How to copy a value from parent to all child and grand child issues

[Marie-Laure Cruyt]

We structure are projects with the following hierarchy: 

Initiatives > Epics > Stories > Sub Tasks

We work with different teams, therefore, we assign the Initiatives & Epics to teams. I have created a rule so that whenever I edit the Team field, it copies the value to the child issues. 

However, the rule only copies the value across one generation. I would have thought that since the value of the child issues is updated, this retriggers the rule to copy to its sub tasks but that's not the case. I'd like the automation to copy the value to all child and grand child issues. 

To be more specific: 
When I update the Team value on an initiative, I want that value to be copied across all epics, stories and sub tasks within that initiative. Today, it only copies to the epics, and stops there. 

When I update the Team value on an Epic, I want that value to be copied across all stories and sub tasks within that epic. Today, it only copies to the stories, and stops there. 

When I update the Team value on a Story, I want that value to be copied across all sub tasks within that story. 

And I was hoping to only have to create one rule for this.

 

[Mikel Garcia Bartolome]

Hello @Marie-Laure Cruyt

Jira's automation rules generally work across direct issue hierarchies, but by default, they won't propagate changes across multiple generations; for example, from Initiative to Epic to Story to Sub Task.

Here’s how you can adjust your rule to achieve the desired behavior:

Step-by-Step Automation Rule Setup

1. Trigger:

   • Use the Field Value Changed trigger for the Team field. This will start the automation when the Team field is updated in an Initiative, Epic, Story...

2. Action:

   • Edit Issues – Set the Team field value to match the parent issue
   • Apply to Linked Issues – Choose the option to apply changes to both Epic Link (if you are working from Initiative to Epic) and Parent Issue (if you’re working from Epic to Story). You can also use Subtasks for directly linking the Team field from Stories to Subtasks.

3. Recursive Action:

   • To propagate this rule deeper, you’ll need to create an additional Re-trigger the Rule step or use a Branch Rule / Sub-Branch for each hierarchical level (Epic → Story → Subtask).
     • For Epics: After the rule updates the Epics, you can add a new branch to Re-trigger the rule for Stories under those Epics.
     • For Stories: After Stories are updated, add another branch to Re-trigger the rule for Subtasks.

Example

• Trigger: Field Value Changed (Team)
• Action 1: Edit Issues (for Epics, Stories, Subtasks)
  • Apply changes to linked issues or subtasks
• Branch/Sub-Branch 1: Re-trigger the rule for child issues (Epic → Story → Subtask)
• Action 2: Update the Team field for all linked issues.