Automation - Transition all the sub-tasks to a new state when parent is transitioned to a new state

Question

When I transition an issue to a new state using an automation rule is it possible to transition all its sub-tasks as well to the new state automatically using the automation rule?

Example: I have created an automation rule to transition issue's state from 'backlog' to 'Sprint Backlog' when I add a value for the 'Sprint' field. And this rule works. But I see that all the sub-tasks under the issue still remain in 'backlog' state.

I want to add another condition to the same rule (or I can create a separate rule) where I want to transition the state for all the sub-tasks as well under this issue from 'backlog' to 'Sprint Backlog'

Bill Sheboy · Answer

Hi @Shoji Thomas -- Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Adding an issue to a sprint does not change the status.  Thus you may want use a trigger to check for a change to the Sprint field, and add some conditions to confirm the sprint is in openSprints() for when this occurs during sprint planning.

And also, you may want to limit this to only be used for planning.  Otherwise it would defeat the purpose of having the sub-tasks to manage work in smaller pieces to track/see progress, separately from their parent.

Kind regards,
Bill

Lisa Grau · Answer

Hi @Shoji Thomas , welcome to the community!

It is not possible to set the trigger on "parent issue transitioned", but it would be possible to use a scheduled trigger and check wether the parent issue status (use a smart value) is different than the current issue status. Then use the transition issue action to move the issues to their parents status.

This could, however, work different with sprint statuses.