Simplified workflow vs Jira workflow

[Nathan Cano]

I am new to administering JIRA and am confused about which one of these workflows works best for my organization. I want to be able to have Reporters submit tickets to a particular column initially and then be able to add automation to another column, in order to have tickets move automatically to another column and eliminate my team having to physically click into a ticket to check if a Reporter responded to a question or has validated that the "ask" on the ticket has been completed. Will I not be able to perform this task via the Simplified Workflow for any reason? Thank you for the guidance on this matter.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Simplified workflows are a way to delegate workflow editing to the administrators of the board - being able to edit workflow without being a Jira administrator.

Workflows are passive, they rely on people saying "please move to another status", so no, you can't automate with any type of workflow (you can automate data updates in them- when transition X is run, update fields Y and Z).

But, it does not have to be a human triggering transitions directly  Automation, scripts from apps, scheduled jobs, listeners, even transitions in other workflows - they can all trigger transitions.