How to handle the "Resolution" field in Jira to make it editable but not mandatory?

MidnightExe

Hi everyone,

I’m currently working on a Jira configuration and need some advice regarding the Resolution field. Our business team has requested that this field should not be mandatory, but still editable, and it should be automatically set to "Done" when the issue status is transitioned to either "Done" or "Obsolete".

I’ve already handled the automatic update part using post functions – that works well and is well documented.

I’m using three separate screens for the issue type: Create, Edit, and View. To avoid making Resolution mandatory at creation, I’ve removed it from the Create screen, which works fine.

Here’s the problem:
If I include the Resolution field on the Edit screen, it becomes mandatory when users try to update the issue later.
If I remove it from the Edit screen, it’s no longer mandatory, but also not editable anymore.

So my questions are:

What is the best practice here?

Is it recommended to let users manually update the Resolution field at all?

Has anyone dealt with a similar setup, and do you have any suggestions?

Thanks a lot in advance!

Walter Buggenhout

Hi @MidnightExe,

Don't put the resolution field on create nor edit screens.

If you want it to be editable, create a transition screen with the field on it. This is just a screen like the create / edit / view screens you use in your screen schemes, but don't add it to a scheme.

Instead, add the screen to the transition(s) in your workflow where you would like your users to pick a resolution. It will only be required if you add a validator to that transition as well to make it as such.

If you want to allow people to "correct" a set resolution at some point in your workflow, you can add a transition that goes from a status to the same status. This may sound a bit strange, but it is as simple as dragging a transition line from one connection point of a status to another one on the same status in the diagram view of your workflow editor. You can add your transition screen to such a transition as well, thus allowing people to make the screen appear to do the update (without changing the work item's status). Working with workflow transitions and associated screens also allows you to add e.g. permission conditions, so you can control who is authorised to do such updates.

Hope this helps!