How to stall a Jira Service Desk issue (or; Stopping SLA clock)?

[Julius Roberts]

Hello, a customer has asked us about feature X, and we have agreed to implement it.  I can't say when, so i want to stall his issue until the feature is complete, then i want to tell him about it etc.  in particular I want to stall the issue so the resolution SLA doesn't breach us for inaction on the issue.  

I was hoping we might be able to stop the SLA clock if the issue had a due by date or something?  that could work.  or another workflow step "stalled" in which case the SLA clock would stop.

I've 52:32 to find a solution! 

Kind regards, Julius

[Jeff Tillett · Accepted solution]

You could also "pause" the counter on a certain workflow step so that you can retain the true time it's going to take you to deliver the feature.

My only question would be why exactly you would want this. If you haven't delivered the feature, then why would you want to stop the resolution SLA? As an end user, I wouldn't consider this resolved until the feature was deployed, so I would want that timer to continue running to keep the pressure on your team to deliver. If the timer stops, then the request could be black holed and never come out. 

[Julius Roberts]

I can't pause the counter because there isn't a stalled workflow step (yet).

The issue arrises because there are certain conditions whereby the client and us agree that there will be some extenuating circumstances (usually complexity, or external blockages) in the delivery of a particular service.  Lets say they request a space elevator and we agree that it's a good idea, but that it will take some time to develop.  At that point we know already we don't have enough time in the SLA to complete that work, so we have a choice; game the system and resolve the issue to avoid the SLA breach (and loose visibility of the customer request), allow it to breach, or setup JIRA so we can somehow pause the issue until the work is done.  It's not a workflow step that would appear in most use cases, and we could report on it to prevent abuse.

[Jeff Tillett]

That makes total sense. It's akin to a "Blocked" status on a software project. If this should be rare, and only certain people should be able to do this (to avoid gaming), then I would certainly be in favor of adding the status and then possibly limiting the project roles that could execute transitions into or out of that status.

[Deleted user]

Is it possible if I configure the SLA using the "Assignee Set" in "Pause On"? If it is a single o multiple person can I use it? To define that o those person do I need add an automation rule?

Thanks! 

[Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist]]

You can have another workflow status - stalled and then stop the clock when the issue reaches that status.

See Stop on Entered Status at https://confluence.atlassian.com/servicedeskcloud/setting-up-slas-732528967.html#SettingupSLAs-conditionsSettingupSLAtimemetrics.

[Julius Roberts]

Hey Jobin, yes i am familiar with the stop on entered status, that seems straight forward enough. However i am not sure how to add another workflow status; how do we go about doing that with service desk?

[Jobin Kuruvilla [Adaptavist]]

Workflow in not done on service desk. It is part of core JIRA. You can modify the workflow associated with your SD project, just like modifying any other workflow. See https://confluence.atlassian.com/jira/configuring-workflow-185729632.html