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A Hidden Entry in a JIRA Form

Approving Authority

Hello. I am new to JIRA. My side of business is automating the execution of JIRA-initiated tasks. For example, a JIRA user wants to reset his/her Oracle database in one or more databases. I have a form with a few entries:

Here is the challenge. All of the form fields should be entered by the end user opening the task/request with this form, except for the last one. The last one is "Approval". The logic is as follows.

Every task should be approved by a user under a certain name ("Approving Authority" in this case), automatically. The end user doesnt need to even see this entry box. Yet the Approver (or group, if that will make it easier?) have to see these in his JIRA board and unless he approves the task should remain in the "To Do" status.

That begs the question: how do I design such a form with a hidden "People" or "Team" field? How do I make these tasks opened by this sort of form accumulate on the Approvers board or to request an approval by email?

Thanks.

Accepted answers

James Gamble

Hi Approving Authority,

Your second idea is closer to the right design. Approval shouldn’t be a field the requester fills out. It should be a workflow step that holds the request until the designated person approves it.

Add a status, such as 'Waiting for Approval,' between 'To Do' and 'In Progress,' and configure it as an approval step. Set the approved outcome to move the request to In Progress and the declined outcome to move it to Declined or Canceled. Atlassian explains the setup here.

The requester doesn’t need to see or choose the approver. Remove the Approval field from the form and use automation to populate the approver field when the work item is created. If this is Jira Service Management, you can also preset and hide the approver field on the request type.

Finally, ensure the external automation runs only after the work item reaches In Progress or another approved status. That prevents the database reset from starting before the approval is recorded.

Thanks,

James

All comments

Approving Authority

May be there is an easier way? Like adding a "Waiting for Approval" transition status only available to a certain person to move the tasks from "To Do" to "In Progress", otherwise the forms (without an "Approval" field, mind you) will stay in "To Do" state forever.

How do I do that?

James Gamble

Hi Approving Authority,

Your second idea is closer to the right design. Approval shouldn’t be a field the requester fills out. It should be a workflow step that holds the request until the designated person approves it.

Finally, ensure the external automation runs only after the work item reaches In Progress or another approved status. That prevents the database reset from starting before the approval is recorded.

Thanks,

James

Approving Authority

@James Gamble thank you. I have read the article you posted/. Having trouble following the steps. What I see in my project differs from the article.

Below are the screenshots from my project. As you can see. there are no fields to select and then create. All I see is Work Types. But even that doesn't have a people picker drop down. So, how do I add an approver to my project?

Approving Authority

@James Gamble thank you for your suggestion. it works, but only if I log in as the owner, or my subscription is paid (a trial is fine). Here is how that worked.

If I logged in as Approving Authority, I cant see the Approvals option under Spaces / Migrate Code / Space Settings.

However, if I log in as the admin / owner, I can see the Approvals option there:

I can then set up the approving transition:

But now that begs the question. How or where does the user Approving Authority sees and approves the tasks? In which menu?

Another question. I have 6 projects in this JIRA. Do I need to set this transition 5 times more, for each project separately? Or is there a way to set it up globally, for all 6 ?

Much obliged for your help @James Gamble

Approving Authority

@James Gamble NM. Figured out how to approve/reject the task as Approving Authority. As soon as I moved the task from To Do to Pending Approval, there is a prompt on top :

Thanks again.

James Gamble

Hi @Approving Authority,

What you’re seeing is expected. The Approvals settings are administrative, so the Approving Authority account doesn’t need access to that menu. Only the owner or an administrator needs to configure the approval step. Once a work item reaches Pending Approval, the assigned approver opens the item and uses the Approve or Decline controls at the top, as shown in your latest screenshot.

There isn’t a separate Approvals inbox in that menu for the approver. To give them a working list, create a saved filter or board showing items in Pending Approval. Since you’ve configured Approving Authority as a preset approver, filtering by that status may be enough if they’re the only approver.

Also, don’t create an “Approver” work type from Settings > Work items. The screen in your screenshot creates work types such as Task, Story, or Bug, not people-picker fields. In your approval configuration, you’ve already added Approving Authority under Select preset approvers, so you don’t need a separate field unless the approver should vary from one work item to another. Atlassian explains the difference between preset approvers and an approver field here.

Whether you must repeat the setup for all six spaces depends on how they’re managed. Company-managed spaces can share the same workflow and workflow scheme, so a Jira administrator can configure the approval once and associate that workflow with multiple spaces. Changes to the shared workflow will affect every space using it. Team-managed spaces keep their workflows separate, so the approval must be configured in each one. Atlassian covers shared workflow schemes here.

Based on the setup you’ve shown, the approval itself is now working correctly. The final step is to decide whether the six spaces can share a single company-managed workflow or require separate configurations.

Thanks,

James

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