Automation: Assigning sub-tasks to parent assignee when sprint starts

[Pfdev11]

Hello, I'm having some issues getting this automation working correctly. Here is the flow:

• Sprint is started
• Any issues that are assigned and have sub-tasks
  • For each sub-task that is not assigned AND the summary starts with "Testing:" or "Unit:"
    • Make the sub-task assignee the same as the parent issue assignee

I've tried variations of the following: 

but no luck. 

Any help would be much appreciated!

[Bill Sheboy · Accepted solution]

Hi @Pfdev11 

The Sprint Started trigger for a rule does not supply any issues to it, and thus any sub-tasks associated to those issues cannot be accessed directly by branching.  And, it appears you are using Jira Data Center, which further restricts the options to solve your scenario.

One way to solve this is with some dynamic JQL:

• Use Lookup Issues with JQL, gather the keys for the issues in the sprint from the trigger
• Use the above result to build a dynamic JQL expression to find the subtasks involved which are not assigned
• Now, use a branch on that dynamic JQL to each subtask
  • Check the parent to get their assignee for use on the subtask
  • The documentation indicates all the fields of {{issue.parent}} should be available.  But if they are not, another lookup will be needed to get that specific parent issue's assignee for use using a Lookup Issues action within the branch.

Kind regards,
Bill

[Pfdev11]

Thanks Bill! For the "Lookup Issues with JQL" part, can I get the sub-task issues right from that, and then branch on it "For Sub-Tasks"? Something like this:

[Bill Sheboy]

No, you cannot...

• Please note subtasks are normally not added to a Sprint: their parent is
• And, the Lookup Issues fields for Jira Data Center do not contain the subtask data

This is why the two steps are needed to first get the parent issues assigned to the Sprint with the lookup, and then get the subtasks for those parents with dynamic JQL from the lookup results

• trigger: sprint started
• ...
• lookup issues (please adjust JQL to match your needs)
  • sprint = {{sprint.id}} AND assignee IS NOT EMPTY AND issueType IN (Story, Task)
• advanced compare condition: to confirm issues were found 
  • first value: {{lookupIssues.size}}
  • condition: greater than
  • second value: 0
• branch on the dynamic JQL to the subtasks (please adjust JQL to match your needs)
  • parent IN ( {{lookupIssues.key.join(", ")}} ) AND issueType = Sub-task AND assignee IS EMPTY AND summary ~ "Testing|Unit"
  • ...

That dynamic JQL expression joins together the keys of the issues assigned to the sprint, and then finds any issues for which those were the parents.

[Pfdev11]

Got it! This is working now. Thank you for your help.

[Gor Greyan]

Hi @Pfdev11

Thanks for the question.

I tested this logic, and it works. Please also check on your side.
Trigger:  Sprint Started
Branch Rule: For JQL, put this JQL
sprint = {{sprint.id}} AND issuetype in subTaskIssueTypes() AND assignee IS EMPTY AND summary ~ "Testing|Unit"

Condition: Parent Issue --> Assignee is not empty

Action: Edit Assignee - {{issue.parent.assignee}}

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[Pfdev11]

Thanks for the reply! I tried what you put, but the sub-tasks remained unassigned. Only difference is I have it when sprint started instead of completed.

When I check the audit log, it says no related issues could be found under Branch rule / related issues.

[Bill Sheboy]

@Pfdev11 -- Subtasks are not assigned to a sprint normally as they "inherit" that condition from their parent issue, and thus that JQL would not find them.  Please see what I suggested to handle this situation.

[Tim W]

I have something similar; but try this: 

Inside the “For sub-tasks” branch, the context changes:

{{issue}} refers to the sub-task

{{issue.parent}} refers to the parent issue

In the earlier setup, the parent wasn’t being referenced explicitly when checking the assignee. So even though the condition looked valid, Jira didn’t actually know which assignee you were referring to.

try to explicitly use:

{{issue.parent.assignee}}

when checking or copying the assignee.

Once you reference the parent correctly inside the sub-task branch, the automation should behave as expected.

[Pfdev11]

Hey Tim, thanks for the reply! I am getting this error:
"Can't branch rule as it requires issue(s) in the context for this option." This was my last attempt (got rid of the conditional summary checks for now):  maybe I have to use JQL to reach the subtasks? I figured it would look at only sub-tasks at the branch, check if they are in the sprint and assignee is empty, and then check the parent's assignee.