Can I set an automation based on the status or Workflow of an Epic?

Question

excuse me as I am a novice. I am just starting to test the use of epics (rather then just tasks and subtask) to help recognize a board I've created for onboarding new staff. Previously on my board I had new staff set as task, that would go through a series of status (before first day, first day, first week, etc) and had automated each status to automatically transition based on start date and with that transition a series of subtasks would be assigned.

I am now trying to reconfigure my board to have the new staff as an Epic with each staff assigned to a variety of task set as tasks, with their todos as subtasks.

I've figured out the Epic creation, tasks/sub task group assignment.

The roadblock I seem to be at is that Epics can't have a status besides todo, in progress, done, so I don't know

1. how to trigger the tasks at different timing markers (before 1st day, first day, first week)

2. How to automate the Epic transition between statues or workflows.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Dilip_ybbekx · Accepted Answer

Hi @Quinn Campbell

Yes you can, just use the work item transition as a trigger for you automation rule.

Sumukh Shashidhar · Accepted Answer

Hi @Quinn Campbell ,

Customize the Epic Workflow: -
you can edit your Epic workflow (just like tasks) and add your own statuses:
1. Go to Project Settings > Workflows
2. Find the Epic Issue Type workflow
3. Add custom statuses like Before First Day, Fist Day, First Week, etc.
4. Publish the workflow
Now your Epics can move through onboarding phases just like tasks used to.

Keep Epic Simple, Trigger from Date Fields: -
If you prefer to keep Epic Statuses simple but still trigger subtasks based on timing (e.g., “First Day"), you can:
1. Add a custom date field (e.g., "Start date") to the Epic

* Create an automation rule that runs daily and checks:

* if Start Date = now + 0 days - Create Tasks or Transition them
* if Start Date = now + 7 days - Assign next-week Tasks

This way, you don’t need complex Epic Status transitions - just smart automation login based on date.