Jira Automation: How can I link a existing epic to a newly created issue

[Deleted user]

1. Hello. I am new to Jira Automation. Each month a task needs to be created, hence I thought of automating it. However this task needs to be assigned to an existing epic and in that epic name the month is always changing to the current one. This is the epic name in March: Epic name Mar 2024. Next month it will be: Epic name Apr 2024. Do you have some ideas how to link these epics automatically to the newly created task each month? 

[Trudy Claspill · Accepted solution]

Hello @[deleted] 

Welcome to the Atlassian community.

Is the month always 3 letters and the year always 4 numbers in the Epic?

Referencing the documentation for Smart Values for date and time fields:

https://support.atlassian.com/cloud-automation/docs/jira-smart-values-date-and-time/

...at the bottom of the table of built in formats is a link to another document for additional formatting options.

https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/time/format/DateTimeFormatter.html

Using that information you can extract the three-letter month code and 4-digit year code for the current date thus:

3-letter month code: {{now.format("MMM")}}

4-digit year: {{now.format("yyyy")}}

In your Automation Rule where you create the task you could do the following.

Add a Lookup Issues action to search for an Epic where the Epic Name contains the above values:

JQL:

issuetype=Epic and 'Epic Name'~'{{now.format("MMM")}}' and 'Epic Name'~'{{now.format("yyyy")}}'

Add a Condition to confirm that you got exactly one issue from that lookup:

Add an Edit action to set the Parent field from the issue key of the issue in the lookup results:

[Trudy Claspill]

The problem is, I cannot find the 'Lookup Issues' action, I believe it is not available for the Jira version I am using.

Are you using Jira Server, Jira Data Center, or Jira Cloud?

If you are using one of the first two, there will be version information displayed at the bottom of some screens, like Dashboard screens, and under the Help option in the About Jira pop-up. What version are you using?

Are you a Jira Administrator? It would be helpful to know what version of the Automation plugin you are using. That can be found from the Settings > Manage Apps screen.

When we know the version of Jira and Automation that you are using, then we can look to see what functions are available.

[Deleted user]

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I am using Jira Software Data Center and Server v9.4.9. 

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[Trudy Claspill]

And what version of Automation are you using? That information can be obtained by a Jira Admin.

To find that information the admin would click on the gear icon next to their avatar, select Manage Apps, click Manage Apps again in the panel on the left, find the Automation for Jira app in the list, and expand the entry to get the installed version information.

[Deleted user]

Thank you for the detailed screenshot. I could not find that information unfortunately, I am not a Jira Admin, it seems I have only user access. Under the gear icon next to my avatar, I only have 'Projects' option. Is there any way you can suggest a workaround by the version details provided above? 

[Trudy Claspill]

The Lookup Issues action was introduced with the Automation package that is included with Jira Software Data Center 9.0. It should be available to you.

It is possible that if you were previously using a Jira Server license you would have a version of Automation that doesn't include the function, or if your environment was upgraded from an older version of Jira then the Automation app didn't get upgraded. The only way to really know if to get the version information for the Automation plugin.

Can you provide a screen image for what you see when trying to find the Lookup Issues action?

[Deleted user]

Unfortunately I am unable to provide a screenshot. However when I am searching for Lookup I receive the following 'no matching rule components.' 

[Trudy Claspill]

That suggests that your Automation plugin is outdated and may need to be updated. 

I advise you to contact your Jira Administrators about that.

Any potential work around to do this task in another way is going to be much more complicated than is worth the effort, in my opinion, compared to getting the plugin updated so that the Lookup Issues action is available.

[Deleted user]

Thanks Trudy, will contact them and see if I can get it updated. I appreciate the reply. 

[Deleted user]

I cannot provide screenshot unfortunately. When I am searching for Lookup I get the following "No matching rule components". 

[Deleted user]

Hi Trudy, thank you so much for your detailed reply.

The problem is, I cannot find the 'Lookup Issues' action, I believe it is not available for the Jira version I am using. Is there any workaround that I can try instead of the Lookup Issues action? I see that 'JQL condition' is available under Conditions, can I create something similar with this option?