Initialize an Epics timeSpent before adding childrens and grandchildrens timeSpent

Question

Hi there!

I am running an automation to update the timeSpent of an Epic with the summarized timeSpent value of the Epic's Children and GrandChildren (Tasks, and it's sub-tasks)

In the additional fields of the Edit issue fields action I have this:

{ "update": { "worklog": [ { "add": { "timeSpent": "{{#=}} ROUND(({{lookupIssues.timetracking.timeSpentSeconds.sum}}/3600),2){{/}}" } } ] } }

But every time the automation runs, the summarized timeSpent value of the Epic's Children and GrandChildren is added to the timeSpent of the Epic.

Thus I first need to initialize (set to zero) the timeSpent of the Epic and then add the

summarized timeSpent value of the Epic's Children and GrandChildren.

Unfortunately the "set" operation is a not supported operation on worklog fields.

And thus is my question:

So how do I set the timeSpent field to zero before running the add operation?

Thank you very much for your valuable insights!

Bill Sheboy · Answer

Hi @Ward Schwillens_ Schwillie

A couple of options using automation rules are:

* Whenever work is logged for a Task or Subtask, log the same amount to the Epic.  Then when you need the total (or details) examine the Epic.
* Whenever work is logged for a Task or Subtask, sum the total for all child and grandchild issues and save it to a custom field in the Epic

Kind regards,
Bill

Ward Schwillens_ Schwillie · Answer

Hi Again,

In the meanwhile I found out that adding to the worklog timeSpent actually creates a work log. That was not my intention.

So the question now is:

Is there a field that can be used to store the total time of time spent on the Epic, it's children (Tasks) and their Sub-Tasks?

Thanks again for your insights!