Automation for setting start date stopped working recently

Question

I have a jira automation rule that sets the start date for an epic based on the earliest start date of the children. This was working great until recently and I cannot seem to figure out why.

the audit log step seems to return nothing so it feels like some connection is missing. The audit passes fine up to the log action. the lookup work items step correctly lists all child issues in the epic.

Any idea on what suddenly might have been broken would be much appreciated. I assume there might have been some inner workings change or something?

Bill Sheboy · Answer

Hi @Benedetta Russo

What is the source of your information for your note below?

This is likely due to a recent Jira Cloud automation change — lookups no longer expose child issue fields directly.

There are no "child issue fields" described in how the original poster (OP) is using the Lookup Issues / Work Items action, and instead they just have a typo in the smart value used.

And even the OP was referencing "child" attributes, such as in {{lookupIssues.subtasks}}, that behavior has been the same since 2021: it only ever loaded a subset of the fields in such linked work items and it loads all the other supported data for a single work item.

Kind regards,
Bill

marc_vanniekerk_enfuce_com · Answer

Actually managed to resolve it. needed to update the edit field section in teh json to set the same value.

Benedetta Russo · Answer

This is likely due to a recent Jira Cloud automation change — lookups no longer expose child issue fields directly.

Try these fixes:

In the Lookup Issues action, add the JQL explicitly: parent = {{issue.key}} AND "Start date" IS NOT EMPTY to ensure it fetches the field.

In your Log or Edit issue step, reference the field with a smart value like:

Make sure the “Start date” field is on the epic’s screen and hasn’t been renamed.

If it still fails, check the field context: recent changes to the Advanced Roadmaps “Start date” field sometimes break older rules.

Many users reported similar breakage after recent automation updates, so adjusting the JQL or smart values usually restores it.