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Jira Automation: Story Points in Parent are sometimes reset to 0

007989

Hi,

I have a Jira Cloud Automation rule that should automatically calculate the sum of Story Points of all child issues and update the Parent issue.

The rule is configured as follows:

The rule works correctly in most cases. However, in some cases the Story Points value in the Parent issue is unexpectedly changed to 0.

I suspect that sometimes <span>{{lookupIssues.Story Points.sum}}</span> returns an empty value, and Jira Automation interprets it as <span>0</span>.

I also tried using:

<span>{
  "fields": {
    "Story Points": {{lookupIssues.Story Points.sum|0}}
  }
}</span>

but I would like to understand the root cause.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Accepted answers

Gor Greyan

Hi @007989

Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Your smart value is correct

That behavior is more likely caused by timing/indexing. The rule is triggered immediately after a child Story Points value changes, while the updated work item may not yet be available to the JQL used by Lookup work items.

I would try adding a Re-fetch work item data before the Lookup action.

Also, add a temporary Log action that will confirm whether the 0 is caused by the lookup returning no work items rather than by the sum function.

Found: {{lookupIssues.size}}
Sum: {{lookupIssues.Story Points.sum}}

Regards,
Gor

Habib__Plugio__

Hi @007989

The |0 default makes this worse, not better. When the lookup comes back empty, |0 turns the missing sum into a literal 0. The rule then writes that 0 to the parent.

The empty lookup is the search index lagging behind the trigger, as @Gor Greyan said. You can't fully prevent that, but you can stop it from causing damage. Add an Advanced compare condition between the Lookup and the Edit: {{lookupIssues.size}} greater than 0. When the index is behind, the rule now skips the update instead of writing 0. The next change on any child re-runs the rule and corrects the number. One edge case: if the last child is removed, the rule skips and the old value stays.

If the goal is mainly to see the rollup on the parent, you can also skip the stored field entirely. Disclaimer: I work for Plugio, the vendor of Plugio Panels. It adds a panel to the issue view that sums Story Points over direct children or the full hierarchy. The value is computed live when the issue is opened, so nothing can go stale or reset.

- Issue view

All comments

Gor Greyan

Hi @007989

Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Your smart value is correct

Habib__Plugio__

Hi @007989

The |0 default makes this worse, not better. When the lookup comes back empty, |0 turns the missing sum into a literal 0. The rule then writes that 0 to the parent.

- Issue view

Ivan Manolov _Appfire_

Hello @007989,

Two more things that produce exactly this symptom, both worth ruling out while you're looking at the root cause.

Field resolution. {{lookupIssues.Story Points.sum}} resolves the field by name. If any of the children live in a team-managed space, their estimation field is "Story point estimate", a different field from the company-managed "Story Points", and plenty of instances carry both. When the name doesn't resolve on the items the lookup returned, the sum renders as empty, and your Edit action writes that as 0. Referencing the field by ID removes the ambiguity:

{{lookupIssues.customfield_10016.sum}}

Substitute your own ID, which you can read off the field in Settings > Issues > Custom fields.

The lookup cap. Worth knowing regardless of the 0 problem: the Lookup work items action is documented to use only the first 100 work items returned by its JQL. That won't produce a 0, but on a parent with more than 100 children it will quietly produce a total that is too low, which is a harder bug to notice than the one you're chasing.

If the audit log shows the lookup returning items while the sum still comes out empty, the field name is the culprit. If it shows no items at all, then it's the timing issue and the guard is what you want.

Best,

Ivan

Ivan Manolov _Appfire_

Following up on my earlier answer, @007989: if the stored total on the parent is mainly there so people can see the roll-up, the whole class of problem goes away when nothing is stored at all.

If you're open to solutions from the Atlassian Marketplace, the app my team and I work on, JXL for Jira, is a spreadsheet/table view for your Jira data with sum-ups that roll values up the hierarchy. Story Points totals appear on each parent row, computed from the children as the sheet loads, so there is no rule to misfire, no field to overwrite, and nothing that can be left at a stale 0.

Story points summed from children to the parent level in JXL

The lookup cap doesn't apply here either, so parents with more than a hundred children still total correctly.

The trade-off is worth stating: because the value is computed in the sheet rather than written to Jira, it isn't available to JQL or to other gadgets. If you need the number queryable, keep the automation rule and use the guard.

Best regards,

Ivan

Fatma Uzundemir from The Starware

Hi @007989 👋,

Instead of using automation rules, you can bypass Jira Automation entirely and calculate parent totals using a dedicated custom field.
If you are open to a Marketplace solution, Sum up - Custom field handles this automatically by rolling up child values (like Story Points) directly to the parent in real time.
Because it calculates values using standard custom fields, your totals stay reliably populated across all Jira views:

Issue Views (including Child work items panels)
List Views & Kanban/Scrum Boards
Dashboards & JQL Search Filters

Take a look at the attached overviews for a full breakdown of how it works and the additional configuration options available!

🍀 To learn more, feel free to contact me or explore the application through the Atlassian Marketplace link I’ve provided.

Disclaimer: I work for the vendor who developed this application.

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