Workflow Trigger or Automation Rule

Question

I have previously used workflow triggers to transition issues through the work. For example, branch created would transition the issue from "To Do" to "In Progress".

Jira automation appears to be able to this as well plus listen to additional events such as builds, deployments etc.

When should one use triggers vs. automation? It seems like some of these would conflict or potentially be duplicative if you have automation do something off-branch created and workflow trigger do the same.

Is there a best practice? What are the pros/cons of using one of the other?

ramyaallena · Answer

Hi Jacob,

Jira Workflow Triggers and Jira Automation are both powerful tools that can be used to automate processes in Jira.

Workflow Triggers are a part of Jira's workflow engine and are designed to transition issues between workflow states based on certain criteria, such as a specific field value, a comment added, or a transition triggered by an external system. Whereas Jira Automation is a more powerful and flexible automation tool available in Jira, allowing you to define custom rules and actions based on a wide range of triggers, including external events like builds, deployments, or specific field changes.

As for Pros & Cons,

Workflow triggers are easy to set up and maintain, especially for simple use cases. And they have a high level of control over issue transitions and status changes. As for Cons, workflow Triggers are limited to specific trigger options and are limited to transitioning issues between workflow states.

Jira Automation has a wide range of triggers and can perform a wide range of actions beyond issue transitions, such as sending notifications, creating issues, updating fields, and running custom scripts. They are highly customizable and can be configured to fit a wide range of use cases. As for Cons, They can be more complex to set up and maintain, especially for complex workflows. And they require more testing and validation to ensure that they are working correctly.

Ultimately, the decision between workflow triggers and Jira Automation depends on the specific requirements of your use case, the complexity of the automation, and the desired level of flexibility and maintenance ease.

You can get more idea from these links:

https://support.atlassian.com/cloud-automation/docs/jira-automation-triggers/

https://support.atlassian.com/jira-cloud-administration/docs/understand-workflow-triggers/

https://support.atlassian.com/cloud-automation/docs/differences-between-automation-in-jira-server-and-jira-cloud/

Thanks,

Allena

Trudy P Claspill · Answer

Hello @Jacob Goldman

Here are a couple of things to consider.

Using workflow triggers will ignore any conditions or validators that you have added to the transition.

Automation rules will not ignore conditions or validators.

Automation rules have Service Limits. There are also limits on rule executions for rules that are multi-project or Global in scope. For a Standard plan you are limited to 500 of those. If your rules are single project scope there is no limit.