Transition the status of a subtask based on the transition of another subtask within the same Epic

Kane_Ansell

Hi Everyone

I have an existing automation that creates a bunch of predefined Subtasks for an Epic when the automation is Manually Triggered, it creates about 11 in total.  The Summary given to each subtask takes the form of the Epic Summary followed by a specific summary for each Subtask, which takes the form of - Subtask Name.

For example, if the Epic Summary is Upgrade PC 1234, then the Subtasks will be automatically created as:

• Upgrade PC 1234 - Backup Personal Data & Profile Info
• Upgrade PC 1234 - Wipe Old Drive
• Upgrade PC 1234 - Install new Image
• Upgrade PC 1234 - Restore User Profile & Data
• etc...

Essentially, it's a set of common tasks that need to be performed in a specific order for Epics of a particular nature.  Note: This is not actually for PC upgrading, but my use case would be confusing, so this is just an example I have provided).  This automation is all working as intended, it's the next bit that I need help with.

Here is where I need help
The Subtasks begin life all pre-assigned with a status of BACKLOG, except the first one, which has a status of IN PROGRESS.  As each Subtask is worked on and completed, they will be transitioned to CLOSED.  Once each subtask is transitioned to CLOSED I need the next one in the list to automatically Transition from BACKLOG to IN PROGRESS, until the last one, which when CLOSED should transition the Parent Epic to CLOSED (or maybe a pre-closure status - yet to be decided).

Other Info

 - I can restrict this to within a specific Project, it doesn't need to occur across multiple projects.

 - the subtasks are not 'linked' other than they all reside under the same parent epic

 - if it helps, as the subtasks are all created via automation at the same time, their numbering is sequential (ie CYSE-200, CYSE-201, CYSE-202 etc...

 - Ideally, I need to be able to do this without any Addons, as the company is not willing to invest in addons for this purpose (at least, not at this time)

- Preference would be for an automatic trigger, but worst case I could live with Manually Triggering at the closure of each Subtask if there is no automatic option for this.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Bill Sheboy

Hi @Kane_Ansell 

First, let's try to clarify your scenario as that may help the community to offer suggestions...

Epics typically have child issues, of the types Story, Task, or Bug.  Are you actually adding Subtasks to Epics or do you mean something else?  For now, I will refer to them as "child issues".

Next, I am assuming that people are doing the work for these child issues.  If so, why would you automatically move them into "in progress", potentially before people are actually working on them?

Regardless of those questions, it seems your scenario is...

1. something happens to an Epic, and that triggers a rule which adds child issues
2. you want the child issues to be labeled in their Summary with the name (i.e. Summary) of the parent epic
3. you want the child issues to be worked on in a specific order
4. as a child issue completes as "closed", you want the next one in the specific order to move to "in progress"
5. when the last child issue completes as "closed", you want the parent Epic to also complete as "closed"

Which parts of this scenario do you implemented in your rules thus far?  From your question, it seems like you have #1 and #2 done.

The only way I know of to enforce the specific order for #3, and so forth, is to have some field in the child issues which allows sorting them, such as with JQL with and ORDER BY clause.  If you do that, you can easily grab the next one which is not "closed" for processing, and when there are no more, move the Epic to "closed".

Kind regards,
Bill