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Adding Status\transition to Simplified workflow?

boardtc

My goal is to have a Review and Test column inserted before Done.

Adding a new column/status to the simplified workflow used to be very straightforward, it no longer is as a status is no longer added by default when you add a column :-( The new functionality seem powerful but this basic edit to the workflow should not be so difficult.

Working on a cloud instance with full admin permissions I have attempted to add new steps\statuses, see below.

There is no way to drag and drop the new step(s), or to edit the existing transition in order to go from In Progress to the new column/status of Review (& then Test) before Done.

The help does not seem to cover this basic functionality either.

How can this be done? Or is it impossible now without creating a new workflow? new status.jpg

Accepted answers

Jack Brickey_h10pa4

@boardtc, let me see if I can jump back in and assist around the cloud side of things. However, the details that Nic provided were very good so unsure if my additions will help but let's see.

How to copy a workflow in Cloud: (note my images are on new UI so your view may be slightly different)

1) click on the Jira Icon to get you to the application admin level

2) selects Settings

3) select Issues

4) Select Workflows

5) for the workflow that you wish to copy in the far right will be COPY

Edit the new workflow. You can do this in the same screen where all workflows are displayed by clicking EDIT.

Finally, Associate the workflow to project and issuetype(s) you want. You do this via Add Existing (as you show in your recent response to Nic) and then Assign the issue types to the new workflow. Such as...

I sure hope this helps.

All comments

Jack Brickey_h10pa4

@boardtc, you indicate you want a new "column" but think you mean row. I always find it easier personally to edit the workflow in diagram mode. There you can simply add status and connect the status with transitions. Have you attempted this? Note you may not be able to edit the workflow if active and shared in which case make a copy, rename, edit and then associate the new workflow to the project/issuetype.

boardtc

I have not tried that yet, but to clarify, my Scrum board has 3 columns by default and I want to add 2 additional ones. I'm unsure why you are mentioning rows? Does that make more sense?

Jack Brickey_h10pa4

Ok so that is what I was wondering. The reason I mention rows is that in your image above you are showing the workflow (not scrum board) and the rows align to statuses.

So the columns in the scrum/kanban boards are simply a way to organize/view/manage your issues. If you want to add columns then go to the board>board settings>columns and simply add your columns. Then you need to map the new statuses to these columns. Status and transitions are created/managed in the workflow editor and board settings are managed on the individual board. It looks like you already have the statues you want in the workflow (Review/Test) so they simply need to be mapped (drag/drop) via the board settings.

boardtc

Thanks Jack. In Text View I removed the 2 new steps. Moving to Diagram view as you suggest I added the 2 new statuses. They were then available on my column settings to move to the the new columns and thus making the columns visible :-) But I can't move issues to these columns without a transition.

So I edit the Software Simplified Workflow and add a transition so an issue can be moved from In Progress to Review. I get the message that you can't add a transition on a draft but one can only add a transition when editing a workflow & thereby creating a draft!

Nic Brough -Adaptavist-

Just as a quick check - have you checked that the board no longer has "simplified workflow" set on it?

If it is still simplified, you need to remember that all your changes can be removed without warning, and you can't use any post-functions, validators or conditions that are provided by anything other than core Jira.

boardtc

Hi there Nic :-)

In Workflows after editing the workflow is still says "Software Simplified Workflow for Project X". The name does not appear to be editable ?

It also says "Generated by JIRA Software version 1001.0.0-SNAPSHOT. This workflow is managed internally by Jira Software. Do not manually modify this workflow." !

I just want to add the 2 columns! Before it was so easy to do with the statuses were created by default when you added a column.

When I go into column management for the board it says simplified workflow on it. When I click on that I get "There currently exists an active workflow 'Software Simplified Workflow for Project X'. This conflicts with the Software Simplified Workflow management. Please rename or remove the existing workflow before attempting to convert project X."

Where do you suggest changing the name?

Note that I have 7 boards to setup it would be great to be able to set these statuses\transition/workflow up once and use on all 7 boards.

Any advice is much appreciated

Nic Brough -Adaptavist-

That makes sense.

It sounds like you have simplified the workflow, which creates a new workflow with the name you are seeing, and then de-simplified it by changing the workflow scheme, so that the board no longer sees it as simplified, it's back to a normal Jira workflow.

It has kept the simplified name, despite not being a simplified workflow any more.

This is fine to do, as you're not editing a simplified workflow, but the hangover name is a bit of a pain. You have to disassociate the workflow from the projects using it to edit it. In real life, it's easier to copy it, rename the copy (and make other edits you want) then apply it back to the project. I'd add in your two new status at the point of editing. Once you've applied it back to the project, your board admin will be able to create new columns and map the status in.

boardtc

Thanks.

First, I am the board admin.

My only goal is to add 2 additional columns (Review, Test) and to be able to move issues forward and back (from Reviews / Test it might go back to In Progress). Currently, to clarify, this is not working.

Maybe I need to start afresh, Is there one place that explains how to work through all the complexities ye have added to something which was so straightforward (I see this was changed in 7.3). For example, how do I copy a workflow? When I go into workflow I see:

My 7 boards are actually in 7 different projects. It sounds like I will need to do this for each project?

Nic Brough -Adaptavist-

Ok, there's a few holes in this conversation and I think it might be easier to start again, as you suggested. I'm going to go back to basics and go one step at a time because I can see that some of these concepts are not explained well for you.

Jira has workflows. A workflow is a representation of a process, and has two main components, status and transition. A status is "where issue is in the process" and a transition is "move between status"
In a project, you can tell Jira to use different workflows for each issue type. Or you can tell it to use one for all of them. And you can vary it by project. This is done with workflow schemes which gather together one or more workflows and tell the project which one(s) to use for each issue type.
Boards are a view of issues. These are divided into columns. A column is a collection of status that the issues selected by the board might go through. Very often, this is a 1:1 relationship. You have a workflow with 7 status, so you have a board with 7 columns. But it does not have to be done this way, you can put many status in one column, or even leave a status out so it is not in any column. Columns do not have any special names, you can call them what you want. e.g. "Status of 'Closed' is in column 'Mr Flibble'"
A Board administrator can set up whatever columns they want for their team, and map all available status for the project(s) the board is looking at.
Only Jira admins can edit workflows and add (and remove) status. Board admins just use what is there.
Jira 7.3 introduced the ability for Project admins to add and remove status from a previously configured workflow, if it is not shared with other projects. But not change anything else about it.

For your two new columns, all you need to do is get an admin (Jira admin, OR a project admin, if the workflow is not shared) to add the status. Then get a board admin to map them on the boards.

Simplified workflows are a whole other thing. I don't want to go there unless we have to. Could you check over this first essay and see if you now know what to do?

boardtc

Thanks for that Nic, unfortunately none of my questions have been answered however :-(

I am using Jira cloud and I have full admin rights. Is it possible to do what you suggest? I am under the gun with this config - it was meant to be setup this week :-(

(I have 5 columns rather than 7).

You suggested to copy the workflow and edit that, I asked how to copy it and showed the options available to me:

which does not give the copy option mentioned in the doc regarding cloning, why is this?

A confusing thing is that the help starts with:

workflow help.png

Going in via issues does not show workflows, anyway the cog icon is not visible in Jira cloud, what I see is:

workflow settings.png

As regards editing the cloned workflow then, see the issues I have had above when adding a transition, they will go away when the workflow is a copy, i.e. not active?

Good news a workflow can be shared across projects! That will be the final thing to work out how to do once the above is done.

Jack Brickey_h10pa4

@boardtc, let me see if I can jump back in and assist around the cloud side of things. However, the details that Nic provided were very good so unsure if my additions will help but let's see.

How to copy a workflow in Cloud: (note my images are on new UI so your view may be slightly different)

1) click on the Jira Icon to get you to the application admin level

2) selects Settings

3) select Issues

4) Select Workflows

5) for the workflow that you wish to copy in the far right will be COPY

Edit the new workflow. You can do this in the same screen where all workflows are displayed by clicking EDIT.

I sure hope this helps.

Nic Brough -Adaptavist-

Thanks Jack, I'm well behind today!

boardtc

Thanks Jack, that enabled me to clone the workflow :-)

So I edited the clone and added 2 statuses and 2 transitions: new workflow.png

I then need to change the transition that goes from In Progress -> Done to In Progress -> Review. But the only transitions available to edit are the 2 I created. How do I make the change?

Jack Brickey_h10pa4

So the WF is a bit messy and certainly confusing. I'm sure the issue of not being able to edit transitions is that it is based off the simplified WF but this really should not be the case. Something has gone haywire on your workflow.

At this point I suggest starting clean. Rather than messing with the old WF at all just create a new from scratch workflow. You can do this from the screen where all workflows are shown and just click Add Workflow.

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