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[Automation] Parent task won't transition to Done when two specific subtasks are completed

Yasmina Rodriguez

Hi community,

I'm trying to set up an automation rule called "Parent Done" in a Jira Software space (Business OPS). Here's what I need:

**Goal:**
A parent task has 5 subtasks. I only want the parent to transition to Done when TWO specific subtasks are both marked Done:
- "Add Binom Links to Posts"
- "Campaign Creation"

The other 3 subtasks (SEO Keyword Research, Post Creation, Binom Link Creation) should be ignored by this rule.

---

**What we have tried:**

1. **JQL condition** (outside branch) with `issueFunction in subtasksOf(...)` → Failed. issueFunction not supported or permission issue.

2. **Smart values conditions** with `{{issue.parent.subtasks.filter(summary == "Campaign Creation").first.status.name}}` → The filter returned empty/null, condition never passed.

3. **Related work items condition → All match JQL** inside a For: Parent branch with `summary in ("Add Binom Links to Posts", "Campaign Creation") AND statusCategory = Done` → Failed because it checks ALL subtasks of the parent against the JQL, not just those two.

4. **Related work items condition → Are equal to 2** inside a For: Parent branch → No JQL field available with this option, so can't filter by summary.

**Current rule structure:**
- Trigger: Work item transitioned to Done
- If: `{{issue.status.name}}` equals Done
- BRANCH: For Parent
- If: [condition that works??]
- Then: Transition work item to Done

What condition should I use inside the parent branch to check that ONLY those two specific subtasks are both Done?

Thank you!

Accepted answers

All comments

Trudy P Claspill

Hello @Yasmina Rodriguez

Welcome to the Atlassian community.

Based on the rule structure you have shown it appears that you are trying to automatically transition the parent issue to Done when two specific subtasks are Done.

How do you identify the two specific subtasks that need to be Done? Are there keywords in the Summary of each subtask? Is that identification method going to work for across items that have subtasks, or does the identification information change?

Bill Sheboy

Hi @Yasmina Rodriguez

Yes, and...to the suggestions from Trudy:

Where did you read about a filter() function for smart value lists? That one does not exist for Atlassian automation rules.

And, it is unlikely the {{issue.parent.subtasks}} has any data because:

{{issue.parent}} only contains some of the fields, not all of them for the parent, and
the subtasks smart value is read just-in-time, unlikely to contain data in this case

As alternatives, one could use either long-format iteration and list filtering, or better still, use an inline-format iteration with the match() function to check the subtasks' Summary field.

Kind regards,
Bill

Yasmina Rodriguez

Hi @Bill Sheboy and @Trudy P Claspill, thank you for the clarification! To answer your questions:

Yes, the two subtasks are identified by keywords in their Summary: 'Add Binom Links to Posts' and 'Campaign Creation'. This identification will be consistent across all parent issues that use this workflow.

Could you provide the exact syntax for the inline-format iteration with match() function to check that both subtasks are Done?

Thank you!

Bill Sheboy

To test both of those conditions at once (i.e., the Summary and Status), I recommend using JQL instead of list iteration.

For example, assuming the trigger issue is the parent, you could try a Related Work Items Condition, or a Lookup Work Items and then check the count returned:

parent = {{triggerIssue.key}}
 AND issueType=SubTask
 AND statusCategory != Done
 AND ( 
       summary ~ "\"Add Binom Links to Posts\""
       OR summary ~ "\"Campaign Creation\""
     )

Please note I inverted the statusCategory check, so you want to check that none were found.

I recommend testing that JQL outside of a rule with an example issue to confirm the values / types match your space.

Olga Cheban _TitanApps_

hi @Yasmina Rodriguez !

If you're open to exploring a third-party solution, there's an alternative way to handle this. It allows you to avoid the complexity of automation altogether.

Here's what you could do:

1) Replace subtasks with a checklist. Each subtask you now have will essentially become a checklist item inside the parent issue. This can be done with our solution, Smart Checklist for Jira.

It lets you tag responsible people, add expandable descriptions to each step, and you can also track progress with custom statuses. Overall, it makes a checklist a solid alternative to a set of subtasks.

2) Flag the critical steps as Mandatory Items. They'll be highlighted with a red asterisk. Then, you can configure a transition validator: it will prevent anyone from moving the issue to Done unless all mandatory items are completed first.

As a result, you will mark "Add Binom Links to Posts" and "Campaign Creation" as mandatory. Once they are Done, the parent work item can be moved to Done as well. The status of other checklist items will be ignored.

Here's an example og such a checklist:

Client onboarding checklist.png

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