How to automatically update an epic's issue status in line with the epic status

Question

I'm a JIRA Agile Cloud user. I want to be able to link the epic status field to its issue field.

There are 2 potential ways I'd like to do this:

* A user marks the Epic status as 'Done' in the backlog Epic panel. At this point, I'd like the epic's issue status to be changed to 'Done' and for it to be resolved.
* Link the epic status to the status of its child issues. So, if all child issues are 'To Do', the epic is also 'To Do'. If any child issue is changes to 'In Progress', the epic status and epic issue status is changes to 'In Progress'. If all issues are 'Done', the epic and issue status is done and also resolved.

I realise I might need a plugin to achieve either of these but would appreciate ideas on how I can achieve either.

Thanks

unknown · Answer

I've written a small service that transitions Epics automatically if the status of linked stories is updated. It can be easily integrated into JIRA.

The source code is open source on GitHub here. I've also described in a blog post how it works here.

Glenn Verrijkt_897a9m · Answer

Just adding a bit of info:

The JIRA Misc Workflow Extensions add-on is no longer free (both for JIRA Server and Cloud) and it does not come pre-installed anymore on JIRA Cloud.

More details available on the Marketplace.

Steve Behnke [D1 · Answer

Yes, the JIRA default post-function of Update Issue Field won't help you. However, Misc Workflow Extensions includes a post-function called Update Issue Custom Field. This will let you set Epic Status from a Workflow Post-function.

This add-on is pre-installed in your JIRA Cloud instance but it is disabled by default! Since these are free and installed by default, I'd enable Misc Workflow Extensions, JIRA Suite Utilities, and JIRA Toolkit if you haven't already.

This will give you part of your use-case, since you'll be able to control the Epic Status field from the workflow.

If you wanted to do this on JIRA Server, you'd need to use write a custom listener (in JAVA) or leverage the JIRA Automation Plugin to set up a custom listener. Perhaps a GROOVY function through ScriptRunner. You can't do any of these in this case, which leaves Webhooks/REST API to perform this operation.

There are no alternatives nor do I know of any add-ons that meet your criteria. For the record, the script you'd need to host is simple, anyone with scripting expertise at your work should be able to provide a hand. Please check this out – https://answers.atlassian.com/questions/71266. If this isn't a possibility for you then you should reach out for expert services.