I need help automating date fields between child issues and parent epics.

Question

We run a lot of projects through a very repetitive process, so we set up a template epic that has a series of issues that align with all the tasks required to complete the project.
I'd like to set up an automation to copy dates from fields on specific child issues to fields on the parent epic. Does anyone know if this is possible?

For example, our Epics have a Content Development Phase that has 4 tasks, represented by child issues:

* Draft Write (This is the start of the writing phase. It automatically captures start and end dates of the task in fields on the issue when the issue moves to In Progress and Done.)
* SME Review
* SME Review Changes
* Build Course (This is the end of the writing phase. It automatically captures start and end dates of the task in fields on the issue when the issue moves to In Progress and Done.)

I'd like to automate copying dates from the child issues to the parent epic:

Draft Write Start Date (on child) = Content Development Phase Start (on parent)
Build Course End Date (on child) = Content Development Phase End (on parent)

Trudy P Claspill · Answer

Hello @Pat Cummins

Yes, you can do that through Automation Rules.

Since you are not using identical fields I recommend that you start with simple rules, one per child field that needs to be monitored.

Trigger: Field Value Changed
  Field to monitor: Start Date   <<<<<<
Condition: Issue Field Condition
  Field: Issue Type
  condition: equals (or is one of)
  Value: (the issue types you use for children of Epics)
Condition: Issue Fields Condition
  Field: Summary
  condition: contains
  Value: "Draft Write"  <<<<< This is a critical step to make sure you are monitoring for change in the correct issue
FOR: Related Issue / Parent
  Action: Edit issue
  Field to edit: Content Development Phase Start  <<<<<
  Value: COPY Start Date FROM Trigger Issue  <<<<<

You would write similar rule to monitor the Start and End dates for each child issue to correspondingly update the Phase start and end dates in the parent Epic. The lines I marked with <<<<< are the ones that would change for each rule.

A question you need to answer:

- What if the date field in the child issue is cleared? Do you want to clear the associated field in the Epic? If not, you need to add a condition after the trigger to check that the field is not empty.

Trudy P Claspill · Answer

That article is focused on keeping statuses in synch. That is not quite what the OP is requesting.

Samuel Gatica _ServiceRocket_ · Answer

Hi @Pat Cummins

That's definitely achievable with Automation!

Please check this article Automatically keep epics and stories in sync in Jira

Hope this helps!

Best regards

Sam