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How to link a created Jira ticket (from form) to a parent epic using automation

Mel Finegan

Hey all

I have a use case where I have epics in my backlog and we will be using Jira forms to submit tickets that need to be linked to parent epics in the backlog. I can't see a way of adding a look up on the form to find the parent ticket and I can't work out a way of putting in an automation to look for the parent ticket.

Does anyone have any advice on how to achieve this?

Thanks,

Mel

Accepted answers

All comments

Tomislav Tobijas

Hi @Mel Finegan ,

As there isn't an issue picker field, the closest you could get to your requirement would probably be with adding custom field (e.g. short text or select list) with something like "Target Epic Key" to your form.

Then you could create automation flow which would handle the 'linking' based on what user has entered in that custom field. 👀

I'd maybe even consider adding a Rovo into the whole story. Maybe you don't even need to add a field but rather create an agent that would be triggered each time a new form is submitted, and that agent's task would be to find the appropriate Epic based on the created work item. Or, you could still have that custom field and ask Rovo to connect the work item with selected Epic 🤔

Not the prettiest solution, but I believe it could work.

Cheers,
Tobi

Matthew Sinclair

If you are attempting to "validate" a ticket# at the form in terms of filling it out - not a thing - yet.

The problem here is there's no dynamic validation/checking for the Ticket being a valid ID# without some sort of post function or automation to trigger after submission.

Last time I did something like this I prompted the user in Jira (Not JSM) and would put a comment in the ticket to indicate if the info given was valid or not.

You'd have to look to the marketplace or doing the work via Custom Field/Agent View (If your speaking of JSM).

Only thing I can suggest is once the form is submitted - automation can run a check directly on the field provided you are using the correct Trigger that lets you read Form Smart Values - then run your lookup - then fire back a comment in response if its valid or not.

If invalid - you'd need the customer to edit/resubmit the information on the form via the Comment prompt.

It's not entirely automated but it should do some of the work.

Alternatively you could have a Rovo agent do some legwork prior to submitting the form as Rovo would be the one to fill in the form.

If you are using "Jira Forms" - you're better off taking a different route as they are VERY limited. Not had any exposure to handling those Automation wise as they are too restrictive compared to JSM/CSM.

Mihai_LeanZero

Mel, before building the automation, try Parent on the form itself. It's on the list of fields Jira forms support, so in the form builder add it from the Jira fields and link it, and people pick the epic right there. No key typing, no lookup.

It has to be on the create screen for that work type. And if the form is public, Parent is one of the restricted fields and won't show, which is when the custom field plus automation route above makes sense.

Is the form public or internal?

Tomislav Tobijas

God… Yes! I was looking at linked work item field or something in that direction to add on the form and completely missed Parent 😅 And yeah, Mihail is absolutely correct; this is how it looks depending if user is logged in and has access to that Jira site or if it's a public form:

Public form	'Internal' form

Matthew Sinclair

@Tomislav Tobijas very clever!

Tomislav Tobijas

@Mihai_LeanZero needs to take the credit 😄

Joseph Chung Yin

@Mel Finegan -

Can you provide a bit more details on your ask? When issue is created in your Jira form and you want to link it with Epic issue - Are you referring a formal roll-up to Epic or a issue link action?

In addition, do you have certain criteria that determents which Epic to be roll-up to or link to? If Yes, then you can setup automation rule to perform the action triggered by Issue created event.

Please advise.

Best, Joseph Chung Yin

Mel Finegan

Thanks everyone for your help so far, much appreciated!

@Mihai_LeanZero unfortunately, 'Parent' is unavailable to me when I'm building my form, this is basically what I'm looking to be able to do! What Jira platform is this - is this Service Management? We're just using Jira Premium currently. Our form is currently set to whoever can log in to our Jira instance, it's not public.

@Joseph Chung Yin Our current proposed workflow is an 'idea' is approved in Jira Product Discovery, this automatically creates an epic in Jira for delivery tracking. We then have forms for project 'briefs' to be submitted, reviewed and approved and ideally need an automated way of linking the 'brief' to the epic container for the project once it's submitted, with the epic as the parent. A parent field on the form would have been an ideal way of doing this. We don't have certain criteria for the automation to know what epic to link to, so perhaps an epic key manual entry form is the best way forward to set the automation to look for that epic?

Matthew Sinclair

You likely need to add "Parent" to your Create/Edit/View Screen to be able to attach it to the form as Jira Forms are strictly limited to fields available to your space. (Even tho the field is technically available - its a system field that follows its own rules - hence adding to the screen will possibly work)

Jira Forms can't use what isn't on the screen. (Last I checked)

What everyone means by "Service Management" is Jira Service Management (Or its sister Customer Service Management) - apps available in the Service Collection suite Atlassian provides. https://www.atlassian.com/collections/service.

JSM/CSM Forms are attached to "Request Types" (A sub Issue/Work Type if you will) - which also provide the freedom of populating your forms with whatever fields you wish that are not bound by the spaces collection of custom/system fields.

In simple terms JSM/CSM is a triage/dispatch/service emphasis system - ITSM in other words. So while it shares Jira in name - its a rather different yet elegant animal.

We get a great deal of flexibility as a result where Jira Forms are extremely limited. It's also why forms are limited in Jira and now a massive boon for those who use Service Apps.

If this is something you are going to employ more heavily - you may want to look into a tool change. :)

Mihai_LeanZero

Mel, it's plain Jira, not Service Management. Tomislav's screenshot is a normal Jira form.

I'd check the brief work type.

Parent on its create screen like Matthew said, in company-managed that's the screen scheme for that work type, in team-managed the fields on the brief work type under Space settings, Work types. And where it sits in the hierarchy. Parent picks the level directly above, so if brief got set up as an epic-level type, an epic can never be its parent. Easy to miss.

If it still won't show, your epic key idea works and fits since JPD creates the epic anyway:

1. Short text field on the form, Epic key.
2. Rule on Work item created, then Re-fetch work item data so the form value is in.
3. Lookup work items, issuetype = Epic AND key = {{issue.Epic key}}
4. Edit work item, Parent = {{lookupIssues.first.key}}

A typo in the key links nothing, and only the rule's audit log shows it.

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