Automate flag when issue more than 2 days in column

Question

I would love to have an automation that flags any cards that have spent 2 days or more within a specific column.

I have an existing automation that tracks when a card enters the column and another for when it leaves so we can have those specific fields visible on the cards.

I'm assuming I need to integrate those existing automations into a new one? Or amend those to include a flagging system?

I have made an attempt at a scheduled automation but I get this error message and I'm unsure how to resolve it:

This component may be incompatible

One of the following needs to be produced earlier in the rule by the trigger or with a 'for each' branch for this component to work:

* Issue

Thank you in advance for any advice and help!

Walter Buggenhout · Answer

Hi @beth.sutton,

The best thing you can do is try to run your query in the issue navigator (either through the issues view in your project or from Filters > View all issues. If there is a mistake in your filter, you should usually get an indication there.

beth.sutton · Answer

Hi Walter,

Thank you so much for getting back to me! It seems that I hadn't added a JQL query, which is what the issue was! Unfortunately, the solution you gave and that I have added still doesn't seem to be doing the trick but I think that's probably something on my end!

This is the automation I've set up:

And this is the JQL:

status = "Revisions" and status was "Revisions" before -3d and flagged != Impediment

The status of our board is called 'Revisions', which I put in the place of 'In Progress' but I'm wondering if I've maybe got that wrong?

Thank you again and in advance!

Walter Buggenhout · Answer

Hi @beth.sutton,

For help with automation issues, it is best if you could share (screenshots of) your current automation rules so we can better assess what might be wrong.

Having said that, you should be able to solve your use case with the following automation rule:

It uses a scheduled trigger, in my example running every day at 9:00 AM and running a JQL filter to select issues that have been in the In Progress status for more than 2 days (at 9.00 AM every morning). I then use an edit issue action to update the Flagged field.

The full filter I used in my example is this:

status = "In Progress" and status was "in progress" before -2d
and flagged != Impediment

Obviously, you can play around with the values I used for status, the number of days issues have been in that status and any other fields that may be better suited for your use case.

Hope this helps!