Specifying Work Item Types for which an automation rule is triggered

Question

I have a rule that is triggered when the Parent field is updated on a work item and a condition that only follows through on the rule if the work item type = Epic.

However, the rule still triggers for all work item types when the Parent field is updated. For non-Epics it takes a fraction of a second before it hits the Type=Epic condition but this is unnecessary processing load for stories, tasks etc.

Is there any way to specify, in the Rule Details?, which work item types are relevant, like we can specify which Spaces are relevant to the rule, so the rule will not even trigger when, say, the parent field on a story is updated?

Bill Sheboy · Answer

My understanding is: Atlassian knows about the racetrack timing defects, acknowledges this will take architectural changes to fix, and provides no timeline when that will happen.  That was their response when I noted the symptoms with the release of conditions on triggers.

For some rule triggers, adding a condition on work item type "might" work.  If you are testing only the trigger work item's type, that is more likely to work when the Parent field is the only thing that changed.  If the field changed as the result of a move, work item create, drag-and-drop operation, or workflow action, perhaps not so much.

In my opinion, the only reason Atlassian may have implemented the feature to add conditions on triggers was to reduce entries in the customer's audit log.  The feature has no impact on monthly usage limits; that is, if a condition would have stopped the rule before any actions which "count" towards usage, there is no usage impact...only log entries.

Conversely, there are several community posts where people see this lack of audit log entries for conditions on triggers causing more harm than good: they lead to extra work by rule-writers trying to understand when / why a rule did not run when expected.  I recall there are JAC suggestions to add to the audit log an entry to show which conditions were not met when a rule doesn't run in such cases.

Marc -Devoteam- · Answer

Hi @Graeme Wright

No this is not possible, as the trigger defines the execution of the rule.

You could change the scope of the rule, based on which space this is related to.

Graeme Wright_6fgp7m · Answer

Hi Bill - Thanks for taking the time to respond.

What I am trying to avoid is the rule triggering at all, if the work item type is not an Epic. Currently, because the Parent field exists on all work item types, it is triggering for stories, tasks, sub-tasks etc. only to be stopped when it hits the condition.

Your suggestion to move the Type=Epic condition to after the trigger, would not address this.

I have a feeling this is probably going to be an enhancement request to Atlassian to, in my thinking, add another field on the Rule Details form i.e. where we can currently list the Spaces that are in scope for the rule, add a field where we can select one of more work items types that are in scope for the rule - or leave it as All Types.

Regards,

Graeme