Sprint cannot be completed as there are incomplete subtasks on the following issues:

[Michael Arndt]

I'm trying to close out a Sprint and I"m getting this notice "Sprint cannot be completed as there are incomplete subtasks on the following issues:"

I thought there was an option to push incomplete items into the next sprint but I'm not seeing it.

Is there a setting that controls this?

[Bill Danbury · Accepted solution]

We had this problem as well. Originally, we did not use the Sub-task feature of JIRA and simply filtered them out of all of our boards. Recently there was a change to our internal process to use Sub-tasks, but not all boards were updated.

To update Board Filters and Columns configuration:

1. From the Board you are working on, click the "Board" menu (top right) and then click "Configure".
2. To update the Board Filter, click "General" and then "Edit Filter Query".
3. Modify the filter to include issuetype of Sub-task, then click "Search".
4. Once you have been able to search successfully, the "Save" button will appear at the top of the page. Don't click "Save as", because that will create a copy instead of saving over the original query.
5. Return to the Board and once again go to the configuration options: "Board > Configure"
6. To update the Board Columns, click "Columns".
7. On the right hand side, you will see "Unmapped Statuses". Any Issues with status in this column will block Sprint progression. You may need to scroll left-and-right within the column list to see all available options. Drag and drop the status item from "Unmapped Statuses" to the correct status column.
   • For example, drag "Closed" to the "Done" column; drag "Open" to "Defined" or "In Progress".
8. Changes made here are immediate, and do not require saving.

Once the Board Filter and Column configuration are complete, proceed to the board to review the new column assignments and click "Complete sprint".

[Jose Manuel Acosta]

Thanks,  @bdanbury your comment helped me to identify the problem and how to solve

[Cristian Vargas]

Thank you very much!

I had not included the subtasks in filter and had a Status not mapped to columns.

By changing this I was able to close the sprint.

Greetings
Cristian.

[Lily Tucker-Ha]

Thank you so much @bdanbury ! Your steps helped me identify the issue. Simply new statuses were unmapped to columns! Thank you!

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

You need to make sure the issues that contain the not-done sub-tasks have not been erroneously moved to "done" when they have open sub-tasks.  They'll need to be re-opened so they can go over to the next sprint.

[Dave Mathijs]

The subtask is changed to status 'Cancelled' with Resolution value 'Cancelled'. Then, automation resolves the tasks because are subtasks are done.

All sub-tasks were in a statuscategory 'Done', yet the sprint cannot be completed.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Are they all in the last column on the board as well?

[Deleted user]

(sorry for bad english) I have the same problem...all sub-tasks were in "Done", yet the sprint cannot be completed.

Help plz!

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

I suspect you are referring to the status.  That does not directly matter here.  Are all your sub-tasks in the very last column on the board, whatever it may be called?

[Bryan]

We've gone over this a dozen times and run into the same issue. All sub-tasks are closed and complete and marked as such. Workflow is great. All tickets and subtasks are closed. No open tempo. No open tickets. Cannot close the sprint. As you can see all the tickets/tasks/cards are marked off and show complete everyway we cut it. There are no subtasks not added to this sprint within the story. This closes everything out. Still we get image #3. Cannot close the sprint! Help y'all. This is quite obnoxious. 

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Sub-tasks don't actually go into a sprint themselves, they are a part of a story (and stories do go into a sprint)

A story can not be complete if it has open sub-tasks.  It doesn't matter whether the sub-task appears on your board or not.  it's part of the story, whatever you're doing with that story.

You'll need to go to ....-652, look for the open sub-task and complete it, so that the story is actually complete.

[Greg Williams]

Basically it's working as designed. When you mark the PARENT as completed (placed in a Green status) then you are essentially saying all the CHILDREN issues are also complete, is this not the correct process? 

The PARENT being marked Green doesn't need to go on to the next Sprint. The sprint is supposed to move the CHILD tickets over but they are stuck, because the PARENT is now Done and will not move to the next Sprint. 

The way I see it, you now have two choices:

1. Change the Parent to a Blue (In Progress) or Grey (To Do) state so that it can move to the next sprint with the Child tickets, or...
2. Convert the children issues into their own independent issues. Open the issue, click the 3 dots to the upper right, and select "Convert to Issue"

If I'm missing something, then please advise.

[Paul van Dyk]

This still seems like an issue, we have a canceled status which is the same category as `done`.

But when an issue has been marked as cancelled in a sub-issue, then the sprint can not be closed.

When we try to close the sprint we get this:

When marking that issue as `done` instead of `canceled`, the sprint can then be closed.

As per the guidance of @bdanbury  , updating it to land in the done column also fixes this problem, but that's wrong, we want canceled items to be visible in a canceled column. When creating the workflow, we gave it the category `done`, so this should be enough.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

> updating it to land in the done column also fixes this problem, but that's wrong,

No, it's not wrong.  It's absolutely correct.  The last column on the board is "done", nothing else is.  Are your cancelled issues "done", meaning "no more attention needed from the team"?  I suspect they are.

You don't need a separate "cancelled" column, it's an irrelevance to your Scrum.

[Milena González]

Hi Nic 

I have a similar problem at the moment, a sprint with 3 stories and within these there are several subtasks, all the subtasks are already in a state where and with the resolution where, but it tells me that I cannot close the sprint because it detects that there is open subtasks ,but it is not true. How can I solve it?

In a filter that you make to visualize the status and resolution of the sprint subtasks, all of them are closed

issuetype in (Subtask) AND project = xxx  Sprint = "xxxx"

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Are all the subtasks in the last column on the board?

[Milena González]

Is a Scrum board, the subtasks don't show on this , but in the filter  to visualize the status and resolution of the sprint subtasks is are in Done status

Thanks

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

If the sub-tasks are not on the board, they can't be in the "done" column, so they can't be considered to be done.

The status of the sub-tasks must be mapped into the last column, and their resolution is irrelevant to this question.

[Jose Manuel Acosta]

Hi, team

I agree with Nic,

The problem occurs when the sub-tasks are not visible on the board, but especially when the parent task is finished but one of the sub-tasks is not.

This is controlled by the dashboard filter conditions.

And since the sub-tasks are not visible, it is not easy to notice.

When trying to finish the sprint with the button, the board cannot move the sub-tasks of a parent task that is finished and so it shows the error.

The most recommended thing is that you have configured the board so that you can see both the tasks and the sub-tasks.

And that the team validates before closing the sprint that the parent tasks are finished, then all the child sub-tasks must be finished.

Regards,