How to Automatically Assign Issues Based on Component & Team in Jira Cloud?

[Fin Allen]

Hi Atlassian Community 👋,

I’m trying to configure automatic issue assignment in Jira Cloud based on a combination of Component and Team fields. I want every new issue created in a project to automatically be routed to the correct assignee based on the selected component.

Example scenario:

• Component A → assign to Dev Team 1

• Component B → assign to Dev Team 2

• Component C → assign to QA Lead.

I’ve tried:

• Automation rules (IF: component changed → THEN: assign to user)

• Default assignee settings per component

• Using Team-managed vs. Company-managed projects

• Assigning based on labels as a workaround

But the assignment still fails when:

1. Multiple components are selected, or

2. The field is edited after creation.

For context, I’m testing workflow behavior with different project types, similar to evaluating performance differences across software builds. Example reference tool used for testing workflows:
👉 Resource Link

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My Questions

1. Is there a best practice to use Advanced Branching or Lookup Tables in automation for this?

2. Can Assets / CMDB help map components to users or teams more reliably?

3. Should I switch to Company-managed projects for more automation control?

Any suggestions or examples from your automation setups would be greatly appreciated! 🙏

Thanks in advance!

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello @Fin Allen 

Welcome to the Atlassian community.

You mention that the process fails when multiple components are assigned.

If you were to set the assignee manually in that case, how would you decide which assignee to specify when there are multiple components?

In an Automation Rule you could structure it with IF/ELSE-IF based on how you would prioritize the Components. For example if Components A, B, and C were all added to the item, and you know that the assignee should be set to C's assignee whenever that is present regardless of the other components, and then B takes priority, and finally A has the lowest priority for setting assignee, then you could do something like:

IF: Component is one of C
  THEN: Edit Item; set Assignee = Dev Team 1
ELSE-IF: Component is one of B
  THEN: Edit Item; set Assignee = Dev Team 2
ELSE-IF: Component is one of A
  THEN: Edit Item; set Assignee = QA Lead
ELSE
  Edit item; set Assignee = Unassigned

Note that Assignee can be set only to a single valid User, and you did not detail whether or not "Dev Team 1" is a user or a Team. If it is a Team then you can only add that value to the Team field, not the Assignee field.

The native Components field is not yet supported for Team Managed projects. 

https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRACLOUD-92565

If using a field that can have multiple values like Components does not work for you, then you may have to look at an alternate custom field where you can define a single selection list.

In an Automation Rule you could also use a Lookup Table to create key/value pairs linking those "components" to the appropriate Assignee, and then reference the Lookup Table when you want to set the Assignee (or Team) field. That way as default Assignee/Team changes, you just update the Lookup Table.

A rule should be able to accommodate the source field being changed after the item is created, and update the Assignee/Team accordingly. If your rule does not do that we would need to see the details of the rule to debug that situation.