Why is my 'task creation' automation failing, but sub-task works fine?

[Alyssa Hill]

Hi there, 

I have a project with different issues types that I want to automate task creations upon transition of statuses.

I've been able to successfully do this with epic issue type, however, if I try to use 'story' or 'initiative' in order for the issue to follow a different workflow from the existing epic, the task creation fails when setup the same as the Epic

Epic automation that works: 

Story automation that errors for unknown reason: 

Important notes: 

• The task creation work's if I don't have 'parent issue' included in the automation 
• Subtask creation works, but I want to use 'tasks' 

Error log: 

Any idea what I'm missing? 

Thank you!! 

Alyssa 

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello @Alyssa Hill 

I want to add something that will hopefully help you make more sense of issue types and hierarchy.

Looking at the issue type hierarchy image you provide, note that the information in the column Level Name is just a name for that level. It doesn't specify or limit the actual issue types available at that level.

When new issue types are created, the Admin has to specify the "type" (i.e. category) for that new issue type.

That sets the Issue Type Hierarchy Level where that issue type will reside.

Epics are a special issue type that have their own level, and Jira doesn't let you make more issue types at that level, except by jumping through some extra hoops.

Excluding Epics, all other issue types will fall within one of the two types/levels shown above. In the Issue Type Hierarchy screen Jira does not explicitly show all the individual issue types at those levels. 

The hierarchy determines what issue types can be children or parents of any given issue type. Parents must come from the level directly above and children must come from the level directly below.

When you are in an Epic and you click the Add / Child Issue button, you can add only issues of the type from Level 0. You can't add sub-tasks.

When you are in an issue type from level 0 (i.e. a Story) then you will see Add / Subtask as the only option.

Because there is no level below subtasks, they cannot have children. And Epics cannot have parents (in a Standard subscription).

Also, by this logic, issue types at the same level can't be parents or children of each other. A Story can't be a parent to a Task. A Sub-task can't be a parent to another Sub-task.

If you need that sort of relationship you can use the Link Issue functionality to link a Story to a Task. But realize that Jira will not see that as a parent/child relationship.

You said you wanted two different "workflows". That term means something specific in Jira. A Workflow is the set of statuses that an issue can use, and the rules for how an issue can be changed from one status to another. Jira does support having different Workflows for different Issue Types. That is something that the Jira Administrator can help set up.

I hope that information is helpful and expands your understanding. Don't hesitate to ask if it brings up more questions.

[Harrison Ponce]

Hi @Alyssa Hill ! Great question for automation! If your setup is like most in Jira, the Epic issue type is at a hierarchy level of 1, followed by story and task at 0, and then sub-task at -1. (initiative is usually 2)

It's probably erroring out since tasks are at the same level as stories and you can't make it a child of the story if they are at the same hierarchy level.

Does this help?

[Alyssa Hill]

Hi @Harrison Ponce ! Thanks for responding!

I looked into our hierarchy which is shown below, however it's not editable with our current model. Are you saying tasks can only be associated with one specific issue type per project?

Our 'tasks' issue type isn't in the hierarchy so I thought it could be used for anything, but looks like that's only true for subtasks?

I'm not understanding what the relationship limitation is of tasks since it's not in the hierarchy 

[Harrison Ponce]

Task can be associated with any project in Jira. However issue types are global. So when someone sets up an issue type at a certain hierarchy, you cannot reuse the same issue type with different hierarchies throughout the project.

You could make a new issue type named similarly and make it a -1 under story (Which is level 0) but that may cause confusion as you will have two "tasks" across projects. The best bet would be to use sub-task.

Out of curiosity, are you looking for more layers between story and sub-task? Curious what the use-case/goal is!

[Alyssa Hill]

We don't have a premium account so I cannot edit the existing issue type hierarchy.

My end goal is to simply have 2 different workflows with automated tasks in a single project that are auto linked to the 'parent' effort.  In this case, the team goes through a 'consult' workflow, then a 'active' workflow.

WF (1) A epic with automated tasks applied upon transitioning to a status (success, no issues) 

WF (2) Story with tasks 

The part I'm lost on is that 'task' is not part of our hierarchy, so I should be able to use it with any standard issue type in a single project (in my mind at least lol), but it sounds like because I've already associated 'tasks' to an Epic, I can't re-use tasks in a different 'hierarchy' under a story? 

I can just use subtasks for the story instead of tasks, I was more so trying to create a standard way of working in our instance and am failing to understand the hierarchy function since 'task' isn't in the hierarchy. 

[Alyssa Hill]

Sound like I just need to change my frame of mind on when to use tasks vs subtask. :) Thank you for the guidance. 

[Harrison Ponce]

No worries! It's unfortunately a bit like rocket science sometimes lol. That's what makes it super customizable but also super frustrating! haha.

Happy to chat more about this if you would like to connect some time!