Automation: Transition Epic in tandem with child issues

[Breanna Williams]

Hi! I am looking for the automation steps for this ask above:

Further context:

• Epic and Tasks have different workflows
• I'd like for the Epic to transition to In progress when issues are moved to in progress (if there are multiple issues linked, then the automation should be triggered when the first chld issue is moved to in progress)
• I'd like for the epic to transition to "completed" when ALL child issues have been completed

Thank you!

[Mikael Sandberg · Accepted solution]

If you go to Project settings > Automation and look under Library there is a rule called "When all stories are completed → then close epic" that you can use as a starting point, just change the statuses to fit both of your use cases.

[Breanna Williams]

Hi @Mikael Sandberg thank you so much! I am having an issue with the in-progress part of this now? It is rejecting my JQL. Could you take a look?

[Breanna Williams]

@Mikael Sandberg I actually just tried this and it didn't trigger anything for my epic. I am not sure what I did wrong as I copied the rule exactly. In the audit log it says "no actions performed"

[Mikael Sandberg]

Your JQL is missing status = "In progress", using just = "In progress" is not a valid JQL.

When you did the test, did you move a story/task to completed or an epic?

[Breanna Williams]

Ahh, sorry not familiar with JQL. TY!

For the test -- I created an epic and linked task issue 

Since there are two work flows (one for epic and one for task) -- I moved the task issue to completed. 

The epic remained in "back log" after moving the child issue @Mikael Sandberg 

[Mikael Sandberg]

Okay, so try this. On the initial trigger component try and change the status it triggers on, I have noticed that if you use a rule from the library you have to change the default settings for the automation to trigger correctly. 

[Breanna Williams]

I wasn't able to locate the rule for some reason, so I built it out using the screenshot you initially provided. Do you think this still applies/is creating the issue? @Mikael Sandberg 

[Mikael Sandberg]

No, if you create it from scratch you should be good. If you still have an issue with the trigger not running and the audit log is saying "no actions performed" then you should start there. You could add a log action after the initial trigger to see if it gets to that component.

[Breanna Williams]

@Mikael Sandberg  I just watched this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5u_i9z06zg

And it seems like the way its set up is doing the inverse? I.e when epic is moved to completed, it moves all child issues to completed? Vs ,  I want to epic to move to completed when all child issues are done?

The one epic is dependent on all child issues to be complete

Child issues must all equal = completed before the epic can move to completed

Since the child issues all happen at different times, some could be completed before others, but again -- the epic should not move to the complete status until all child issues are done.

[Mikael Sandberg]

The example I posted above should only transition the epic if all stories/tasks in it are in the done/completed status, that is what the second condition in the epic branch is checking, the "And: Stories (or other issues in this Epic)" part.

The video that you found is indeed showing the inverse when the epic is moved to done then move all children too.

[Breanna Williams]

@Mikael Sandberg I deleted and re-did the rule and it finally worked. Thank you for your help!

What I need help with now (promise I am almost done) --

For the epic workflow there is only three statuses: backlog, in progress, completed. We have now finished the automation for syncing with completed.

For the task work flow there is the following in-progress statuses:

* In-progress

* Edits needed

* ready for review

I'd like for the Epic task to recognize that if it's child issues are in one of these statuses, it should remain in "in progress" on its own workflow. I've attached what I tried to do, but it didn't work. Additionally, I think I may need or statements for JQL but am unsure how to do that? please let me know if my thinking is correct, or if I need to make updates.

thank you again for your patience/help

[Breanna Williams]

[Mikael Sandberg]

Something like this should do the trick:

In this case I have added a condition to only look for Stories or Tasks that are transitioning, and then transition the epic only if it is on the To Do status. Because you want to move the epic when the first story/task is transitioned there is not need to check that stories/tasks within the epic is in a specific status.

For you I would just add the other statuses that you have for stories/tasks to the initial trigger, assuming that you can move to any of them from any of the other statuses.

[Breanna Williams]

@Mikael Sandberg Screenshot of audit log since it is saying no actions performed

[Mikael Sandberg]

On the Epic branch, change the condition that checks the status, because the way you have it configured right now the epic would have to be status = In Progress in order to transition it to In Progress.

[Breanna Williams]

It works!!!! Thank you so much!!! Seriously appreciate your help,