What is work item in the workflow ?

[Bala]

Building a workflow, that triggered from transition status of one project and add comment to another project ticket when its linked to it. 

Here, what is mean by work item. Is this the linked ticket or the parent ticket ? 

[John Funk]

Hi Bala,

In this case, it appears to be the linked ticket that the comment is put on. Best advice is to create a test ticket and see. 

[Suraj Aderogba]

Hi @Bala,

Good question, this part can definitely be a bit confusing when setting up cross-project automations in Jira.

In your screenshot, “work item” refers to the trigger issue, meaning the issue where the automation starts (the one that transitioned from Backlog → Investigation underway in your case).

So in your rule:

The “When: Work item transitioned” trigger fires based on a change in your Triage (TRIAG) project.

The Rovo Agent summarizes that same issue.

The “Then: Add comment to work item” action will post the comment back on that same issue, not on the linked issue in another project.

If your goal is to add a comment to the linked issue in another project instead, you’ll need to adjust the rule like this:

Working Solution:

1. Keep your trigger as it is (transition in the Triage project).

2. Add a new branch: “Branch rule / related issues → Linked issues”

Choose the appropriate link type (e.g., is cloned by, relates to, etc.).

3. Inside that branch, add your comment action:

→ “Then: Add comment”

→ Use your smart value, for example:

Comment added automatically when related Triage issue {{triggerIssue.key}} moved to ‘Investigation underway’.

4. Publish and test the rule on a sample pair of linked issues.

This way, the comment will appear on the linked issue (in another project), not just the source issue.

Quick tip for you:

If your organization uses multiple link types, you can also use conditional branches or “If” checks (like you already did) to ensure comments only go to the right linked issues.

I hope this helps. 

Suraj