Automation rule to send a "Please Reply" email after 3 business days inactivity

[Ryan Hormann]

We are trying to setup an automation rule to send out an email at 8:00am to users if their ticket has sat with the status of "Waiting for User" for 3 business days with no activity. So, currently with the way we have it setup, the rule is running but not performing any actions even though when I validate the rule it doesn't state that no tickets currently match.

I also have another concern that the rule is going by calendar days instead of business days and so these emails will be sent out over the weekend.

Also I want this rule to trigger once at the [3-5) day mark. So when it runs at 8:00am, any ticket that is over 3 days inactive and under 5 days inactive will get an email sent (unless there is a better trigger for this rule).

This is what I currently have setup for an automation rule:

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @Ryan Hormann 

Short answer: There is no built-in JQL feature to allow comparing business days, only calendar days.  Thus, an alternative is to use two rules: one saves the date / time in a custom field when a work item transitions to "Waiting for User", and a scheduled trigger rule which can use the date / time diff() function for a business days comparison.  And, there are also some problems with the rule you show, so please see below for those.

For the rule you show, it uses a scheduled trigger with JQL, and by default, this option is enabled: Only include work items that have changed since the last time this rule executed.  That means the rule will not repeatedly check items which have already been processed.  But, that may not work for your scenario because the rule will use date / time functions and not JQL to check for the elapsed business days.

Next, your trigger JQL checks for status = "Waiting for User", but then the rule later has conditions which always pass: the checks on status of Resolved and Cancelled.  Are you checking what you wanted with those, or did you instead want to check the Resolution field?

Finally, you likely only want to send the reminder once (or a limited) number of times.  Please consider how you want to track that in the work item to prevent repeated reminders to the person.

Kind regards,
Bill

UPDATE: There is another automation approach which does not require adding the custom field or second rule to set it: using the REST API to read the changelog entries.  If it turns out that is needed for this question, please read later posts to learn more.  Thank you!

[David Nickell]

Greetings all. I'd like to challenge (in an intellectual, fun way) an automation approach when compared to the filter subscription approach 

1. The Filter Subscription solution will let you see the list of impacted tickets (though you have to create copies of the JQL that don't include the current user piece). 
2. Along those same lines, your stakeholders can use your filter during discussions and meetings, etc. If you go with automation, I assume you will still want some list of which items are in your universe.
3. Automation limits exist though I can't swear what the cost and pricing is these days. I'm not sure how many executions are involved in the proposal.
4. Lastly on the visbility issue - no one other than an Admin will be able to see or modify the automation process.  
5. The automation solution requires a new custom field if I understand it.

Finally -- again all in fun, I think you can have my solution running in the amount of time it took you to read these comments. Sounds like there is work to do to get comfortable with  automation logic.

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @David Nickell 

When I read the question, the key part I observed is (with emphasis added my me):

"...ticket has sat with the status of "Waiting for User" for 3 business days with no activity."

I do not believe built-in JQL has a way to do the business days part, and @Ryan Hormann did not explain what "no activity" means: no status change, no updates at all, or something else.  My interpretation was we needed to know when the status changed to Waiting for User to check the business days part.  You appear to interpret it as no updates at all.

I recommend we wait for Ryan to take a look and clarify for us.

If they meant something like "stays in the Waiting for User status for 3 or more business days", I can think of another automation solution approach which does not require the extra custom field...assuming the work item has not changed status more than 1000 times :^)

Kind regards,
Bill

[David Nickell]

Hello. how to do automated emails comes up on a regular basis and my go to answer (for 15+ years) has been to use a filter subscription.  Your situation has two unique points:  

1. You want to run only M-F at 8:00 AM

2. You only want this to be concerned with Business Days

You essentially need three Filters and Subscriptions.

Each JQL would include

Status = "zzzzzzz" and Assignee = CurrUser().

And the check for lastupdated:

• Monday =  lastUpdated <= -5d
• Tuesday = lastUpdated <= -4d
• Wed,Thu,Fri =  lastUpdated <= -3d

Then run the correct JQL Subscription on the correct day of the week:

[Joseph Chung Yin]

@Ryan Hormann 

I am in line with what @Bill Sheboy suggested on your ask.  Looking forward to your results after implemented Bill's suggestion.

Best, Joseph Chung Yin