How do I Automate Client Field to Associate with an Epic

[Priya Gohil]

I created a field called "Clients"

and tried to associate tickets with a specific client to and epic

that way I can filter using Epics here

However, when the ticket is create with the client configured, it still does not associate to the epic, and I have to manually update the ticket with the epic link.

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello @Priya Gohil 

I see you are working with a Team Managed project.

Team Managed projects don't use the "Epic Link" field to note an issue's parent Epic. Instead they use the Parent field.

The Parent field is not one available in the Choose Field to Set drop down in Automation rules. You need to use the More Options and set it using the Additional Fields option.

Credit to @Natasha Denny for noting this solution in this post.

[Ste Wright]

Hi @Priya Gohil 

What kind of field is Clients? And what options are set for it?

And how many combinations are there for assigning Epics based on this field?

Ste

[Priya Gohil]

@Ste Wright It is a dropdown with about 24 clients and there are 6 Epics. Each client should be associated with 1 Epic.

[Ste Wright]

Hi @Priya Gohil 

It looks like @Trudy Claspill has found a potential solution!

Let us know if this works - if not, I'd be happy to try and replicate this for you, to help define the rule :)

Ste

[Priya Gohil]

Per @Trudy Claspill I set up the automation as follows:

When I go create the ticket, I still don't see it linked

[Trudy Claspill]

@Priya Gohil 

Can you show us the details of the Trigger?

Have you set the options in that for Change Type or For Issue Operations?

What type of field is Client?

[Priya Gohil]

@Trudy Claspill 

[Trudy Claspill]

In the first screen you have the For issue operations set to Edit. That means the rule will be triggered only when an issue is being edited. It won't be triggered when an issue is being Created. You need to add the Create Issue option to that field to also trigger the rule when an issue is being created.

[Priya Gohil]

@Trudy Claspill Like this? 

Just tested, and still seems like it doesn't want to link to the Epic.

[Trudy Claspill]

No, like this.

[Priya Gohil]

@Trudy Claspill Oh sorry, my bad! So, I just tested that and still nothing changes. :\ 

[Trudy Claspill]

Please show us again the details of your current rule.

Is there more than one "Clients" field in the pull-down list in the rule when you are selecting the field to monitor for changes?

Has a "Clients" custom field been defined by your Jira Administrators for use in Company Managed projects?

[Priya Gohil]

[Trudy Claspill]

In the Automation Rule editor, when you pull down this field, do you find more than one entry named "Clients"

Can you have a Jira Administrator check if a custom field named Clients has been defined at a global level? They would do that by going to the administration settings > Issues > Custom Fields.

When you execute an action to create and issue or update the Clients field in one of your issues, what shows up in the Audit Log for the rule? You can see a link to its Audit Log in the upper left area, above the display of the rule steps.

When I create a Dependent custom field in my test Team Managed project, the field is not showing up in the drop-down list in the Automation Rule. I am suspicious that while you have selected Clients for that, you are actually getting a Company Managed project custom field named Clients rather than the custom field named Clients that is in your Team Managed project.

[Priya Gohil]

Oh I see you are right. When I just click the dropdown, I don't see "Clients" as an option. I don't know why would it let me select "Clients" after typing it in. I will check with the administrator. 

Under Audit log I do see a series of "CONFIG CHNGE" and then "NO ACTIONS PERFORMED"

[Trudy Claspill]

You can click on the Show More option in the Operations column to get more details about the specific execution of the rule.

[Ste Wright]

Hi @Priya Gohil 

Whilst it might be possible to make this work - is a Dependent Dropdown required? This field is only required if you have cascading options - for example...

• Client 1
  • Name 1
  • Name 2
• Client 2
  • Name 3
  • Name 4

...if you don't need dependent options like this - could you change the field type to just be Dropdown? This should resolve the Issue.

---

Then the rule will be...

• Trigger: Field Value Changed
  • Field: Clients
  • Change Type: Set as required
  • For: Set as required
• Condition: If/Else Block
  • Sub-Condition: Issue Fields Condition
    • Field: Clients
    • Condition: is one of
    • Value: Name 1, Name 2, Name 3
  • Sub-Action: Edit Issue
    • More Options
      • Additional Fields...
        • {"fields": {"parent": {"key":"ABC-1"}}}
          • ABC-1 is your Epic Key
• Else If...
  • Repeat sub-options above, for each other combination of client names and Epics

---

As noted in previous comments, ideally the field Clients will have a unique name not used elsewhere on the platform.

This is due to a limitation in Automation where duplicate field names can cause Automations to fail (as it cannot be set per field ID).

---

Let us know what you think of the above!

Ste

[dchung]

@Ste Wright you're a genius, this worked!