Is there anyway to have multiple people do a "task" within a software workflow?

[Matt Noe]

We heavily use Jira for IT project requests, however, I am struggling with getting estimates and confirmation on the ability to prioritize the enhancements across multiple vendors.

After a request is received, we know what vendors will do the development, and is marked on the issue fields by a checkbox field. 

I would like to use that checkbox to require those vendors to input an estimate (they all have separate estimate fields).  I don't want the workflow to progress past 'pending estimate' status until all vendors have input their estimate

The ways I was thinking of tackling this:

1. Create a multiple-scenario workflow with new statuses with conditions based on the vendor(s) selected
2. Create sub-tasks for each vendor when the status is first transitioned to 'pending estimation'
3. Use a third-party approval workflow add-on
4. Utilize ScriptRunner to some degree (not sure if there is something that would easily fit this scenario)

Does the community have any recommendations on how to best approach this?

[Walter Buggenhout]

Hi @Matt Noe,

A lot depends on how you work, how these vendors access your Jira instance etc. But based on what you describe, it feels quite natural if you had separate tasks for each vendor. They could be sub-tasks to a general standard task, or they could be standard tasks below an epic.

Anyway, giving each vendor a separate issue comes with several benefits:

• you can properly assign each issue individually to the appropriate vendor / user;
• multiple tasks can be worked on simultaneously (if that fits the process), which avoids handovers and delays in your workflow that may be unnecessary;
• all issues can be estimated separately using standard Jira fields

Hope this helps! 

[Matt Noe]

Hi @Walter Buggenhout 

I like this approach, however, could I enforce a rule that the status cannot progress until just these sub-tasks are completed (I'm assuming I'll create new sub-task type for estimate)? 

There are several other types of sub-tasks that could be present so I am concerned about how I can prevent progress if not completed.