Automate 'is child of' link to issue based on description

[Michelle Bartolo]

I want to automate the process of linking the issue to its parent feature. I need to do this because its the best way to keep track of tasks inside a sprint (rather than subtasks). I want that if the description contains the title of the feature inside it for e.g. [Feature Name] Make a to-do list, I want that the parent issue called Feature Name is linked to this issue as the parent.

Any ideas?

[Trudy Claspill · Accepted solution]

Hello @Michelle Bartolo 

Welcome to the Atlassian community!

How would you know that a specific block of text within the Description was the name of a feature? Would you do something like:

The first challenge is going to be ensuring that a consistent method is used within the Description for identifying the Feature Name, so that you can create a step in the Automation Rule to pull that text out of the Description.

Do you use a unique issue type for your feature issues? And in your feature issues, where do you store the Feature Name?

I would also add a check for the issue type of the issue triggering the rule. The Parent field can be set to a given issue that is only 1 level up in the hierarchy. If the rule is triggered by an issue that is at a different hierarchy level than directly below Features, the rule should stop running.

Once you have the text, within the rule you can use the Lookup Issue action to do a search for a matching issue that has that same text in the field where you store the feature name.

Then check the results to ensure you have 1 and only 1 result.

Then you can pull the key for that issue from the results and use an Edit action to update the Parent field in the original issue that triggered the rule.

Other things to consider:

When do you want this link to be created - when the issue is first created?

What if the Description is changed at a later date to either no longer include Feature Name or to name a different Feature?

Are these issues and the feature issues in the same project?