Question on Permissions / Updating Status

[Jill Bolger]

Hello, New to the Jira admin side of things. Thanks for helping a newbie. 

Can anyone tell me what permission I need to activate in order to have my team be able to change the status of an issue card? I have read through the permissions half-dozen times now, and can't figure it out. 

I would like them to add the issue status, and be able to change it.

Image attached for clarity.

JB

[Trudy Claspill · Accepted solution]

Hello @Jill Bolger 

Welcome to the Atlassian community!

In the image you provided the user appears to be able to change the Status of the issue. They have only one status that they are allowed to select - Defining. 

Is this screen not a representation from a user that is unable to change the Status of the issue? Or is the problem that they see only the one status value and not others?

Also, just for clarity, can you tell us if this is a Company Managed project or a Team Managed project? That information will be shown on the left at the bottom of the navigation pane.

Additionally are you an administrator for this project and/or are you an administrator for the Jira system?

[Jill Bolger]

Hello Trudy, Thanks for the response. 

I am in a company-managed project.

I think you are correct when you say the user is unable to change the status of the issue, and they are unable to add more statuses to choose from.

I am a Jira Admin.

Jill

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello @Jill Bolger 

For a company managed project, there are a few factors that could be at work.

1. In the Workflow the transitions may have been configured so that the only Status an issue can go to when it is in the Funnel status is Defining. There may be no other outgoing transitions for the Funnel status.

2. In the Workflow the transitions may have been configured to limit who can execute the transitions. There may be additional outgoing transitions from the Funnel status, but there may be Conditions on those transitions that prevent a given user from executing them. In that case they would not see those other transitions/statuses in the list of available transitions/statuses when looking at the issue.

You may not need to actually add more statuses to the workflow if one or both of the above apply. The workflow would just need to be edit to address the above concerns.

If the workflow needs to be edited to address the above and/or add more statuses, that can be done only by a Jira Admin. And end user can't do that. In special circumstances a Project Administrator might be able to do that, but it requires a Simplified workflow to be used, and not shared with any other projects, and some additional conditions.

Let me know if you have additional questions.

[Jill Bolger]

Hi Trudy,

You're spot on with point #1. I think I have the system permissions to adjust this ... but I can't find where. Any insight?

Jill

[Trudy Claspill]

Do you have experience modifying workflows? If you don't, are there other Jira Administrators for your Jira system that could mentor you?

I ask because this process is long to learn for a beginner, and it is helpful to have a more experienced person who has access to your system and can collaborate with you on it. 

I can coach through this, but it will likely take a while if this is all new to you.

Here is the home page for documentation on working with Workflows.

https://support.atlassian.com/jira-cloud-administration/docs/work-with-issue-workflows/

You need to first figure out which Workflow needs to be modified, which Workflow Scheme it is in, and then confirm that neither the Workflow nor the Workflow Scheme are shared with other projects.

In this project go to Project Settings, then select Workflow. You will get a screen that shows the Workflow Scheme Name and the Workflows included in it and the issue types that use each Workflow. This is an example.

"Sample Workflow Scheme" is the workflow scheme name. It includes just one workflow named "Sample workflow". That workflow is used by all issue types in this project.

If you see something like this, that indicates the Workflow Scheme is shared by multiple projects. If you change the workflow then all the projects that share the scheme will be impacted.

Even if you don't see that, it is still possible that the Workflow itself is in multiple Workflow Schemes, and other projects could be affected. To find out, you will want to go to the Workflow administration page. Click on the gear icon near your avatar in the upper right corner, then select Issues. In the new screen click on Workflows in the navigation pane on the left.

Search for the Workflow (not Workflow Scheme) name here. You will see if it is used by multiple projects and/or multiple workflow schemes in the table.

Example: The "CUS: Jira Service Management default workflow" is used by two projects.

If you find that that neither the workflow nor the workflow scheme are used by other projects, the next steps are to update the workflow. If the workflow/scheme is used by other projects, then you have to decide if you want the change to impact the other projects. If you do no want other projects impacted, you will need to take steps to make copies of the workflow and/or scheme (depending on which are shared) so that you can make changes to impact only the one project.

If you need more guidance, come back with the information on whether the workflow and/or workflow scheme are used by multiple projects. Then I can provide more specific guidance on next steps if you need it.

[Jill Bolger]

Hi Trudy, You're a wealth of information. I am somewhat on my own over here, but I am going to try and solicit someone in person to help me through this. If that is not possible, I'll do a deep dive into your explanation. Thanks for your efforts.

[Trudy Claspill]

I am happy to help, and happy to continue helping if you don't have any internal mentors available to you.

You may want to explore the Atlassian University for Jira related self-paced training courses to help expand your Jira knowledge. The have beginner through advanced level courses.

[Jill Bolger]

Hi Trudy, I can attest to those courses. They are wonderful and the only reason I'm able to even formulate a sentence about Jira, tbh. I did the Jira and Confluence fundamentals, and also the Jira Essentials with Agile Mindset. 5*, highly recommend.

[Jaime Netzer]

@Jill Bolger and @Trudy Claspill hi from Atlassian University! We are so thoroughly pleased our courses have been helpful to you. If either of you might be up for University using your above endorsements ^ to help others see the value of training in our marketing materials, would you give me a holler? If so, I could DM you and we could discuss details.

If not, no worries at all and again: so glad we could help!!

[Jill Bolger]

Hi @Jaime Netzer - happy to. Feel free to DM me.

Jill

[Jaime Netzer]

You're the best @Jill Bolger ; ask is in your inbox!

[Gupta Vishal]

Hi @Jill Bolger 

Give users Transition issue permission and remember this permission is dependent on browse project permission and product access.

So if you want to move from one status to another the user should have above permission