Delete Issue Permissions with Project Roles

[Jamie Stanczyk]

Good morning! I am having issues with my current permission scheme in the Jira Cloud environment. I created a new project role, that has all of the same permissions as the default Project Administrator role, but removed the Adminster Projects, Manage Issue Layouts and Edit Workflows permissions. Everything else is the same, include this new project role having the Delete Issues permissions.

Here is where things go weird. The users in this role are able to delete work items in the List view of the company-managed project and in the work item screen, but cannot delete the work item in the Backlog or All Work Views. They get the initial prompt asking if they want to delete the work item, but then receive a "Failed to Update: We were unable to make those changes. Try again, or view the items that failed the update" error message.

I have re-checked all of my project permissions and I cannot identify what I am doing wrong.

[Jamie Stanczyk · Accepted solution]

Here is the explanation of the reported bug:

There’s a known issue in Jira Cloud where users with the Delete Issues permission (but without full admin permissions) can delete issues from the List view or the issue screen, but encounter errors when trying to delete from the Backlog or All Work views. The error message you described—"Failed to Update: We were unable to make those changes. Try again, or view the items that failed the update"—matches this scenario.

Here is the workaround per Atlassian Support:

Workaround

• Delete from the Issue Screen or List View: Continue deleting issues from the issue’s own screen or the List view, as you’ve been doing.
• Backlog View: If you need to delete from the Backlog, try using the triple dot menu on the issue itself (not bulk delete), as this sometimes works even when the main delete option fails.

[John Funk]

Hi Jamie - Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Try using the Permissions Helper for that user for that Work Item. If it is all green but they get the error, then you should submit this to Atlassian Support for them to investigate. It might very will be a bug. 

https://support.atlassian.com/contact/#/

Please post back here with the resolution if you end up going that route. 

[Jamie Stanczyk]

Thank you John! I did try the Permission Helper, and checked the Delete Issue Permission, and it is green. 

It is just very strange that the users in this role can only delete in certain views and not in all views. They can delete in the work item screen and in the List view, but cannot delete in the backlog or all work views.

[John Funk]

That's why I think there is a bug there somewhere. 

Also, I am sure you have heard this plenty, but it's not a good idea to let people delete work items. They will end up deleting something they shouldn't and it will be gone. 

I use Canceled or Aborted or a status like that for my users. They simply move stuff to that status if not needed, its a duplicate, mistake, etc. 

[Jamie Stanczyk]

John, I completely understand and totally agree with not giving everyone the Delete Issues Permissions, as things can go haywire quickly. The new project role is the Project Lead role, where we want Project Leads to be able to prioritize the backlog, but not have the Project Administrative rights to change/add/edit workflow statuses, as well as adding users in and out.

And as you guessed it, there is a bug currently logged with Atlassian for this same issue. The ticket can be found here. 

[John Funk]

Understood - and looks like a recent bug introduced as I suspected. Thanks for letting us know!

[Édpo César]

@Jamie Stanczyk

Could you share your permission scheme, please?

[Jamie Stanczyk]

The permission scheme is the Default Software Scheme. The new role has the exact same permissions as the Project Administrator, with the exception of: Administer Projects, Manage Issue Layouts and Edit Workflows. The new project role that was created has the following project permissions:

• Browse Projects
• Manage Sprints
• View Aggregated Data
• View Development Tools
• View Read-Only Workflow
• Archive Issues
• Assignable User
• Assign Issues
• Close Issues
• Create Issues
• Delete Issues
• Edit Issues
• Link Issues
• Modify Users
• Move Issues
• Resolve Issues
• Schedule Issues
• Transition Issues
• Restore Archived Issues
• Manage Watchers
• View Voters/Watchers
• Add Comments
• Delete All Comments
• Delete Own Comments
• Edit All Comments
• Edit Own Comments
• Create Attachments
• Delete All Attachments
• Delete Own Attachments
• Delete all Worklogs
• Delete Own Worklogs
• Edit All Worklogs
• Edit Own Worklogs
• Work On Issues

[arielei]

Hello @Jamie Stanczyk 

1. Are you sure that the user deleted a work-item from your project? maybe the user deleted a work-item from another project.

2. If not, please share an image of the permission scheme

The best practice for permission scheme is to have one permission scheme per app, for example "Jira" or "JSM".

Set the permission scheme with only project roles and then give the project admin user the option to set whoever they want.

[Jamie Stanczyk]

The user has the user role permission for the project and it's not for a different project. The permission scheme is set with only project roles, and we have one permission scheme for the entire Jira product. 

Also, the permission scheme is based on the default software scheme.