Why can some stories go to resolved or closed, and others only to closed?

Question

The backstory: I have created new boards and now users are having permissions issues, even though I did my best to recreate new boards from the exiting one.  User first complained that he could not resolve issues anymore.

In my experimentation, I find that on the same board, one story can be dragged over to "Done" and I have no option - Done is my only choice which ultimately equates to Closed.  A second story, when dragged to Done, gives me the option to Resolve Issue or Close Issue.  Why?

The two stories are essentially identical in every way.   Same project, assignee, etc.  I mean same values for everything.  I'm confounded.

Any help appreciated.

Chris Dunne · Answer

As Steven said this sounds like a workflow issue.

Check your workflow to ensure there are no conditions on the transitions to Closed/Resolved.

Also, double check that both of these issues are really the same issue type.

Has either issue already got a resolution reason set before you drag it?

Drew_883icw · Answer

The two stories in question are sitting one on top of the other in the To Do column of the same board.  The status of each is Open.

It's Status we're talking about - Closed vs Resolved.  The two stories are in the same project, tied to same epic, assigned to same guy, everything, same workflow.  I mean.... I'm stumped.

Thanks

Steven F Behnke · Answer

We really need more information, like maybe screenshots of your boards or workflows. Maybe some explanation would help. JIRA has the concept of Statuses and Resolutions.

* Statuses are WHERE in the lifecycle is the issue.
* Resolutions are WHY the issue was marked with a GreenCompleted or Green status.

So maybe we're having a clash with the language.

If the scenario you described is accurate, it sounds like the two issue types have different workflows. This means they could have different statuses or transitions.