How to automate creation of issues based on a custom assignee list

LENA BURLAK

We would like to create issues automatically based on a certain list of users and assign it to them. 

Based on some internet ideas we've Created a smart value list in automation

{{AissgneeList}} as {{"User1,User2"}}, the users are hardcoded for now for testing purposes, also not sure how to get project or group user's list for automation.

After that we are creating a branch based on AssigneeList.split(",") with variable Person in two steps 

1. Create an issue and

2. Assign issue to variable {{Person}}

 

The automation creates only two issues, not 4, and does not assign the issues to users. 

Any help to what is possible to do?

Bill Sheboy

Hi @LENA BURLAK -- Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Your rule will need some changes to work with a user list...

First, I do not believe Jira Cloud automation rules can use the user's display name to assign issues.  Instead the account id value must be used.  There are several ways to solve this:

• Include the account id value in the rule
  • As you are already hard-coding the display names, you could substitute the account id values, or use a Lookup Table so both values are present in the rule.  For example, with some made up account id values:
    • action: Create Lookup Table
      • variable name: tblAssigneeList
        • row
          • key: Jane Doe
          • value: 12345-abcd
        • -ow
          • key: John Doe
          • value: 67890-efab
  • This approach will help you get your rule set up quickly and it may be improved to another method next
  • One risk with this approach is typographic entry errors and the maintenance for changes to either value (or the list)
• Assume there exists at least one issue already assigned to each person, and...
  • Use the Lookup Issues action with JQL to search on the display name for a matching assignee issue, and then use the accountId attribute for that issue in the new Story assignment
• Dynamically get the account id value using the REST API
  • Use the Send Web Request action to get / search for the user, and use their account id value from the {{webResponse}} smart value in the assignment

 

Next, I recommend adding a prefix to the names of variables (e.g., created or in a branch), such as with varPerson.  This will reduce the risk of collisions with built-in smart value names.

 

Next, to create a list for the branch looping, the curly brackets and quotation marks are not needed.  In your example it might look like this:

• action: create variable
  • variable name: varAssigneeList
  • smart value:

Jane Doe, John Doe

Please note well the use of a comma followed by a space as a delimiter.  This helps make the list more readable, and must be accounted for in the branch:

• advanced branch: 
  • smart value: {{varAssigneeList.split(", ")}}
  • variable name: varPerson

The alternative is to change the delimiter between names to only be a comma (or use the Lookup Table mentioned earlier).

 

Kind regards,
Bill