How to use custom fields in Work Management projects with global automation

[Benjamin Heunemann]

Hey, I am desperately trying to have custom fields created on a global aspect (issues > fields > custom fields) show up and be usable in business projects, especially for automation.

My idea:

• I created a simple text field with a few options (as mentioned under issues > fields > custom fields)
• if in a business project an issue under certain conditions is created, a new issue with pre-filled information, among them the custom field, will be created
  
• neither does the custom field show up in the project's issue types settings nor does (global) automation recognise the field:
  "Unknown fields set during create, they may be unavailable for the project/type. Check your custom field configuration. Fields ignored -" (followed by the field name)
• also the field does not show up in the new project's task configuration screen (which is most likely to be related to the error)
  

I have no idea what to do and feel like I've looked everywhere. Does anyone have a hint?

[John Funk · Accepted solution]

Hi Benjamin - Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Let's go through this a few steps at a time. Did you create a Company-managed JWM project or a Team-managed JWM project? 

If Team-managed, then no, it will not be available from a global perspective. 

If Company-managed, then you should be able to do it. Go to the custom field: Settings (gear icon) > Issues > Custom fields. 

Search for your field, then click the 3 dots menu on the right side and choose Default Values and Context. 

There, make sure you put in the projects you want to use the field on. 

Then go back and refresh your project and the field should show up. 

[Benjamin Heunemann]

Thank you for answering. I am currently trying to do this in a company-managed project and did set the context to "Global context". That should apply to all company-managed projects, right?

Even if I should assign a certain project it wouldn't make sense to me at this point since I want automation rules to help colleagues automatically create certain tasks according to their initial information the provide in a few provided custom fields.

So yes, I am working in a cm project. And while writing this answer I kept on trying different things and narrowed it down to the project's screen scheme under /plugins/servlet/project-config/<projectkey>/screens because this is what is essential obviously.

When the new cm project is created also new project related screens are created. I would rather have a setting somewhere to say "use this screen/screen scheme for new projects instead creating a new one every time". Is there something like this? Because I have created one I would like to use as standard which contains the necessary fields which are not taken into the automatically created screen when the project is created. Alternatively how can I manage to have the custom field being used for new screens?

The following picture shows the place where I changed the screen scheme by hand to a working one that includes the fields I need.

[John Funk]

Thanks for clarifying. You can create your new projects based on an existing project - which will inherit the schemes that the existing project already uses. 

[Benjamin Heunemann]

That sounds interesting, but where do I find this option. I can't see it in the settings for creating a new project.

[John Funk]

First - what type of project are you wanting to create? Jira Software or Jira Work Management? 

[John Funk]

Actually, start by clicking the appropriate product at the bottom left. 

If you choose Jira Software, just keep walking through the prompts - including Use this template. Eventually, you will select a Company managed project. After that you should see this:

For Jira Work Management, you can select the Blank Template. But on the next screen, be sure to click on More Options link. 

Then change project type to Company Managed.

Then you will see the option like above:

[Benjamin Heunemann]

This is indeed interesting. And I realise now why I can't do it, it's not possible in the free plan and since we are only trying the software now to check if it's working for us the option is greyed out :) Alright, but I have come a bit further.

So can I assume a non-admin user can create a company-managed project with the shared settings of a similar project that once was created and did fit the needs for working?

[John Funk]

Ah, yes, the free plan would explain it. 

No, only Jira Administrators can create Company-managed projects. 

There is a global setting that can allow certain users to create Team-managed projects, but Company-managed projects can only be created by Jira Admins - regardless of the subscription type. 

[Benjamin Heunemann]

OK, so in this case (since I do not want to be asked to create new projects in JIRA WM as IT support) the other option would be to create a team-managed template project, set it all up with project internal issue types and automation and let others use this as settings template when creating new projects?

Does this sound like a possible way around the permission issue?

[John Funk]

Well, no, because Team-managed projects are completely independent of each other and nothing is shared between them. So you cannot create Team-managed projects based on other projects - each one is from scratch, including the custom fields!

[Benjamin Heunemann]

Would it be of any use to have a group of users who get some kind of Jira Work Management admin role and then be able to create company-managed projects? Currently in free plan I can not create new roles so maybe this is a way in paid plan?

[John Funk]

No, only full blown Jira Admins will be able to create the Company-managed projects in Jira Work Management and Jira Software. There is no separate permission that will allow others to create those. 

Under the Free plan, EVERYONE is a Jira Administrator. But not so with the paid plan. 

They really shouldn't be creating an extraordinary amount of projects though, that you or another admin wouldn't be able to keep up with it. It really just takes a minute if you are creating a project based on an existing project. 

[Benjamin Heunemann]

I know it doesn't take time, the main goal is just to being able to give users of different departments a possibility of creating new projects on their own without the need to contact the IT department for that who might not be available in that moment.

I see now that this is probably the only way since I get the feeling of having it narrowed down to the last aspect that I could think of here. At least now I can present the possibilities and have a decision about whether to go the Jira way or not for them.

Thanks for sticking with me down this path to roles and automation in JWM.

[John Funk]

Yep, I understand on the timing thing. 

And very happy to help.  :-)

[Fabian Lim]

Hi @Benjamin Heunemann

Welcome to the community. 

Unfortunately, I believe this is by design. If you want automation to work with global customfields you cannot use jwm. You need to use Jira software projects instead.

Good luck

[Benjamin Heunemann]

Thank you for answering Fabian. By now I have the feeling it's a thing of the right screen scheme in the project since this decides if the fields are usable in issue types and therefore the automation is able to refer to it or not. I am now looking for the right procedure with this since I get the feeling it's a problem I would encounter in Jira Software too: screen schemes that are automatically created and assigned that do not contain my desired fields from the beginning which makes quickly setting up and starting a project with the provided automation features hard.