How do I set up an automation where updating one board automatically updates another?

[beth_sutton]

I want to have it so that when I run an automation, the same card is created on both boards (a clone, I believe). I then want it so that when one of the cards is moved to 'Done' on one board, it automatically moves the card on the other board to 'Done'.

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @beth_sutton -- Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Would you please explain the problem you are trying to solve?  Knowing that will help the community suggest solution approaches.  Until we see that...

In Jira, a board is a view of issues in a project, based on a filter.

Leading to this question: are your boards in one project or different projects?

• If they are in one project, the same issue can be shown on different boards.  Please take a look at the different filters to see what is different, and that will guide how to make the same issue appear.
• If the boards are in different projects...
  • You can still show the same issue on different boards; again just adjust the filter to contain the different projects, such as project IN (projectA, projectB) ORDER BY Rank ASC
  • If you truly want different issues on the different boards, and want to keep their status in sync, that can be done by cloning and automation rule updates

Kind regards,
Bill

[beth_sutton]

Hello! Sorry for limited info.

At the moment, for example, on Board A:

• I create a 'Resource' (i.e. an issue). 
• I then run an automation to create an 'Illustration Request' (i.e. another issue type) on Board A and then a clone on Board B.

What I would like is that when the Illustration Request is 'completed' on Board A, it shows as 'completed' on Board B so that another automation can move the 'Resource' into the Design column (as currently the 'Resource' is in 'on hold' until the illustration request is complete).

I'm sorry if this isn't much information to go off - let me know if you have further questions :)

[Bill Sheboy]

No worries, Beth.  Just trying to understand the situation so the community can help.

What type of project are you using: company-managed or team-managed?  You can find this information at  the bottom-left side of the page when you expand out the options.

Are your Boards A and B in the same or different projects?

[beth_sutton]

Of course :) It's team-managed and I believe I have very limited options from what I can see from other posts I've looked at (there's a lot I can't seem to do!). 

And different projects :)

[Bill Sheboy]

Gotcha, and thanks!

First, some rule scope (impact) information...

• Automation rules can have project-scope and global/multi-project scope
• A project-scope rule operates on its issues, and can create (or clone) issues into another project...but that is all it can do to other projects.
• A global/multi-project rule can pretty much do anything...And, each Jira license level has limits to the number of rule executions per month.

Back to your scenario: in the Resource issues, team-managed project you can easily create a project-scope rule to create/clone the issue into the Illustration Request project.  But you would need a global (or multi-project) rule to sync the status values.  And so...

As you appear to be on a standard license level your entire site gets 500 such global/multi-project executions per month.  My recommendation is to talk to your Jira Admin to learn if such a rule is workable with your limits to decide next steps.

One other alternative: switch from team-managed to a single company-managed project, with different boards (and backlogs) for Resource and Illustration Request work.  The work can remain independent, visible, and a project-scope rule could handle what is needed.  Your Jira Admin can help set that up, if you want to try that approach.

[beth_sutton]

Morning Bill! Sorry for such a delayed response! But thank you so much for taking the time to explain the different options to me :)

I've now asked my line manager (who is going to ask her line manager 😂) to see if I can have the correct permissions in order to be able to do some global / multi-project executions! 

Thank you again - I thought I was going crazy trying to work it out! 

[Sam Nadarajan]

Hello @beth_sutton and welcome to the Community!

Boards are merely views into your project data, and they are driven by a filter. In your automation rule, you want to create 2 issues (what you refer to as cards) with the same information, but set some information on them so the board filter picks those cards up and displays them appropriately.

If you want to update the issue (card) on the other board based on transitioning one of the issues/cards to the `Done` status, then you will want to create an issue link between the two issues/cards. Once that link has been established, in your automation rule, you can use a Branch rule component to iterate through the linked issues and perform additional actions:

If you're able to provide some more information such as what the filter on both of your boards are, we can give you a better recommendation/examples.

Hope this helps!

[beth_sutton]

Hi Sam :) Please see my reply to Bill above for further information. I feel that I may be overcomplicating everything but any help or insight would be much appreciated! :)

The thing I'm really struggling to do is link the 'Illustration Request' (which is created via an automation) on Board A to its clone on Board B :(