linking a trigger card to 2 cards

[Walsh, Cameron]

Use case: 

I have bug cards that are manually being linked to task cards as "caused by". 

(This would be the trigger)

The task cards are linked to story cards as "testing preparation for". 

Using automation I want the bug card to link to the story card also as "caused by". 

My thought was I could link to the task, and using the 'testing preparation for' link, find the story card and then link it to the bug (trigger) as a causes/caused by link. but I keep getting the causes/caused by link on the task, it is driving me batty.... 

Below is the Automation I've tried.... 

A pre-emptive thanks for assisting. 

[Trudy Claspill · Accepted solution]

Hello @Walsh, Cameron 

Welcome to the Atlassian community.

When you use the Issue Linked trigger you get smart values for the two issues that have been linked. One is referenced by {{issue}} and is considered the issue that triggered the rule. The other is referenced by {{destinationIssue}}.

Determining which is is referenced by which smart value can be tricky. It depends on the link that was used and how it was applied to the pair of issues.

My first question is are you a Jira Administrator?

I see in your automation you are using a link type called "Problem/Incident".

If you are a Jira Administrator, click on the gear icon near your Avatar and navigate to Issues / Issue Linking. Please provide a screen image that show the Outward and Inward Descriptions for the "Problem/Incident" link type so that we can see which description is Inward and which is Outward. In my system that looks like this:

The Automation rule will look at the link and say "if A causes B, then A is {{issue}} and B is {{destinationIssue}}"

So, if your system is the same as mine, and based on your diagram, what you would see when you look at the Bug issue is

"Bug A is caused by Task B"

Or, conversely:

"Task B causes Bug A".

Therefore it is the Task issue that is considered the trigger issue for this rule and is access using the {{issue}} smart value. 

To create a link between Bug A and Story C (which is linked to Task B) you need to do this inside the branch.

After typing the value into the fields (1) you need to actually click on it in are (2) to insert that smart value into the field.

[Walsh, Cameron]

Hi @Trudy Claspill 

Thanks for that, it was just the smart value that did it for me. 

I didn't realise I could type that value in there. (So fool is me! ha)

With the way the rest of the rule was set up, it gives me the 2 causes links to the bug and the single links I'm wanting to the story and the task. 

Thank you so much.