Automation to Track Start and End Dates in Jira Product Discovery

[elyn]

I’m trying to set up an automation rule in my Product Discovery board to automatically track when a ticket moves through specific statuses, but I keep running into errors.

Goal:
I want to automatically record two custom date fields — Start Date and End Date — based on ticket status changes:

• Start Date: when the issue status changes from “Design To Do” to “Design In Progress”

• End Date: when the issue status changes to “Done”

What I’ve tried:

• I created two custom date fields: Start Date and End Date

• I attempted to create automation rules that use the “Edit issue fields” action to set the current date (using the “{{now}}” smart value) when the status changes as described above.

• However, the automation keeps failing with error messages such as:

  • “Field does not exist”

  • “Unable to log the date value”

[Christos Markoulatos]

Hey @elyn 

The errors happen because Jira Product Discovery date fields aren’t standard date pickers—they store ranges in JSON. Automation fails if you try to set them with {{now}} directly.

Here’s the quick fix:

• Use Advanced JSON in the “Edit issue” action instead of the dropdown:
  {

    "fields": {

      "customfield_12345": "{\"start\":\"{{now.jiraDate}}\"}"

    }

  }
  For End Date, set "end" instead of "start".
• Find the correct customfield_xxxxx ID via the REST API or smart value finder.
• Make sure the rule actor has edit permissions in JPD.

Links that help:

• Advanced field editing with JSON
• Smart values for dates

Hope this helps!

[elyn]

Hi @Christos Markoulatos , I couldn't find the advanced JSON you mentioned... where do you find it? 

[Christos Markoulatos]

Hey @elyn  👋

The Advanced JSON option is under More options → Additional fields in the Edit work item action. That’s where you paste the JSON payload to set Jira Product Discovery date fields.

Here’s what it should look like:

{

  "fields": {

    "customfield_12345": "{\"start\":\"{{now.jiraDate}}\",\"end\":\"{{now.jiraDate}}\"}"

  }

}

 Replace customfield_12345 with your actual field ID (you can find it via the REST API or smart value finder).

Both start and end are required—even if you only want a single date.

Use {{now.jiraDate}} for today’s date in Jira format.

So:

• Click More options in your Edit action.
• Paste the JSON above in Additional fields.
• Save and publish your rule.

Links that might help:

• Advanced field editing with JSON
• Smart values for dates

Hope this clears it up! 👍

[Birkan Yildiz _OBSS_]

Hey @elyn

Using Jira Automation with custom date fields can be helpful but tricky, especially with potential field context or permission issues causing those errors.

An alternative approach is to use a reporting app to get this data directly from the issue history, which avoids the complexity of automation rules.

If you are open to using a marketplace app, Timepiece - Time in Status for Jira has a report designed for exactly this scenario.

Its First Transition To Status Date report is built to show you the exact date and time an issue first entered a specific status. To get what you need, you would simply:

• Create the report.
• Select only two statuses to display as columns: "Design In Progress" and "Done".

The report will then give you a clean list of your issues, with one column showing your "Start Date" (the date it entered "Design In Progress") and another column showing your "End Date" (the date it entered "Done").

The best part is that this works for all your past issues immediately, since it reads from the existing issue history.

Besides, Timepiece has 15+ report types, automation and alert system, and so much more.

You can check it out on the Atlassian Marketplace. Hope this helps you get the data you need!

Disclosure: I'm on the team that makes Timepiece - Time in Status for Jira.

[Iryna Komarnitska_SaaSJet_]

Hi @elyn ,

If you don't mind using third-party apps, I can recommend using the Time in Status app developed by my team.

In this article, we described in detail how you can track the life cycle of an idea in JPD.

In particular, I recommend using the Status Entrance Date report to see when your idea entered different statuses.

I hope you find it useful!

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @elyn -- Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

First thing: Jira has a built-in field named "Start Date" so using the same name could lead to confusion / errors.  From what you describe, I recommend renaming your fields to "Design Start Date" and "Design End Date".

Next, Jira Product Discovery (JPD) has its own date format, using a JSON expression represented as text to hold a single date, a date range, or a quarter.  It looks like this:

"customfield_12345": "{\"start\":\"2025-10-15\",\"end\":\"2025-10-15\"}"

Please note both parts (start and end) are required even when only specifying a single date value.  For your case, you likely want to set them to the same value: {{now.jiraDate}}

"customfield_12345": "{\"start\":\"{{now.jiraDate}}\",\"end\":\{{now.jiraDate}}"}"

Using that information, you may set the field value using a JSON expression as Christos described, however...

Think about how your team works: do designs every move backwards in the workflow?  If so, consider what you want to happen to those date fields.  For example:

• When a design moves backwards from Done to In Progress, should the "Design End Date" field be cleared?
• When a design moves backwards from Done to In Progress, should the "Design Start Date" field reset to the current date or should it remain unchanged to show the complete duration of in-progress time?  If it should remain unchanged, your rule would need an additional condition check to only set "Design Start Date" when it is already empty.
• What should happen if someone manually changes one of the date fields?
• etc.

Finally, if you need to access the values in those date fields in other rules, they may be accessed using the jsonStringToObject() function:

{{jsonStringToObject(issue.customfield_12345).start}}

Kind regards,
Bill

[elyn]

Hi Bill, thanks for the reply, i tried changing the labels of the property as what you mentioned "Design start" "Design end", but somehow when i reach to the automation dropdown selection, it does not appear... am i missing something?

[Bill Sheboy]

Thanks for that additional information, @elyn 

Some custom fields do not appear in the dropdown lists for rule actions.  Instead the custom field ID may be used with an advanced edit with JSON.

To identify that ID and if the field is supported by automation rules, please use thus how-to article:

https://support.atlassian.com/cloud-automation/docs/find-the-smart-value-for-a-field/