Automation calculating value based on the values entered for 2 separate fields

[Rafael Freymueller]

Hi everyone,

I am currently stuck trying to solve the following automation issue. The person that created this setup / automation is unfortunately no longer available for inquiries so any help would be highly appreciated!

For one of our projects we are using the custom field "Calculated Priority". 

This fields takes the values entered in the custom fields "Effort Estimation" & "Business Value Estimation" and calculates a number based on the values entered for each of the two custom estimation fields.

The values available for the "Effort Estimation" range from XS to XXL (6 total options)

The values for the "Business Estimation" range from Lowest to Highest (5 total options)

Recently, we added the "XXL" value as an option to the "Effort Estimation", before this, the highest value you could select was "XL. I am not 100% certain if the "Calculated Priority" field stopped being automatically populated through the automation at this point.

In the below screenshots you can find the automation in question. It would be great if I could get this working again through your help & input.

Another thing I found in the automation is that in the "Then" component, it says "(deleted fields?) next to the name of the fields. I am not sure as to what would be causing this. The field is still active. You can see this in the third screenshot.

The "Else-if" & "Then" component in the automation basically repeat themselves for each available size for the "Effort Estimation" fields.

As an additional piece of information: the only things I changed were adding the XXL option to the Effort Estimation.

Here is the part of the automation for the Business Value Estimation:

The last 2 screenshots are the final part of the automation.

Again, any help is highly appreciated! Thank you very much 

[Rafael Freymueller · Accepted solution]

I was able to fix this. The issue was that the automation used two separate custom fields instead of the ones where the Estimations are entered in the project.

So if I entered the value XL in the custom field "Effort Estimation 1", the automation edited the value for the custom field "Effort Estimation 2" and changed the value to, depending on the T-Shirt Size to a value between 1-6 (corresponding to S-XXL).  This second field "Effort Estimation 2" is not used in the project itself and just for the purpose of this automation.

A similar thing happens to the Business Value. A second hidden custom field is populated through the automation based on the dropdown selection from Lowest to Highest (1-5). 

The numeric value in the "Calculated Priority" field is then calculated by dividing the numeric values in both custom fields "Effort Estimation 2" and "Business Value 2"

I hope this makes sense. 

Thanks for helping out and making me double check the settings! 

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @Rafael Freymueller 

Well done solving the problem with the rule!

And...please consider updating your rule to use Lookup Tables rather than the if / else blocks with conditions.  That will make your rule much easier to maintain and to see such problems in the future.  Please look here to learn more: https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Automation-articles/Update-Create-lookup-table-action-improvements/ba-p/2427798

If you want to try this out, I recommend creating a new test rule with the lookup tables, and if it works as expected, disable the old rule.

Kind regards,
Bill

[Rafael Freymueller]

Hi @Bill Sheboy ,

thanks for the input!

That seems like a much easier setup to maintain, will definitely look into this feature!

[Marc - Devoteam · Accepted solution]

Hi @Rafael Freymueller 

The issue with "Effort Estimation" can be 3 things.

1. The field is deleted
2. The Context of the field is not set correctly
3. The Field is hidden in the field configuration

If you fixed this, then

You will need to add a section in the rule that checks is the "customfield_10126" is set to XXL, that the the "Effort Estimation" is set to 6

[Rafael Freymueller]

Hi @Marc - Devoteam ,

thanks for the quick reply!

I have the checked the points you mentioned from 1-3 and everything seems to be in order.

The automation I included in the screenshots did previously work and as it is right now, it should, for instance, if the Effort Estimation contains the XL value, Edit the field and input the numeric value 5 so the calculated priority field can be calculated based on that number + the number in the Business Value Estimation field.

[Marc - Devoteam]

Hi @Rafael Freymueller 

Please accept my answer as a solution of your issue.