Sprint update automation

Question

Hi all,

New to Jira automation here!

We use our Jira with what I assume is a fairly standard model between service projects and software projects, using linked issues with blocks/is blocked by. Standard process is:

* Service project ticket comes in. Either:
* Feature request ticket is scoped and signed off by a product owner, these get dev software tickets linked as blocking the service project ticket
* System issue ticket comes in, accepted by backend team as a bug, these get dev software tickets linked as blocking the service project ticket

The problem I'm having is building a set of rules in automation which provide the specific responses needed, which are

* Your ticket hasn't made it into a sprint yet
* A new sprint has begun and your ticket has been included
* Your ticket wasn't completed in 1 sprint cycle and has been added to the next sprint (and so on) 
* Work for your ticket has now been completed and is deployed live

Looking at available options in automation, I'm not sure if the needs I'm looking to fulfil are too granular and quite simply can't be built for these purposes.

Does anyone else run a similar model and have automation set up in this way? Any general advice would also be appreciated on whether this isn't going to be achievable.

Thanks

Bill Sheboy · Answer

Hi @Chris - Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Adding to the ideas Curt suggests:

Are you using one or multiple projects to manage the "service project", "feature request", and "system issue" Jira items?

If these are multiple projects, some of your rules would need to be global/multi-project scoped...and, depending upon your Jira license level, you could encounter some limitations on rule executions.

Kind regards,
Bill

Curt Holley · Answer

@Chris Your current branch will include both the linked and Sprint squad issues, as you have both Blocks and Is blocked by links in scope. 
The problem is it depends on how people do the linking. If they are always doing it the one way, work out which way that is and set it up accordingly (i.e. just "is blocked by").

To test it now. create a scheduled trigger with JQL "sprint IN openspirits()" then do a branch with just one of the link types and have the comment action. Run it right away and see which ones get the comment (use the audit log of the rule). 
Change it to the other link option and see how that plays out.

To get this tight, you may well find there needs to be a education piece on the correct way to do the linking to guarantee the rule can be relied upon.

Chris · Answer

Hi Curt,

Thanks for speedy reply, I've set each of these up, the below is for new issues added to sprint

I'm unable to test until next week when new sprints begin. For leaving comments on the linked issue rather than the sprint squad ticket, does the above look correct to you? And are my if/and statements going to be doing JQL checks on the linked ticket rather than the squad ticket? Apologies for the noobiness...

Thanks