Request input from users when a Manual rule is triggered

[#1]

Hi Atlassian Community! Just a quick update to inform you of another change to how Manual rules work in Jira Cloud. With this latest addition, we're giving admins more control and customization options for manual rules.

This is in addition to the changes we announced earlier this month: Manual trigger rules are moving.

What are Manual automation rules?

All automation rules start with a trigger. These can be based on an event (e.g. When an issue moves to Done…) or they can be based on time (e.g. Every 2 weeks….).

However, some rules can be triggered manually. You can set these up by selecting the Manual trigger when creating an automation rule.

Once you’ve created a manual rule, you and your team can trigger it by going to a Jira issue

What are we adding?

From April 2023, we’re giving admins the ability to add input fields to manual automation rules. When configuring a Manual trigger, select Prompt for input when this rule is triggered to start configuring input fields.

Those fields will then display to users when they trigger the rule. This allows you to gather information from your team members before the rule runs, ensuring that all necessary details are captured.

How it works:

• When configuring an automation rule with a Manual trigger, select Prompt for input when this rule is triggered.
• Define the fields you want the user to fill out when they trigger the rule. You can also set a default value (the value that will be displayed to users initially) and set each field as mandatory.
• You also have the option of accessing each input as a smart value in other actions and conditions.
• When the user triggers the rule, they'll see the fields you configured. If a user triggers a manual rule and decides to cancel without entering any details, it won't count as an execution toward your monthly limit.

Until next time! 

Please feel free to leave us any feedback or questions in the comments below. Happy automating!

[Hana Kučerová]

Great improvement!

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @Kevin Bui 

Thanks for the information on the new feature.  I do not see this in my instances yet and so I wonder: what is the type of these input fields?  Are they always text or are they type-configurable like custom fields?

Kind regards,
Bill

[Kevin Bui]

Hi @Bill Sheboy - Great hearing from you again as always.

The types of fields available are:

• Short text
• Paragraph
• Dropdown
• Number
• Checkbox

[Bill Sheboy]

Thanks, @Kevin Bui   I am looking forward to trying this one!

[Helen]

I think this is exactly the functionality I'm after, but I'm working in Jira Server/Data Center; is there any chance it will make it there?

I'd like to configure the Create Linked Issue screen to show additional fields (without making them mandatory). This functionality seems like it would do the job - combine a manual trigger with the new user input you've described then the automation can create the new issue with the user supplied inputs and link it to the parent.

[Tom Hudgins]

This sounds like exactly what I need. I don't see it in my UI however (as of May 3 2023). How long does it take to roll out to everyone?

Does selecting the fields in the prompt acually change the fields in the issue? I need to get some field values to include in a Web Request and I want the user to be able to select say, a sub-set of the current values of a field. For example, if the Colors field has options Red, Yellow, Green and Red and Yellow are currently selected in the issue, when the prompt runs, I want the user to be able to select Yellow (or anything really) but I don't necessarily want to persist that selection in the field after the automation runs. Is that how it works?

[Alexander Wildes Jr]

I am creating a release Management Process Project.. and this feature would be great for my Program Managers who would like to bulk link change/stage tickets into one ticket based on field data such as Release Version and status.  I can see other uses as well. Great FEATURE. IS there an ETA on to when this will be made available.

Always
Alex Wildes, Jr.

[yurikudin]

Hi @Alexander Wildes Jr ,

This is not exactly connected to your initial question but it might be useful for your use case, as you are building a Release management process.

We are working on a Release management app (DC Version) application. It can help with the visualization of all releases (fix versions, epics, sprints and JQL-based virtual versions) on Kanban board, Roadmap or calendar. Also, package multi-component releases or efficiently manage cross-project releases.

By using the application, you could be able to automatically update issues in the release based on release status change. 

Please let me know if you would like to learn more about the app or organize a demo.

Thanks,

Yuri

[Laurence Wright]

Like some others have commented, I don't see this yet. How long does it take to roll out?

Thanks,

Laurence

[Tom Hudgins]

Does anyone see this in their Jira instance yet?

[Andrea_Lawrence]

I do see this feature in my Jira instance however it's not working as expected and is giving me errors.

[Tom Hudgins]

Interesting. I raised a ticket with Atlassian asking where this was and they replied that it's not out yet because they are still testing.

[Charlie Gavey]

Hi @Laurence Wright @Tom Hudgins @Alexander Wildes Jr Just a quick note to confirm this should now be available for all customers - look forward to hearing your feedback!

@Andrea_Lawrence Thanks so much for letting us know - are you able to reach out via support with details of the errors you're seeing? https://support.atlassian.com/contact/?postauth=true#/

[Charlie Gavey]

If anyone has feedback on this feature, the Automation team would love to hear from you - feel free to book in time to chat here: https://calendly.com/cgavey/automation-feedback?month=2023-05

[Tom Hudgins]

Thanks @Charlie Gavey I see it now.

I can see how this could be helpful but it's not quite what I expected. These fields are not related to actual existing custom fields, you define (and populate options for dropdown fields) the fields right in the rule. 

In my case, I have an existing dropdown custom field with lots of options. I want to be able to trigger a rule and allow the user to select from these options to pass to the rule. I would need to define this new shadow field and manually populate the full set of options - and somehow keep them in sync with the options from the actual custom field. That's not gonna happen. 

I've booked time with the Automation team to provide this feedback.

Thanks for following up.

[Andrea_Lawrence]

@Charlie Gavey - I just tested again to see if I would get the same error and now it seems to be working. Previously when I set a Manual Trigger to prompt for input and set the fields to be required, the automation would fail and a prompt would never appear. If I unchecked "Required field" then the automation would succeed but the prompt never appeared. The issue appeared to be related to the prompt itself.

When testing again today, I didn't get the same error and the prompt appeared with the required fields.

[Eduardo Marques]

I really like this new functionality.

If possible I would like to have the possibility to ask the user triggering the rule to select for example the assignee and based on the value entered, the rule would set the assignee, enter a comment and progress the ticket to a specific status.

This would be a perfect solution that could be used by a support team to a "First Reply" situation

[Charlie Gavey]

@Eduardo Marques Thanks so much! We've captured your suggestion in our public tracker - feel free to upvote or follow updates on this one here: https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/AUTO-744

[Andrea_Lawrence]

@Charlie Gavey  Agree with @Eduardo Marques  and @Tom Hudgins suggestions, I've upvoted the ticket you linked. If a manual trigger had the ability to re-use custom fields from the issue then this would eliminate a much more complex workaround I've created using a manual trigger and workflow transition. I see you've actually commented on the post where I found how to do this workaround:

https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Marketplace-Apps-Integrations/Manually-Triggered-Automation-Rule-with-a-Screen-Prompt/qaq-p/1549877 

I had to implement this workaround when the manual trigger prompts weren't working initially.

[Doug Levitt]

The manual input works nicely.  It allows me to prompt the user with, "Are you really certain you want to run this"?

Below as an example.

I wish:

a) I could better control the text rendered above (e.g. using a "Message Custom Field", which just renders information and doesn't prompt for anything)

b) I could better control the fonts (I want to make my prompts larger and eliminate the "Your input is required...")

c) I could "publish information" out to the Jira GUI as opposed to writing success/failure messages to Slack.  As a simple example, how do I communicate to the user the name of the newly cloned issue (that's the Happy Path use case)?  Likewise, how do I communicate when there is a failure?

Bottom line.  This is getting better (and more usable).  It can be easily improved.

[michelle_bachmann]

I've created the manual rule to prompt for input, but I can't find where the input is recorded?  Can someone help me locate that?

[Tom Hudgins]

@michelle_bachmann when you define a prompt, you give it a variable name. You can then access the value using smart values. 

Right below the variable name, they give you a hint.

Access your variable in other actions by using {{userInputs.smartValueName}}