Is there a way to automatically move a bug to the board when the priority is set to highest?

[Gergana Mihaylova]

We have many contributors to the backlog and when users log a bug with priority set to 'highest' we'd like this item to be moved automatically to the board.

Currently, we do it manually, but this interrupts other tasks and there's a potential that we don't prioritise it right away.

Do you have any suggestions how we can automate this? Perhaps an automation or Jira plug-in could do the job but I couldn't find a suitable one.

[Andy Heinzer]

Hi all,

Automation can do this, and I think John's answer is very close.  However the one thing I would change would be the action here.  Instead of transitioning the issue, set an action to edit the Sprint field, and then add that issue to the active sprint.  My example looks like this:

^ This is the way it looks in a next-gen project.   The same can also be done for the Classic project, but since in classic projects issues and sprints can span across multiple different boards, you will want to make sure you pick the correct board/sprint when you set the value.

By adding this issue to the active sprint, that should make it appear on those boards anytime that priority is set to a specific value.

Does that help?

Andy

[Boyan Barnev]

Hey @Andy Heinzer , thanks! That came really close, and made total sense. However, the problem is that this project is set up as Kanban, so there are no sprints defined. When I tried setting the automation rule just for the test, I got: You have selected a Next Gen kanban board. Select a board that uses sprints to continue.

[Andy Heinzer]

Hi @Boyan Barnev 

It's true that Classic projects that use Kanban can NOT use sprints.  However next-gen software projects, including next-gen kanban, can be setup to use sprints. 

Perhaps you will need to turn on the sprints feature for that project first.  You can do this by going to Project Settings -> Features -> Sprints and enabling this project option.

I just tested this automation rule out in my next-gen Kanban project and it works.  Let me know if that helps.

Andy

[Boyan Barnev]

Thanks, Andy!

True, I can enable sprints, but the point is that our Engineering team wants to do proper Kanban and sprints are not an option. Not my decision there :)

That being said - Jira somehow "knows" when we move an issue to Board, so it's not sprint, it's something else that gets set, right? Any idea how I can emulate the same thing?

[Andy Heinzer]

Ah, well in that case, I can't seem to find any way to use automation to automatically add that issue to the board.   With sprints enabled, we can use automation to set the sprint field value on that issue so that it gets added. 

However outside of making a direct adjustment to the sprint field, the issue details itself in Jira do not show any other fields being changed when an issue enters the board or is removed from that board into the backlog. The issue might change rank when this happens, but this is not a field that determines if the issue appears on the board, rather the rank determines where in relation to other issues that field falls (above another issue or below it).  Take a look at the issue history view under activity.  You can see for yourself that moving an issue to and from the Board or Backlog does not actually change any fields on that issue.

As such, automation does not have any means to change an issue field that could help here.  Sorry to report, but it looks like the only way to do this in a next-gen project that I can find is currently to enable sprints and set to the Active Sprint as described above. 

There exists a related request to this over in JSWCLOUD-17471.  Perhaps if this was implemented, depending on the solution it might also solve your problem here.  Sorry I don't have a better solution at this time.

Andy

[Ian Colwell]

Hi @Andy Heinzer , it's been almost 2 years, do you know if it's still not possible to automatically move issues to the board from backlog? Just curious if anything has changed. We also don't use sprints. Thanks!

[John Funk]

Hi Gergana - Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Moving a card to a board is really just setting the card to a new status. So your Automation For Jira rule would look something like:

Create a rule with a trigger for Field Value Changed.

Then add a Condition for the priority field = highest

Then add a New Action for Transition issue.

Select the Status that represents the first column on your board. 

Save your rule, attach it to the appropriate project or projects, and then publish the rule.

You should be ready to go!

[Steven Villanueva]

Very much agreed with John - I hope they have this feature ready available on On Premise version without any additional charges

[Gergana Mihaylova]

Thank you, guys! The problem is that all issues are logged in the backlog with status 'To-do', which is also the first column in the board. I can't find the proper action in the automation if the status is the same.

[Boyan Barnev]

Hey folks I have the same issue as Gergana - we use a Jira Software (Next-gen) project, where the only way something ends up in the board is with drag and drop from Backlog -> Board. It's not based on workflow status, so I'm wondering is there any other way to configure this? In other words, is there a property that gets changed when you physically drag'n'drop the issue to the board? If so, maybe I can use that in the automation action?

[John Funk]

Yes, you are actually changing the status of the issue when it moves from one column of the board to another column. (Or from backlog to the board). 

And yes, you should be able to automate that with the same rule described above.  :-)

Here's a little more info/guidance:

There are two types of automation:

• Global: In the Free version, you get 100 executions per product, per month
• Project: In all versions, you get unlimited executions per month

Automation Basics: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/guides/expand-jira/automation

You can do this via global rules to apply to all projects also. You'll need to be a Jira Admin/Site Admin, go to Jira Settings > System > Automation Rules (left-hand menu).

For more on using Automation For Jira see these help pages.

[John Funk]

@Gergana Mihaylova  - Can you share some screenshots of what you are seeing/trying to do? Thanks!

[Boyan Barnev]

@John Funk thanks so much for the comprehensive reply. Yet, it's still not working for me :(

Allow me to elaborate:

1. I created an automation, which is triggered on Issue created and is valid for Bugs with Highest priority. The automation transitions the issue in To Do status.

The automation ran fine, but the issue remained in Backlog and not in Board. 

To further elaborate:

Our workflow has 3 statuses: To Do -> In Progress -> Done. By default, create issues are in To Do, and they appear in Backlog. Our first column of Board is To Do. Issues can only end up there if manually drag'n' drop-ped.

So, transitioning from To Do -> To Do did not help, and I honestly don't see how it would help, but I definitely did my best in trying.

I used the Atlassian API to observe the issues for any differences when I manually move them to the Board. Both issues had the same values for status:

"status": {            "self": "https://gtmhub.atlassian.net/rest/api/3/status/10541",            "description": "",            "iconUrl": "https://gtmhub.atlassian.net/",            "name": "To Do",            "id": "10541",            "statusCategory": {                "self": "https://gtmhub.atlassian.net/rest/api/3/statuscategory/2",                "id": 2,                "key": "new",                "colorName": "blue-gray",                "name": "To Do"            }        },

As a matter of fact, I used a diff tool to check the differences and none on them indicated a particular field differing in value (Except for ones that contain timestamps)

I understand in the most common scenario Board is set up so it starts at a different status than the one issue is created with, but with our setup it's not the case. So it remains a complete mystery to me - what does the physical drag'n'frop from Backlog to Board do to an issue, and how to do the same via Automation.

Thanks in advance!!

Best,

Boyan

[John Funk]

I see what you are saying now. And that's very strange. I will see if I can find out what's going on with the card and if Automation can be used in some way to get it to the board. 

[Sara de Hond]

It's the same for me. I created this rule to move from backlog to board, but all it did was changing the status and keeping it in the backlog. It's not visible anywhere on the board view. 

[NB]

@John FunkDid you find out what's going on with the card and do you have anything further to add?

[John Funk]

I think this was related to a Team-managed project and maybe a Sprint. I don't work in those environments so not sure what actually happened with it.