Need to force comments on the customer portal when an unlicensed user is the approver

[KJ]

Hello -

We are using Jira Service Desk Cloud and are implementing an approval process in service desk where unlicensed users will be the approvers.  I am able to get the Approve and Decline buttons to show on the customer portal but do not know how to force a comment.

How can we force comments when approving or declining on an issue on the customer portal?

Also - in the approve step in the workflow can you add a screen to collect comments for a licensed user that would be approving or declining within the issue in the service desk project?

We would like to add a detailed description for each Request Type but only the first line will display on the customer portal.

Is there a way to make the entire description display on the customer portal?

[Earl McCutcheon · Accepted solution]

Hello Kelly,

Currently there is not an option to make a comment required on the service desk portal customer transitions, this is noted on the documentation for "Configuring the customer portal":

Customer transitions behave differently than other workflow transitions:

• Screens don't display on the customer portal. When you add a transition to the portal, you can set a resolution for requests that customers transition.
• When an issue is transitioned from the portal, it bypasses any validators that are defined for the transition.

We have the following feature request tracking interest in this as a new feature, please make sure to follow and add a vote to the following feature request to track interest in making this a feature:

• https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JSDCLOUD-4922
• https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JSDSERVER-4922

Regards,
Earl

[KJ]

Hello Earl -

Thank you for the information regarding the comments on the customer portal.  I voted for and am watching both issues that you listed in your answer.

Can you help me with these questions too?

In the approve step in the workflow can you add a screen to collect comments for a licensed user that would be approving or declining within the issue in the service desk project?   I added the screen but it does not appear when I am in the issue in service desk and either approving or declining the issue.  I have added other screens at other steps and they appear.

We would like to add a detailed description for each Request Type but only the first line will display on the customer portal.

Is there a way to make the entire description display on the customer portal?

[Earl McCutcheon]

Hi Kelly,

Happy to help, and I wish I had a better answer for you, but unfortunately the answer is no you cannot add a screen for approval transitions currently.  Transitions used by the approval step skip transition screens.

This is covered in the "Setting up approvals" Documentation under the section "Add an approval to a workflow":

(i) Approval transitions don’t display screens. If a transition goes to a Done status, make sure the request can close by adding a post function that sets a resolution.

And we are tracking this as both a BUG and a Feature (so technically a FUG at this point) at the following Links, as it allows you to set up the configuration as you would expect it to work but it is also not a feature at this time so once configured it does not work as expected, so make sure to add a vote on the feature and watch the BUG for updates:

The Feature request’s

• https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JSDCLOUD-3980
• https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JSDSERVER-3980

The BUG Report’s:

• https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JSDSERVER-4789
• https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JSDCLOUD-6989

For the Description of the request types this comes down to limited space on the portal and the ability to add in additional text beyond what can currently be displayed, and this is covered in the following feature request with a possible workaround for you:

• https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JSDCLOUD-8060

If you use multiple carriage returns you can get additional text to show up beyond the default amount that displays when using a single line.

Regards,
Earl

[KJ]

Thank you so much Earl.  This is exactly what I needed.  I greatly appreciate your help with my questions.

Have a great day!

Kelly Jo Newman

[Jason Huntowski]

Hi Kelly Jo,

I was curious how you were able to allow non-licensed users the ability to approve a ticket? I know you can allow the Reporter of a ticket the ability to approve a ticket, but did you figure out a way to determine a group of non-licensed users have the ability to approve the ticket through the portal?

Ideally, what I am trying to accomplish is to allow a set of defined customers on the service desk project, have the ability to approve a ticket. It seems like only licensed users can be assigned to the multi-pick users group.

I guess I could try to setup an organization with the set of customer approvers, but I believe that still would only allow one approval and not multiple.

Anyway, if you have any workarounds for this, I would be extremely greatful.

Thanks,

Jason