Is a kind of "pre-transition" trigger possible with JIRA automation?

[Ulrik Schoth]

Hi,

Using JIRA automation, I want to automatically set the Epic Status field to Done when the Epic's workflow status is transitioned to CLOSED. I found a solution on Atlassian Support which works fine for all other workflow statuses.

But for the transition to CLOSED I get an error:

Unknown fields set during edit, they may be unavailable for the project/type. Check your custom field configuration. Fields ignored - Epic Status (customfield_11202)

I assume that this is because the transition to CLOSED has already taken place when the trigger occurs and the field  "Epic Status" is already locked. 

A "pre-transition" trigger could help, but I'm not sure if such a solution is available.

[Mikael Sandberg · Accepted solution]

Automations will always run after something happens, it cannot be triggered as a "pre-transition". Have you considered setting the status as part of a post function on the transition instead?

[Shawn Doyle - ReleaseTEAM · Accepted solution]

Hi @Ulrik Schoth 

I would typically approach this in the workflow transitions, is there a reason you want to do this via automation.

[Ulrik Schoth]

Hi @Shawn Doyle - ReleaseTEAM , hi @Mikael Sandberg

Thank you very much for your suggestions. Since I, as a project admin, have no direct way to change the workflow transitions, I didn't think of this possibility. However, I can of course ask one of our Jira admins to add corresponding post functions.

But:

I have taken a closer look at post functions and unfortunately have the impression that they don't help here.

• According to the error message I described in my post, Epic Status is apparently a custom field.
• The optional post function Update Issue Field seems to be limited in its use due to the following note: This post function cannot update custom fields and must be positioned after the other optional post functions.

Am I wrong?

[Mikael Sandberg]

@Ulrik Schoth Yes, epic status is a locked custom field, but it is one of the fields that you can update as part of a post function

[Mikael Sandberg]

My guess it that you have a property on the transition that makes the work item read-only and that is why your automation is failing, so your only option if you want to go the automation route is to do a manual trigger that sets the status first and then transition it to closed.

[Ulrik Schoth]

Hi @Mikael Sandberg

Since you wrote Automations will always run after something happens, it cannot be triggered as a "pre-transition", I have already accepted that I cannot solve my use case on the basis of JIRA Automation. That's why I looked into the post functions for workflow transitions suggested by you and @Shawn Doyle - ReleaseTEAM.

In order to better understand the post functions, I organized a test installation of JIRA where I have admin permissions. And then I noticed that I unfortunately forgot to note that we work with JIRA Software Data Center v10.3.8 and that you probably assume that we work with Jira Cloud. This could explain why I can't find the option you suggested Update a request field in DC.

Sorry for that.

[Ulrik Schoth]

For completeness, the screenshots below display what you can do with Post Functions in Jira Software Data Center out of the box. Unfortunately, this confirms what I had already found in the Jira documentation:

The built-in possibilities in Jira Software Data Center do not allow you to change the Epic Status field with a post function on the transition.

As a test, I have defined a post function that sets the Description field. This works as expected.

[Ulrik Schoth]

In the meantime, I have found out that the app JSU Automation Suite for Jira Workflows is installed in my company. This offers very flexible post functions, which allowed me to realize my use case.

The screenshot below shows the solution found.

Many thanks again to @Mikael Sandberg and @Shawn Doyle - ReleaseTEAM, who pushed me in the right direction.