How do I automatically create a comment on a Feature based on the status of its children

[Phil Hind]

If  a Feature is transitioned to "Done" but it has children that are still "In Progress", I would like to transition the Feature back to a previous state and add a comment that it can't be "Done" until all its children are "Done".

I am struggling to put an automation together as I seem to need to go

Trigger: Feature (transitions to Done) - > Condition: Check Children (status) -> Action: Feature (transition back)

[Marc -Devoteam- · Accepted solution]

Hi @Phil Hind 

The option from @Germán Morales _ Hiera  is valid.

That you have a validation or condition in your workflow that a comment is mandatory. This can't be done in a transition action in an automation.

So your best option is to have another transition to the previous status where this is not mandatory and that this transition can only be triggered by the user that is the actor of the automation rule

[Germán Morales _ Hiera · Accepted solution]

The workflow condition suggested above is a good fit if the children are sub-tasks.

If your Feature’s children are regular Jira work items connected through the Parent field, I would handle it with Automation instead:

1. Trigger: Work item transitioned to Done
2. Condition: Work type = Feature
3. Lookup issues with JQL:
parent = {{issue.key}} AND statusCategory != Done
4. If {{lookupIssues.size}} is greater than 0:
- transition the Feature back to the previous status
- add a comment explaining which child items are still open

That keeps the rule focused on hierarchy children rather than sub-tasks. If your “children” are actually issue links, then you would need to query linked issues instead, because Jira does not treat generic links as parent/child hierarchy.

[Phil Hind]

Hi @Germán Morales _ Hiera  This almost works.....We have to enter a comment when moving back to "In Validation". As my automation does a "Transition" but doesn't enter a comment, it isn't actually doing the transition. Is there a transition "Action" which also allows you to "add a comment"?

[Arkadiusz Wroblewski]

Hello @Phil Hind 

If by "children" you mean sub-tasks, you can handle this directly in the workflow. Just add the built-in Sub-Task Blocking Condition to the "Done" transition to prevent the parent from closing while any sub-tasks are still open.

[Phil Hind]

Hi @Arkadiusz Wroblewski 

1) They are not sub-tasks! They are hierarchical and related through the "Parent" field.

2) I don't have the right access to the workflow to be able to change it :-(

3) I'd really love to know if this can be done via automation. 

[Arkadiusz Wroblewski]

@Phil Hind 

Please Try steps from @Germán Morales _ Hiera. He already provided you with an example of how this can be configured.