Assistance Required to Replicate Jira Cloud Automation in Jira Data Center 11.3.7

[Vinod M]

We have implemented an automation rule in our Jira Cloud instance and would like to achieve the same functionality in Jira Data Center 11.3.7.

Use Case

When a Story is created, a custom multi-select field (e.g., Label Type or Impacted System) may contain multiple selected values.

For example:

• If the field contains 3 selected values, the automation should:
  • Create 3 Story issues.
  • Copy the same project, same Summary and Description from the trigger Story.
  • Link each newly created Story to the original (trigger) Story.
• If the field contains 5 selected values, it should create 5 Story issues, and so on.

In Jira Cloud, this is achieved using automation with a "For each" branch that iterates through each selected value in the multi-select field.

Query

Is there a way to implement this same dynamic behavior using the native Automation available in Jira Data Center 11.3.7?

[Viswanathan Ramachandran]

hi @Vinod M 

Partially yes, but not natively in the same way as Cloud. Data Center automation can handle multi-select values with smart values and branching, but a true "create one issue per selected option” loop is usually better done with a marketplace apps like script runner or JMWE. 

[Vinod M]

hi @Viswanathan Ramachandran 
Thanks for the clarification. Could you please let me know if there is any native Jira Data Center Automation approach to dynamically create one issue per selected multi-select value, or is using ScriptRunner/JMWE the recommended solution for this use case?

[Viswanathan Ramachandran]

Hi @Vinod M 

I don't think so possible by native. I would recommend you try with script runner first or JMWE. You can evaluate on trial version if you don't them. 

[Vinod M]

Hi @Viswanathan Ramachandran 
Thank you for your suggestion. I'll try implementing it and see how it goes.

[Tomislav Tobijas]

Hi @Vinod M ,

I think you can use Advanced branching component in DC for this. Note that I don't have DC instance to test this out, but from what I remember, this could work.

Something like this, maybe:

• Trigger...
• Branch rule - Advanced branching
  • Smart value: use {{issue.<customField>}} 
  • Variable name: "selectOption"
• Action (within branch) - Create issue (+ potentially Link issue)

My colleague who's working with DC environments is on vacation - I'd usually check with him and potentially ask him to test this out, but it should work. 👀

Cheers,
Tobi

[Vinod M]

Hi Tobi,

Thank you for your suggestion.

We checked our Jira Data Center 11.3.7 instance, and we don't have the Advanced Branching component available. The only branching options available are Branch Flow and Related Work Item.

Could you please let us know if there is any other native Jira Data Center Automation feature that can achieve this use case? Our requirement is to dynamically create one Story for each selected value in a custom multi-select field and link each created Story back to the trigger Story.

We'd appreciate any guidance or alternative approach you can suggest.

Thanks!
vinod

[Tomislav Tobijas]

@Vinod M ah... My bad, you're right. My other colleague just confirmed the same thing you're saying. There's no such thing there 🫤

I've also managed to find an open feature request for it: JIRAAUTOSERVER-749: Implement the "Advanced branching" functionality 

I'm quite shocked that they haven't released this on-prem as well 👀

Unfortunately, I don't think there's a way (at least not an easy one) to achieve this, but I might be wrong. Potentially someone else will chime in with some suggestions on how to do this natively, but as Viswanathan said, you might end up needing to build this with ScriptRunner or another scripting app. 

[Vinod M]

Hi @Tomislav Tobijas 
Thanks for confirming and for sharing the feature request. That clarifies the limitation in Jira Data Center. We'll explore the ScriptRunner approach.