Rovo agent is not able to edit work items in JSM

[Chris Ou]

• I have a Confluence page set up with a table containing Organization name, and the Account Manager. 
• I set up a Rovo agent to take the `Organization` custom field from a JSM work item and look up the corresponding Account Manager in the Confluence page
• The Rovo agent is able to look up the correct Account Manager, but is unable to update a custom field in the work item (even though it says it is)
• The agent is also not able to leave a comment in the work item

I have enabled the relevant actions (i think)

And the agent says that it will perform the actions, but under the ticket history i do not see any changes.

Thank you! 

[Dr Valeri Colon _Connect Centric_ · Accepted solution]

Hi Chris! Currently, Rovo can’t update custom fields—it's a common feature request. If you're inclined, please upvote it here: System Dashboard. Rovo can leave comments on Jira work items, but if the comment is part of a sequence—like after trying to update a custom field it can’t access—the sequence of actions may fail silently.

Like many LLMs, Rovo may say it completed an action even when it can’t. This can happen if the prompt doesn’t include clear limits. A helpful tip: add “If you can’t perform this action, let me know.” to your prompt to avoid false confirmations.

As a workaround, try pairing Rovo with Jira Automation. Have your Rovo agent identify the Account Manager, then pass that info to an automation rule that updates the custom field and leaves a comment. This lets you use Rovo’s smart logic with Jira’s trusted actions. 

https://support.atlassian.com/rovo/docs/agents-in-automations/

[Chris Ou]

That workaround sounds like a great idea, i'll go ahead and give that a try thank you very much!! 

[Rebekka Heilmann _viadee_]

Hi @Chris Ou and welcome to the Community,

i am assuming, that you have the correct permission in the JSM project and can edit these things yourself?

Love the use case by the way! Doing this with Automation was always a pain in the ***.

[Chris Ou]

Hi @Rebekka Heilmann _viadee_ 

Thank you very much, hoping to really cut down on some manual work! Yes, I am an admin in the project and have full rights.