How to use automation to change the Issue Type

[Brian Spears]

I have a rule that when someone puts the word "critical" in the summary(subject line) of an email to our helpdesk, that it changes the priority to critical and assigns it so a particular queue. What I need is to be able to change the issue type from "Service Request" to "Incident". The option to do that doesn't even exist when you are creating the new rule under "Edit issue". 

Is this a major oversight by Jira or am I not doing something right? 

Help please.

[Cody Stevens]

Hey @Brian Spears

The reason this is not available in the automation tab is because if you change the issue type, the new issue type may not have the same screen and field configuration resulting in lost information.

The built in automation does allow you to change the "Request Type" as long as the issue type remains the same.

If you are open to add ons, you can use Automation for Jira. This brings a major overhaul to the automation you currently have and is definitely a must have add on in my opinion. It does allow you to change the issue type of an issue but the workflow for both issue types must be the same. I have left several links below for the add on. I would check out the rule playground which allows you to see what types of rules/automations you can set up.

Automation for Jira Lite

Automation for Jira Paid

Rule Playground

[Brian Spears]

So does this only affect Jira Service Desk? I ask because I own JSD but not Jira which is used by our developers.

How can I see if the workflows are the same? 

Why wouldn't the Jira Devs just make it so that if I change something from Service Request to Incident, that it would just let me know what info would be lost and/or just append that info into the comment field? 

Why is it that I can manually make this change but I can't through automation?? I hate the idea of having to purchase or use an addon just because the Jira Devs didn't think something through.... :(

[Brian Spears]

It appears that they use the same workflow. Regardless, It makes ZERO since that I can make the change manually but not through automation. 

GRRRRRRRRR!!!!

[Cody Stevens]

Hey @Brian Spears

I totally get what you are saying but its kinda a fail safe system. You can manually make the change because you know what you are doing in that exact moment and whatever you lose you lose, or you can save that info.

If its automated, you may accidentally lose thousands of pieces of information and not even know it. While I would opt for it to be there, I do understand why its not.

This wont make you feel better but the functionality you get with Automation for Jira is worth every penny. Its really not that expensive compared to some add ons and you get a ton of features with it. They were also just acquired by Atlassian. Sometime soon we may see that functionality be apart of the system out of the box.

If you did get the add on, it would be available across JSD, Jira Software, and Jira core. Automations can be made per project (by a project admin) or globally (by a jira admin). It would be displayed in the project settings as "Project Automation" I would test out the lite version. It comes with all the features but you can only run up to 300 times a month.

Also, I believe my answer did answer your original question. Unless you have more questions I would appreciate it if you marked this as answered. It helps the community know whats answered and which answer solved the question.

[Tetyana SAVENKO]

hi @Cody Stevens 

does this mean that there is absolutely no way to "properly" change the Issue Type through automation where it updates the related workflow as well?

[Madhavan Vivekanandan]

@Cody Stevens if the issue type is changeable using api's then the risk explained is applicable to that case too. Refer https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-questions/How-can-I-change-an-issuetype-on-an-existing-issue-via-the-REST/qaq-p/801750

I hope it is good to have the issue type updateable through automation