Adjust parents due date automatically to the nearest due date of one of the sub-tasks

[Sharon Freij]

Hi everyone, hope someone can help me.

Within my jira project, I have several Stories, Tasks and sub-tasks. With Jira automation, the story/task will be automatically progressed when all of the sub-tasks are done (for example). 

But now I'm facing an issue which I'm not able to solve. Hope that someone within this community can help.

I would like to make the due date of the parent dependent on the nearest/shortest due date of their sub-tasks. For example:
Story --> due date is empty during creation
Sub-task 1 --> due date is 01.04.2021
Sub-task 2 --> due date is 06.04.2021
Sub-task 3 --> due date is 31.03.2021

The due date of the parent should also be 31.03.2021 automatically.

How to do that?

[Hana Kučerová]

Hi @Sharon Freij ,

welcome to the Atlassian Community!

First idea - what about to react on the change of sub-task's due date? Something like - everytime the due date of sub-task is changed, find the parent and compare the dates. If the parent's due date is greater then the sub-task's due date, change the due date in the parent...

[Sharon Freij]

Hello,

thanks for your answer!

This idea would already help me a lot, but 1 remark: in our way of working we can have multiple sub-tasks in a story. How do I know that the due date from the parent represents the earliest or the latest sub-task due date?

For example if one of my sub-task due dates changes, and its right in the middle (between earliest and latest date), my parent task should not change.

[Hana Kučerová]

Hi @Sharon Freij ,

how I imagine this functionality:

1) The main story is created, it's due date is empty

2) The first sub-task is created with due date 30. 4. 2021, there's no due date in parent, so the parent's due date is set to 30. 4. 2021

3) The second sub-task is created with due date 31. 3. 2021, this due date is compared to the parent's due date - it is earlier, so the parent's due date is set to 31. 3. 2021

4) The third sub-task is created with due date 31. 5. 2021, this due date is compared to the parent's due date - it is not earlier, the parent's due date remains 31. 3. 2021

5) The third sub-task is updated with due date 15. 3. 2021, this due date is compared to the parent's due date - it is earlier, so the parent's due date is set to 15. 3. 2021

6) and so on...

So, I believe, if you do the comparison every time the due date changes in one of the sub-tasks, this could work... But it will work only for new stories.

How many stories do you already have in your project?

[Sharon Freij]

Hi @Hana Kučerová 

Thanks for your reply. 

I already have a lot of stories in my project, but that's not a problem. I'm looking for a solution for new stories, so that's fine.

How do I compare the due date of the parent with the due date of the sub-task? And if it needs to be changed, how should my automation rule look like? 
Still struggling :) ...

[Hana Kučerová]

Hi @Sharon Freij ,

please try something like this:

When: Value changes for Due Date (for all issue operations)

IF: Issue Type equals Sub-task

For Parent:

- If: Issue matches JQL: duedate is EMPTY

- Then: Edit issue fields: copy Due Date from Trigger Issue

For Parent:

- If: Issue matches JQL: duedate is not EMPTY

- And: Compare two values: Checks if: {{triggerIssue.duedate.diff(issue.duedate).days}} is greater than 0

- Then: Edit issue fields: copy Due Date from Trigger Issue

[Steven Lloyd]

Hi Hana,

Thank you for the above, one question I do have and apologies if this is a silly question, I am struggling to see how you map to the "Copy due date from trigger issue". Is this a smart value or pulled through from the "More options" section?

[Hana Kučerová]

Hi @Steven Lloyd ,

I'm sorry about the late answer.

1) Click on ... -> Click on Copy from...

2) Click on Copy Due date from Current issue -> Click on Current issue -> Select Trigger issue -> Save