Improved functionality for scheduling recurring activities

[Alex Cook]

Some of our teams have a lot of regular activities that they need to do on a schedule - things like installing updates, running reports and so on.

Some of them are daily tasks, but others may be weekly, monthly, quarterly or even annually.

We've done some testing using the standard "Set to Recur" and while that works ok, it's not particularly flexible, and is a real pain when it comes to troubleshooting the recurrence. You end up with dozens of Automation Jobs all called "Clone on a schedule".

Are there any good add-ons that will make this process easier? We'll still need to create a template ticket for each activity, but having the ability to generate a whole bunch of instances of that ticket for the year ahead at a defined schedule with a few clicks would be a great help.

We'd then be able to add them all to appropriate future sprints rather than wait for the latest instance to be created as the last one is completed.

Thanks

[John Funk · Accepted solution]

Hi Alex,

Take a look at this article and see if it helps you:

https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-articles/Creating-a-Flexible-Recurring-Task-Issue/ba-p/2040862

[Alex Cook]

Thanks John

That looks like a decent option, *but* it requires a certain amount of familiarity with Jira administration. It's fine for me, but we want the teams to be able to create their own recurring tasks and several of them are total newbies.

Will try it out with them and see how we get on.

[John Funk]

Once you get it set up with the Automation rule, then the user just needs to populate the Recurring Needs field (or whatever you call it). You just need to make sure that the Space is included in the Rule (now call Flows) or you can just make it a Global rule and be done with it. 

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello @Alex Cook 

Rather than using the "Set to Recur" option you could use bespoke automation rules designed to meet your requirements.

If you are not familiar with creating automation rules you can find Templates available  within the Automation UI that may help you get started. There is also free, on-demand training available through the Learning link at the top of the Community pages.

https://community.atlassian.com/learning/catalog?product=Jira&search=automation+rules

There's also the documentation provided by Atlassian:

https://support.atlassian.com/cloud-automation/docs/jira-cloud-automation/

If you have an existing task to use as a template, you can create an Automation Rule to Clone that task. The rule could be triggered manually or set to run on a schedule. You could clone the task once or multiple times. The details of the rule would really depend on the specific requirements of each scenario you want to implement.

If you describe the requirements of a particular scenario we can offer more targeted advice on how to implement that scenario.

[Olga Cheban _TitanApps_]

hi @Alex Cook !

Managing recurring activities across multiple teams with different cadences can get messy fast, especially when each one needs its own automation rule.

One option that might work well for your setup is our solution Smart Templates for Jira. Your teams can create a template for each recurring activity - say, installing updates or running a monthly report - and pre-fill fields like assignee, priority, and description. Then, instead of setting up a separate automation rule for each one, they schedule issue creation directly from the template using the built-in Scheduler. It supports both CRON expressions and simple intervals, so daily, weekly, quarterly, and annual cadences are all covered in one place.

Since you mentioned that some of your teams are total newbies, this part is worth noting: the setup happens inside the app's UI, not in Jira's automation engine. The interface is simple and intuitive - no need to configure triggers, conditions, or actions. Teams with "Create issues" permission can handle it themselves.

There's also a History tab inside each template that logs every work item created from that template - whether it was generated manually or by the Scheduler. You can see creation dates, assignees, and current statuses. It's a straightforward way to track all iterations of a recurring process without building JQL filters.

I hope this helps!

[Marlene Kegel - codefortynine]

Hello @Alex Cook,

I am Marlene and part of the team behind Deep Clone for Jira.

Our app Deep Clone integrates with Jira Automation and simplifies maintenance.

It is purpose-built for cloning work items, hierarchies, and spaces. It allows you to handle much of the configuration directly within the clone process instead of Jira Automation. For example, you can define:

• which data to copy (such as comments or attachments)
• which fields to update during cloning (e.g. assignee, space, work item type)

We currently offer two ways to integrate Deep Clone with Jira Automation:

• via workflow post-functions combined with global looping transitions (supports Single, Epic/Tree Clones)
• via a dedicated Jira Automation action (currently supports Single Clones)

Each approach has its strengths. Post-functions are ideal when working with Epic/Tree Clones. The Automation action, on the other hand, allows you to work with Action Outputs, giving you more flexibility in rule design.

The Deep Clone Automation Action is a relatively new feature, and as adoption grows, we plan to expand this capability further for Epic/Tree Clones and maybe even Bulk Clones.

If you're missing some features regarding Automation and Cloning, feel free to reach out to our support team.