using automation to change the epic of the parent of a subtask

[Christophe Noualhat]

Hello

How can I update the epic of the parent of a subtask ?

EPIC-1

..........ISSUE-2

....................SUB-TASK-3

I am looking for a rule that triggers when something happens to SUB-TASK-3 and that will modify EPIC-1 ... the branching does not allow for this...  (SUB-TASK-3 does not have an epic, and its parent is ISSUE-2)

thanks

[nmenere · Accepted solution]

@Bill Sheboy was close on this, a rule like the following should work:

• Trigger: sub-task updated (you may want to make this more specific)
• Condition: issue type is sub-task
• Branch: for jql: key = {{issue.parent.Epic Link}}
  • Action: the action you want to take

This will edit the Epic of the parent.

Hope that is what you were after.

Cheers,
Nick

[Christophe Noualhat]

@nmenere Nick, this works and was so easy to setup !! Exactly what I was looking for but did not see this could be achieved with JQL code...

Where can we find all the info related to how to create the string like "key = {{issue.parent.Epic Link}}" ? That seems powerful !!

[nmenere]

So the JQL can use any smart values that are available.

We have some pretty comprehensive docs regarding smart values - https://support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/what-are-smart-values/

Hope that helps.

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @Christophe Noualhat -- Welcome to the Atlassian community!

Have you tried something like this:

• Trigger: sub-task updated (you may want to make this more specific)
• Condition: issue type is sub-task
• Branch: for parent
  • Condition on JQL: issuetype = Epic AND key = {{issue.epic link}}
  • Action: the action you want to take

Best regards,
Bill

[Christophe Noualhat]

@William Sheboy  

Branch: for parent  : this will update the parent of my subtask... I want to update the epic above the parent....

[Bill Sheboy]

Oops, my bad.  I forgot you cannot nest branches with automation rules.

Two possible work-around solutions:

1) I do not have a scripting add-on to test this... If you have something like ScriptRunner you could find the epic for the sub-task and then update it.  Use a JQL branch to find the epic.

2) Use two rules, one to find the story for the sub-task, and one to update the epic. You would need to store what you want to update in another field, and then invent your own trigger, such as a specialized comment. 

This second solution makes sense when cascading changes, such as moving a sub-task into progress pulls the story into progress, which then pulls the epic into progress.

[Christophe Noualhat]

Hi @Bill Sheboy 

Thanks for your suggestions. We do not have script runner unfortunately and I wanted to avoid cascading as this would then use 2 rules with all the trouble associated... so I guess there is no other solution from the way automation is setup ?

Thanks !