Is it possible to change the work type retrospectively by rule?

[Antonia]

We receive work items from a system by e-mail and these are created as a service request by default. Now, however, these tickets that come from this reporter should become a “change”. I have already tried to do this by rule, but then I get the message that it is not possible. Is there a workaround?

[JRACLOUD-68207] Using REST API the issue type can be changed when workflows are completely different - Create and track feature requests for Atlassian products.

[Bill Sheboy · Accepted solution]

Hi @Antonia 

Short answer: that is possible with an automation rule and the REST API, and it may be unwise to do so.

Work item types have different configurations for the project, work flow, fields, etc.  And so changes from one type to another often need people to help.  This is why Jira has a "Move" feature in the UX to interact and ask questions to resolve any problems.

But an automation rule cannot pause to ask such questions, and so there is no built-in action to "Move" to a new type or project.  (There is a "move" action specifically to help with Team-managed project boards, but that has nothing to do with work item types.  Indeed, I hypothesize it is not shown in the documentation because it would probably generate too many questions from customers.)

One possible workaround is to anticipate all possible questions / answers for the move, and then use the REST API endpoint for a Bulk Issue Move, passing only one single work item and the type change information.  That may be done with the Send Web Request action.  If you want to try that, here are some references to help:

• https://developer.atlassian.com/cloud/jira/platform/rest/v3/api-group-issue-bulk-operations/#api-rest-api-3-bulk-issues-move-post
• https://community.atlassian.com/forums/Jira-articles/Automation-for-Jira-Send-web-request-using-Jira-REST-API/ba-p/1443828

Kind regards,
Bill

[Antonia]

Thank you!

[Sebastian Krzewiński]

HI @Antonia 

There is no way to change worklfow via rule or rest api when work types have different workflows.

Regards,

Seba

[John Funk]

Hi Antonia,

If the two work items share the same workflow, then you can just update the work item type with the automation.