How can I parse information from Atlas goals via smart values in Automation?

[Brock Jolet]

Our team wants to start using Goals in our projects now that Atlas is open to all users. However, many of our teams also use the Tempo Structure tool for tracking their work. Currently, I can use JQL to query issues that have a goal, but I cannot display the goal information in a separate column. I reached out to the Tempo team and they said Atlassian has not provided an API for them to grab this information.

So, my backup solution is to update a custom text field with the information from the Goal assigned to an issue. This text field could then be displayed instead. In testing, I created this simple Automation:

• Field value changed: Goals
• Log: {{issue.Goals}}

This prints the ID of the goal, but I don't know how to find more useful information such as the goal name, status, or target date. I tried the {{issue.Goals.status}}, for example.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Bill Sheboy · Accepted solution]

Hi @Brock Jolet 

I do not see anything in the documentation for goals yet, and as you see the ID you could try experimenting a bit to learn what is present...

First, you can find out if there are goal smart values always available to rules.  Find an example issue with an associated goal, and use this how-to article: https://support.atlassian.com/cloud-automation/docs/find-the-smart-value-for-a-field/

Search on the browser page for your "goals" field and see if any smart values are noted.

Next, goals information may be dynamically load by the rule when needed, rather than always loaded with the issue.  (This is how subtask information works in rules.)  Thus you may need to use more experimentation to find what is available.  Try writing these to the audit log and observe the results:

• is goal a list of values: {{issue.Goals.size}}
• goal name: {{issue.Goals.name}}
• is this a selection value: {{issue.Goals.value.name}}
• is the smart value case-sensitive: {{issue.goals}}
• etc.

Kind regards,
Bill

[Brock Jolet]

Thanks, Bill! These are great suggestions.

For my immediate need I ended up hacking the information by using a dedicated project with each issue linked to a specific goal. Then I was able to run a JQL lookup to see which of those dedicated issues matched the Goals ID.

This let me pull information from the dedicated issue. It's not ideal, but it works.