Rosenbaum]

does this look correct? And also, can you explain to me what is actually happening here so I can learn from this as well. Thanks You

[Adam Rosenbaum]

So I'm writing this automation in the project where the task is coming from? And I'm making it a global policy?

[Ste Wright]

Hi @Adam Rosenbaum 

That depends if the issues are all in one Project, or if they broach across multiple.

If it's 2+ - set the rule to be...

• Global: If this should be the set rule for all Projects
• Multiple Projects: If it's more than 1 Project, but is not required for all Projects

Ste

[Adam Rosenbaum]

Thank you for the explanation. It looks as if this rule should be created in the project where the issue is coming from.  We have many teams each with their own projects that will be linking their issues to the Epic. It would be much less complicated to write this rule in the project where the epic lives.

[Ste Wright]

Hi @Adam Rosenbaum 

I think you'd need a Global or Multi-Project for this one, as it's referencing at least 2+ Projects.

Ste

[Adam Rosenbaum]

agreed and I have the rule set globally. Without over complicating, I think I just need to know how to determine a change to an incident once it becomes a parent. What field can we set an on change trigger for. Issue 1 site alone. Issue 2 becomes issue 1's child via the parent link and shows up in Issue 1 under the child issue "section". Obviously there is a change to something identifying this. Where is that change made? What is that "section" called child issues? Is it a field?

[Ste Wright]

Hi @Adam Rosenbaum 

Apologies, I'm not quite sure what you mean above.

What's the rule you're trying to create in relation to solo issues, and issues with children?

Ste

[Adam Rosenbaum]

any rule i suppose. I just need to invoke the rule when there is a "relationship" change that makes my Issue a Parent. Again, the Edit screen shows a child issue section when another issue links to it using the Parent field, but I have no idea what the "Child Issue" field is called in order to address the change.

The issues linking to my issue as Children are coming from other projects so my access is limited at best and branching is not a great option.