How to Auto-update Start & end Dates in WBS Gant Chart.

[Rutuja Ghamande]

Hi Jira support team,

Would like to know if there is any way by which the start & end dates on Jira WBS Gant chart for sub-tasks & User stories get updated on its own, when an agent starts working on sub-task & finishes working on it.

For example in the attached screenshot you can see that a few sub-tasks like are in progress as the percentage of task completed it updated to 56% however, the start date & end date are not auto updated & duration calculated for sub-task is seen an 0 days/hours. 

Is there any way these dates & duration can be auto updated to current and not show the default dates entered at the start of the project?

Thanks,

Rutuja.

[Mark Segall]

Hi @Rutuja Ghamande and welcome to the community!

You should be able to use Jira Automation for this.  Here's an example:

• TRIGGER: issue Transitioned (To In Progress/To Closed)
• IF CONDITION
  • Status Not Equals Closed
  • ACTION: Edit Issue (Start Date)
    • {{now}}
• ELSE CONDITION
  • ACTION: Edit Issue (End Date)
    • {{now}}

Note - This is just a baseline for the rule.  There are probably exception scenarios you'll want to account for like issues being reopened.

[Rutuja Ghamande]

Hi Mark,

Thanks. I tried creating the rule but I am unable to add the action for it. I am unable to figure out which type of action I need to choose from the list shown and how to add it. Please can you guide me in detail as I am quiet new to Jira automation. 

Please find attached screenshots of my query.

Thanks,

Rutuja.

[Mark Segall]

No problem - Once you're done setting the condition, nested just below on the left side of the screen you'll see "Add Component". This is where you want to select the ACTION Edit Issue.  Then once you save that, you'll click on the "Add Else" on the left side.

[Rutuja Ghamande]

Hello Team,

I tried creating the automation rule again and enabled it. Please find the enclosed screenshot of the rule created & enabled. However, still the start & end dates of my tasks & duration are not auto calculated. 

Please let me know what is missing. 

Thanks.

[Mark Segall]

Can you please share a screen shot of your rule log?  I want to see if it's even triggering the rule.  It may be necessary to open up the rule for all issue transitions and then have the If/Else conditions more explicit as to which transition is occurring.  For example...

• TRIGGER: Issue Transitioned (leave blank)
• IF CONDITION:
  • Status = In Progress
  • ACTION: Edit Issue (Start Date)
    • {{now}}
• ELSE CONDITION:
  • Status = Closed
  • ACTION: Edit Issue (Actual End)
    • {{now}}

[Rutuja Ghamande]

Hello Mark,

Please find the screenshot attached. But still no change in dates.

[Mark Segall]

Your log shows that the fields were updated.  Can you please confirm that Start Date and Actual End are the fields that WBS Gantt Chart is using?

[Rutuja Ghamande]

Hello Mark,

Please find a screenshot of the audit logs attached. As per the screenshot the logs say ' NO ACTIONS PERFORMED' as the status. Does that mean that this rule executed successfully, however no actions were performed due to a condition stopping the rule execution ? Please can you help me understand? 

Also I have attached a screenshot of the WBS Gant chart status after enabling this rule, still there is auto updating of start dates for the sub tasks in progress to its actual start date & duration. 

Also, based on the resources available I have created dependencies for sub-tasks from various User stories with each other. Is this the reason why the rule is not working? Should I disable these dependencies for the actual timeline to pick up?

I had even set a tentative start date for many of the sub -tasks initially & then created the dependencies to calculate a tentative overall timeline of the project. Is this default start date stopping the sub-task to pick up its actual start date which could be which could be a few days before today? 

Request you to share your insight to help me solve this issue.

One very important change which I made after looking up online is , I updated Jira field instead of app's own data in the settings to synchronize the start and end dates of WBS Gantt and Jira issues by referring to this article but still it does not help. - https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Software-questions/How-to-synchronize-the-start-and-end-dates-of-WBS-Gantt-and-Jira/qaq-p/1874176

Please can you let me know what I am missing here? 

Awaiting your response.

Thanks,

Rutuja

[Mark Segall]

I'd like to take this back a step.  In your previous response, you showed a screenshot where the rule said it was updating properly and now it's saying no actions taken.  I'm not sure what's changed here.

I am noticing one thing... According to your last screenshot, it looks like the wrong field is being updated for end date.  It looks like the app is using Start date and Finish date. Your rule appears to be updating the correct "Start date" field, but using "Actual End" instead of Finish date.  So, you'll ned to change that in the rule.

[Rutuja Ghamande]

Hello Mark,

I did some research and built two automation rules and now it seems to be working. The sub-tasks dates are auto updated when the status changes to In progress or Done. Please find attached screenshots.

Now I have one more blocker. Since the dates are updated after auto-sync with Jira the order of tasks & epics shows mixed up in Gant chart.

Is there any filter I can build in Gant chart with a particular JQL query using which I can filter out only certain EPICS with user stories? Please can you help me with the exact JQL query for this filter? PFA screenshot of Gant.

Thanks,

Rutuja

[Mark Segall]

Congrats on getting the automation working!

For the JQL, simply filtering in/out a hierarchy would result in a very long JQL statement that needs to be manually maintained.  Your best path is to create a release and apply all issues you want to see to that release by way of the fixVersion field.  Then use the JQL: 

fixVersion = YOURRELEASE