Jira Data Center Automation: Sum Custom Field from Linked Epics and Update Parent Issue

Question

Hello Community,

We are using Jira Data Center (not Cloud) and I need help creating an automation rule that does the following:

* For a parent issue (e.g., an Initiative), sum the values of a specific custom field from all linked Epics.
* Write this total into a custom field on the parent issue.

Is this possible with Jira Automation for Data Center?
If yes, what would be the best approach (smart values, branching, or scripting)?
If not, would ScriptRunner or another app be required?

Any examples or best practices would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Juan Núñez Sánchez _Decadis AG_ · Answer

Hi  @Neven Plakalovic ,

My name is Juan and I’m a member of the support team at Decadis. I’d like to suggest an approach using our app Jira Workflow Toolbox (JWT) for Jira Data Center to implement the sum you described.

With JWT you can calculate the total of a numeric custom field from all child Epics and display it on the parent issue (e.g. an Initiative).

One simple way is to use a Calculated Number Field on the parent issue type. Using them you can display live data which is always being re-calculated, this way if any of the numeric values in the child issues changes, the new calculation will be automatically done any moment.

In a typical setup with Advanced Roadmaps where Initiatives are the parent of Epics via the Parent Link field, you can:

Create a Calculated Number Field (JWT) and add it to your Initiative screens

.In the JWT expression for that field, use something like:

sum(fieldValue({issue.cfXXXXX},issuesFromJQL("issuetype = Epic AND 'Parent Link' = '" + %{issue.key} + "'")))

Replace cfXXXXX with the ID of the numeric custom field that lives on your Epics (the one you want to sum).

The expression finds all Epics whose Parent Link points to the current Initiative, reads the value of that field on each Epic, and sums them up automatically.

This way, each time you view the Initiative, the calculated field will show the up-to-date total of your Epic values, without needing to maintain a separate Automation rule or custom script.

If your hierarchy is based on issue links instead of Parent Link, you can achieve the same goal with a similar expression using linkedIssues() and filtering only Epics.

We hope this approach is useful for your use case. If you have any questions about configuring this in Jira Workflow Toolbox, feel free to reply here and I’ll be happy to help.

Also, you are very welcome to use our customer support portal to raise any requests related to our apps.

Best regards,
 Juan

Bill Sheboy · Answer

Hi @Neven Plakalovic -- Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

This scenario is easier for Jira Cloud with the Lookup Issues action in rules.  However, in Jira Server and Data Center, that action does not support most fields yet.  Here is the suggestion to add the feature: https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JIRAAUTOSERVER-877

One workaround for this is using the REST API endpoints and the Send Web Request action to access the custom fields and sum them.  For more details, please see this post I added to an article on summing fields into a parent:

https://community.atlassian.com/forums/Jira-articles/How-Can-I-Sum-Up-Multiple-Issues-into-a-Parent-Number-Field/bc-p/2883071#M16701

Kind regards,
Bill

Neven Plakalovic_7gdx88 · Answer

Hi @Victor Law - Ricksoft

I`v tried but it does not work.