I would like to automatically move a task and sub-tasks to a new status based on a time period,

[Tom Howarth]

part of our workflow for completed tasks is that they currently sit in a status of Done for 7 days, during this time a task can be returned to In Progress for remediation.  after 7 days the task is moved into a status call closed.  I would like the automate the move from done to closed.

[Jack Brickey]

Hi Tom, welcome to the Community.

There are two options I would suggest.

1. if you can assume that the last update was transitioning to Done then you can use the JQL Status = Done and updatedDate >= -7d as a condition 
2. if #1 isn't reliable and you must know when an issue transitions to Done then you need to consider creating a custom date field and use either a post function or automation to set the date field when it transitions to Done.

Personally I prefer #1 as it is cleaner. As you begin to create your automation if you get stuck let me know.

[Tom Howarth]

Thank you for your response Jack,  do you have a link for a starter/howto for JQL please?

[Jack Brickey]

Here is a link to the documentation- what-is-advanced-searching-in-jira-cloud . There are several articles you can use to learn JQL. I am happy to assist as well. If you run into issues just let me know your goal in words and I will try to turn it into a JQL for you.

cheers!

[Tom Howarth]

my high level goal on this is that once a task had been in status "done" for 7 days it will automatically move to status "closed"

The cherry on the top would be if this can be focused only on tasks and not subtasks.

I have a rule that once all sub-tasks are in status "done", the parent task will move to status "done."  I am just unsure what will happen to that rule if the sub-tasks are moved into a "closed" status before all the tasks are in done status.

[Jack Brickey]

Question- as stated in my earlier post, can we assume that once a task is moved to the Done status no other updates will occur to it until it is moved into the Closed status? For example, could someone update a field or make a comment on the issue while in the done status? TBH, this is rarely a valid assumption for most scenarios. This is why my second option is likely the right approach. That is, create a custom field to record the date at which the issue moves into the done status.

[Tom Howarth]

For 99% of tasks that assumption is correct yes,  The 7 day cool down period is to cover for potential remediation work where a task/sub-task could be returned to "In-Progress" status