How do you close a sprint when error message "Failed to complete Sprint"?

[Jaydra von Behren]

Multiple teams within my company are not able to close a Sprint. 

We are getting the error message: 

Failed to complete Sprint - This issue cannot be edited because of its workflow status. 

Can you please help us trouble shoot this issue? Our SOPs have not changed but multiple teams are experiencing this for various Sprints.

[Chris Rogers]

Hi @Jaydra von Behren

It sounds like there might be something in the workflow that has changed and one of the issues that's in the sprint can't be updated correctly.  If Jira provides you with the specific issue key, can you please check the status it's in and if you have access, check that status in the workflow?

Sometimes statuses (usually closed/resolved) can be configured so they don't allow edits while in that status (see workflow properties)

[John Funk]

Hi Jaydra - Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Make sure that your final status is mapped to the last column in the board. Only work items in the last column of the board (regardless of status) are considered Complete. 

If that is not the problem, check the workflow to be sure there are no rules on the transition to the final status that would prevent issues/work items from being moved there. 

[John Funk]

Are there sub-tasks for any of the tasks in the sprint that are not completed? You might do a filter to show all work items in the Sprint to check the status of all work items. 

Sprint = Sprint 74 (or whatever the actual name is. 

[Swathi Acharya]

Hello @Jaydra von Behren

Welcome to Atlassian Community!

This error usually occurs when the workflow has a status which has the property "jira.issue.editable=false" set.

Setting this workflow property prevents editing the issue. Moving an issue to a different sprint is in fact editing that issue and changing the value of the field Sprint.

To fix this, you can modify the workflow to remove the property and then publish the workflow to successfully complete the sprint.

I hope that helps!

Thank you

[Jaydra von Behren]

Hi @Duc Thang TRAN @Chris Rogers @John Funk 

Thanks for the input. We are in Sprint 76 now.

Sprint 74 - cannot be closed.

All work items are complete (User Stories = Closed, Tasks = Done)

Sprint 75 - cannot be closed. 
Work items are in a variety of statuses: 2 not started, 13 in progress, 83 completed. 

All tickets in both Sprints have a status in the column.

Is there a way to get an Atlassian member to check out our workspace and assess what is going on specifically?

[Chris Rogers]

Hi @Jaydra von Behren 

If you'd like Atlassian to check something for you, you'd need to open up a support ticket at https://support.atlassian.com

Are you able to check how the workflow is configured to see if it allows you to edit closed/resolved issues?

[Duc Thang TRAN]

Hello @Jaydra von Behren 

This is a combined answer from @John Funk  and @Chris Rogers 
Chris explains why you can’t move an item from a closed sprint to another sprint (because editing issue properties is not possible ).
John explain the common user case is that final statuses are not in the last column on the right, which can skew sprint reports.