Help branching an automation rule

[dave.drexler]

Hi folks - looking for some help designing a rule that is triggered by a change to the Sprint field on a Story, and then transitions the Story's Epic's parent.

We have a structure in which Epics in project-A roll up to parent Sub-initiatives in project-B.

I want to transition the Sub-initiative to 'In Progress' when any Story in any child Epic of the Sub-initiative is added to a sprint.

Here's what I have that's not working. I suspect the problem is with the final action which is probably trying to transition the Epic, not the Epic's parent. But because I can't add a branch under a branch (I think - the UI doesn't seem to allow it) I don't know how to point the action at the Epic's parent.

According to the log, the Lookup step is working and finding the correct parent Sub-initiative.

Any help would be appreciated!

[Mark Segall · Accepted solution]

Hi @dave.drexler - Correct.  Your branch is currently on the Epic rather than the Sub-Initiative.  I would make the following adjustment to your rule:

1. Add a variable after your first condition:
   • varEpic
   • {{issue.Epic Link}}
2. Change your Branch to JQL
   1. Key = {{varEpic.Parent Link}} AND status != "In Progress"
3. Remove the Lookup Issues and JQL condition within the branch

I think this will work.

[dave.drexler]

Hi @Mark Segall - thanks. I definitely owe you a box of donuts.

I updated my rule per your advice, but it's giving me an error regarding the branching JQL. The error message seems to ignore the defined variable/smart value ("(Key = AND status != "In Progress")").  Says "Expecting either a value, list or function but got 'AND'", which doesn't make sense.

I've defined that variable like so:

[Mark Segall]

Wasn't sure if the variable approach would work.  Let's try this instead:

• Replace the variable with a Lookup Issues Action
  • Key = {{issue.Epic Link}}
• Then update the JQL in your branch to this:
  • Key = {{lookupIssues.Parent Link}} AND status != "In Progress"

[dave.drexler]

Thanks, @Mark Segall ! That worked great.