How to assign subtask to parent tasks's assignee?

eli July 8, 2019

We are working in a next-gen project and I'd like to setup some simple rules around subtasks that are created within a task. As a test case, I am trying to make a rule to assign any subtask that is created to the parent task assignee.

My rules are as follows:

  • When: Issue is Created
  • If: Assignee is empty
  • If: Parent Exists
  • Then: Assign issue to copy from parent

 

To test, I created an issue and it assigned to myself. Then when I create subtasks in that issue I see that my rule runs for the subtasks, but fails on the second conditional. Is there a better way to accomplish this or am I just misunderstanding something about the parent <> subtask relationship? Thanks in advance!

1 answer

0 votes
Earl McCutcheon
Atlassian Team
Atlassian Team members are employees working across the company in a wide variety of roles.
July 10, 2019

Hi Eli,

To Automatically assign the sub-task to the parent issues assignee you will need an add-on to handle the logic. 

A few options for this:

You could look into  JIRA Misc Workflow Extensions as discussed in This post:

There is Power Scripts™ - Jira script automation as discussed here:

Or you could also look into Automation for JIRA as discussed in this post:

Regards,
Earl

rickgladwin April 16, 2021

Hi Earl,

I came across this thread in April 2021 and I'm wondering if an add-on is still required or if there's now a way to link the subtask default assignment to match the parent assignment. 

I know Atlassian has been working hard on the next-gen (team-managed) projects.

Earl McCutcheon
Atlassian Team
Atlassian Team members are employees working across the company in a wide variety of roles.
April 22, 2021

Hello @rickgladwin ,

Thanks for reaching out, and good call out.  The Automation for Jira Add-on is now fully integrated into the Jira cloud platform by default so it no longer requires setting up as a separate add-on app and is available in all instances.

Additional details on the functionality can be found in the documentation space here:

and we have a collection of automation rule examples that you can interact with under the Automation Playground here:

As for an automation rule to assign the subtask to the same user as the parent issue when a subtask is created, you can use the following:

  • When:
    • Issue Created
  • IF: Issue matches JQL
    • type in subTaskIssueTypes()
  • Then: Edit issue fields
    • Assignee
      • Copy From Parent

Screen Shot 2021-04-22 at 3.48.37 PM.png

There are also some additional recommendations for syncing the parent and sub-task in the following blog post:

Regards,
Earl

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