Why does a smart value work for due date but the same S.V doesn’t work for planned start date?

[KillyDream]

I have an automation set up to clone a story. It is set up to add the due date and planned start date. Both smart values are set up the exact same except for the beginning. They look as follows.

Due date:

{{issue.”due date”.plusMonths(3).firstbusinessdayofmonth.plusbusinessdays(5)}}

Planned start date:

{{issue.”planned start date”.plusMonths(3).firstbusinessdayofmonth.plusbusinessdays(5)}}

These smart values are meant to take the due date and planned start date from the current issue and add 3 months + 6 business days for the cloned story. The dates on the current story are both the same. When it clones, the smart value works for the due date, but the planned start date isn’t populating. Why is it working for one and not the other?

It works if I say :{{now.firstbusinessdayofmonth.plusbusinessdays(5)}} but this logic doesn’t always work as sometimes the due date is different then the planned start date. I’d like the find a way I can make the planned start date populate by using the planned start date from the current story. Any help is greatly appreciated. 

[Trudy Claspill · Accepted solution]

Hello @KillyDream 

Are you working with issues in a Team Managed project or a Company Managed project?

Have you confirmed that you are referencing the Planned start date field correctly? Have you used the process outlined here to confirm you have the correct reference?

Have you tried using the Log action to print the value for {{issue."planned start date"}} into the audit log to confirm it has the value you expect, before the modifications?

[KillyDream]

I’m still quite new to JIRA and having a very hard time figuring out how to follow the instructions on how to do this haha🥴

I did also notice that there are two planned start dates. One with (12100) and the other with (17613). I am using 12100 and that appears to be what is on the stories, but I don’t remember there being two before? I’m not sure what the difference is. 

[Trudy Claspill]

We were all new at one point. Don't hesitate to ask if you are unclear about what to do.

Jira does not prevent the creation of multiple custom fields with the same name. 

Global custom fields can be created by Jira Administrators.

Project Administrators can create custom fields in their own Team Managed projects.

Because the names are not required to be unique, Automation Rules can fail when you use only the field name in the smart value. 

The Log Action and the Audit Log for rule execution are very useful debugging tools to help you figure why a rule is not doing what you expect. I make liberal use of the Log Action to print to the audit log most of the smart values I try to use in my rules.