Jira will only transfer old statuses to new once from the default jira workflow, why?

Anders Westman March 12, 2013

I have some problems with Jira. I am trying to migrate a project to new workflows, issue types, screens, etc. We have some problem when we want to migrate the issue types, for some reasons Jira wont let ut us transfer old statues to new different statues. It only give us the choice to choose new statues from the default Jira workflow, and that wont to any good. Any suggestions on why this might be?

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Udo Brand
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March 12, 2013

It sounds like that in your Workflow scheme the JIRA Workflow is used as default.

So, are the new Workflows associated to the issuetypes within in your Workflow schemes in your new Project?

Anders Westman March 12, 2013

Let me attach two images.

Here I want to transfer the current issue type named Defect [Prod] to the new issue typ Problem, which has a new workflow called Problem Workflow associated.

On the next screen where Jira wants to change status I only get the jira default workflow as the target workflow, and hence not the right target statuses. Here I want to be able to choose statuses from the Problem Workflow.

Udo Brand
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March 12, 2013

hmm, are you sure that workflow "Problem Workflow" is associated to Issue type Problem. Can you add a screen shot of your used Workflow scheme?

Anders Westman March 12, 2013

Thanks for the reply.

Yes the "Problem Workflow" is associated with the issue type "Problem". But can I ask this. When migrating thoes settings in a project, can and should you start with migrating the issue types, or do you have to start with migrating the workflows? The old workflows arn't migrate to the new once in the project yet, so is this the reason why Jira wants to use the default workflow?

Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
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March 12, 2013

You could do either issue types or workflow schemes first, it doesn't matter which.

I'd generally advise doing issue types first though - workflow migrations can be complex, and there's no actual point in doing them if you're going to end up dumping an issue type and hence it's workflow.

From your screenshot and comments, it's pretty clear that you are not separating out the issue scheme and the workflow scheme. The changes of scheme are SEPARATE. You seem to be assuming that because you eventually intend "problem" to have a different workflow, Jira should know that when you're just changing the issue type scheme. It cannot know that because you still have your old workflow scheme in place.

Could you simplify this - tell us what your old and new workflow schemes actually say? Then tell us what your old and new issue type schemes are (or, at least, the differences - for example, "the new scheme adds issue types of "problem", "accident" and "oops" and then removes "issue")

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Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
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March 12, 2013

I think it's because the "new" status are not really "new".

Imagine you have two simple workflows called old-wf and new-wf. Let's say they are really simple and look like this:

old-wf: Open -> In Progress -> Closed

new-wf: New -> In Progress -> Done

If you migrate issues from old-wf to new-wf, Jira will ask you to tell it how to migrate "Open" and "Closed" status, but it won't ask about "In Progress", because the status has not changed. Doesn't matter if the rest of the workflow is totally different, the status is shared.

Does that sound like what you are seeing here?

Anders Westman March 12, 2013

Hi Nic, thx for the reply.

I understand what you are saying.

Our problem is that i want to migrate from old-wf to new-wf, and map "Open" and "Closed" to "New" and "Done" in the new workflow, but Jira only wants to migrate to the default "jira" workflow, and only let's me choose statuses from that workflow... and I cant figure out why?

The thing is that i want to change the whole think in the project. Issues typs which are associated to a workflow and statuses, to new issue types which are associated with new workflows with other statuses...

Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
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March 12, 2013

I'm sorry, I don't understand the question now.

What do you mean "only wants to migrate to the default workflow"? Surely you've set up the new workflow scheme to use new-wf? Or have you got several workflows in the new scheme? (It only offers you status in the new workflow because you can't move outside the target workflow). I'm guessing, but it sounds like you are not telling it to move to new-wf, but jira-default.

Edit - sorry, missed a question. Could you tell us (in plain text, as screenshots can be flaky) what your current workflow scheme for the project says, and what the new one says?

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