Connecting Epics Within an Initiative via Automations

[Greg Mihailides]

Hello all, 

My team is looking into changing the way we manage projects and we have an inquiry about automations that hopefully someone can help clarify. 

High level: We want to move from multiple projects to a single project but want to ensure doing so will allow us to more easily create workflow automations like handoffs. The big question: Are tasks within separate epics, but under the same parent initiative, connected? Or will there need to be manual steps and/or automations set up to make the official connection? 

Our current set-up:
We have multiple projects set up within Jira Cloud and one of those projects is the lone project where we intake requests as epics. When the requests require involvement from one or more of the other teams who have their own projects, we have automations set up to create issues, typically epics, within those projects and link back to the original project epic. While this works to a degree, we are limited in the amount of reporting we can do and the automation logic can be complicated which is hard to scale. In this set-up we are also unable to connect issues between other projects for the same request as the only connection is that they are linked to the origin project.

For example:
We intake a request to project A where an epic is created. This request requires two other teams to help. So we have our automation create an epic in the creative team project, call it project C, and also create an epic in the email team project, call it project E. Those new epics are linked to the project A epic, but there is no way to connect the epics in project C and E without manual intervention. Because none are under the same parent, we are limited. 

What we're looking into:
We are looking into bringing all teams into the same project which has it's own challenges. But the main thing we are looking into right now is if we start the intake for our process at the initiative level and then create epics within it for each of the teams, can we easily create automations for issues like tasks across those epics as long as they under the same initiative? They will share the same parent, but will it be straightforward to do something like this:

Initiative is created with a request. It requires both email and creative work so epics for each are created as child issues to the initiative. A task like 'email copy' is created within the creative epic and we want to make an automation for when that task is completed, a new task within the email epic is created. 

Thanks in advance for any guidance here. Happy to provide more information or different examples. 

[Kalyan Sattaluri]

Hello @Greg Mihailides 

Reading through your example, "We intake a request to project A where an epic is created...."

Your current set up of intake in Project A is an epic and your subsequent issue types in Project B & C are also epic.. is not the right way to handle this.

Your Project A issue type ideally should be something to differentiate overall goal (example initiative) of project to how its being delivered (epics). So ideally you should have discussions around that.

Putting that aside, your requirement isnt complex, minus the planning part. There are probably many ways to do. 

But how are you currently creating epics in Project B / C?

Manual trigger with dropdown where, after Epic is created in Project A, some one runs rule and they select appropriate Projects so that the rule creates them there or is it a scheduled trigger based on Labels etc?

It would help to know your current setup, if you dont have one, please share the same aswell.

[Greg Mihailides]

Thanks, @Kalyan Sattaluri
 
Currently, the initial epic is created via a 3rd party form users fill out. Their answers map to fields in Jira and the epic is created in project A. If/when we need the other teams, we have an automation set up where when we add a certain stakeholder to the additional assignee field, an epic within their project (say project C) is created and pulls through nearly all of the field data from the original issue. Then those teams go about their work and build tasks their own way.