JWM Automation - Manual trigger from outside a work item

[David Quiram]

In a Jira Work Management project, I noticed that the automation button shows itself in the top right corner of the project. I was hoping this was an indicator that maybe we would be able to trigger an automation to run without having to run it from a work item directly. 

That still doesn't seem to be the case, unfortunately. Looks like the button there is just meant to be a quick means of accessing the Automations page. 

So, has anyone found a way to do it? Fire off an manual automation, but not from a work item directly. Outside of the things like reaction or time based triggers, I know about those. Use cases include:

• Sending an email
• Task creation
• Bulk action against multiple issues

[Marc - Devoteam · Accepted solution]

Hi @David Quiram 

No you can't trigger manual automation from outside a work item, they can only be triggered from a work item.

This as automation run on a work item, if you would be able to run them outside a work item, where would the rule act on?

[David Quiram]

Right, so as someone who doesn't understand the inner workings of how automations actually do what they do at a code level, I don't have an answer for you. 

It's totally possible to build an automation that doesn't interact with a work item at all, yet it would still exist and run. 

Example:

• Trigger: Every Monday at 8 AM
• Action: Send Email to X User

This is an automation that will run, but it's not tied to any specific work item. How does it do what it does? 

Could we not make it so that automations with a trigger of "manual" allows them to show in the automations menu when we click the button from the main project so that we can run them from there and not have to be in a work item?

[Marc - Devoteam]

Hi @David Quiram 

No it can't manual automation are only available on work items.

Automation with a scheduled trigger can be run from the automations overview.

Your example is a scheduled automation so you don't need to run this manually, but you could trigger this manually from the automations.

[David Quiram]

Right, I understand the type of example I was giving. I was just pointing out the decoupled nature of the automation. 

So, here is a better question maybe. Why can't manual automations be decoupled in the same way if the automation rule itself doesn't have any actions that require a work item as a target? 

Is it just a limitation of the manual trigger action that could be adjusted by the developers or is it some limitation with the backend where the actions take place? Limitation with the API being leveraged? 

Inquiring minds would love to know. 😆

[Marc - Devoteam]

Hi @David Quiram 

As stated in the title of the trigger "Manual Trigger from Work Item" gives it away.

The trigger is only usable on a Work Item, so it's related to the nature of the trigger.

You could raise a feature request here; https://jira.atlassian.com/secure/Dashboard.jspa or see this already open request AUTO-1781 

[David Quiram]

Thank you, I've put my vote and commentary on that request. 

Final ask, would anyone like to venture a guess as to why it is as it is? Does anyone know the actual reason? Like, you have seen the coding and can point at the line and say "There's the culprit." Here's my guess

• It was originally coded in such a way that it required a hard link to a work item and downstream actions (at the time) had a dependency for that work item ID. Most likely because of whatever API was being used at the time or maybe just developer preference with whoever originally coded it. 

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello @David Quiram 

I don't have an answer about why the manual trigger is only available within work items.

I'm writing to point out that even with the trigger being accessed within an issue, the rule does not have to act on that issue. The three items in your original post can be set up as manual trigger rules that can be triggered from any work items, and can execute actions that have interaction with that work item.

[David Quiram]

I would also like to point out to any admins who might read this that I tried to post this under the Jira Work Management product and the forum wasn't accepting the post at all.

[John Funk]

That's because there isn't technically a JWM product anymore. It's just Jira and those are Jira Business projects. 

[David Quiram]

Ah... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯