Is it possible to run automation on the due date based off how long an Issues is blocked?

Colin Hunt_e11me0

I would like to create an automation that will extend a due date to allow for the amount of time an Issue was blocked. Is there a way to do this without having to use an add on?

Bill Sheboy

Hi @Colin Hunt -- Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Yes, I expect so using the built-in Automation for Jira (A4J) rules.  How do you:

• mark issues as "blocked",
• know their "time blocked" or "start of blocked time", and
• know the "baseline due date"?

With that information, there are a couple of solution approaches:

1. Add one automation rule, running on a daily schedule, that finds blocked issues with due dates and increases the due date by one business day each time it runs
2. Add three automation rules:
   • When the due date is manually set, save the value as the "baseline due date" in a custom field
   • When an issue is marked as blocked (let's assume with Flag), save the value of "start blocked date/time" in a custom field
   • And a third automation rule running on a schedule to calculate blocked time ("start of blocked date/time" versus {{now}} ) and update due date relative to "baseline due date"

Approach (1) is simple, and approach (2) is more complicated and a bit brittle, while preserving the original due date and allowing reporting on "blocked time".

To learn more about A4J, please look here:

https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/automation-template-library#/label/all/1453

https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Automation-articles/Jira-Automation-all-the-resources-you-need-in-one-page/ba-p/1388465

Best regards,

Bill