Subtasks not picking up parent Account

[Erin Hickman]

We add accounts to all of our stories and tasks. We have a default account which is maually updated once the story is allocated to a sprint. The default is just a placeholder. When we then create a subtask or a bug, the default account is associated to the subtask not the account from the parent. It used to carry over the account from the parent. How can I fix this problem?

[Petter Gonçalves · Accepted solution]

Hello @Erin Hickman

Thank you for reaching out.

It seems that, when you create a new sub-task, it is currently being added with the default assignee you selected under project settings > details instead of copying the parent assignee, as you expect. Have I understood it correctly?

Can you please confirm if you are using Jira Server or Cloud? I can confirm to you that the behavior you are facing is the default for both applications, however:

- In Jira Cloud, there is a post function that you can use to copy the assignee from the parent issue when creating the sub-task.

- In Jira Server, the same post function is not available, however, you can use it by installing the JSU Automation Suite for Jira Workflows app.

If you are on Jira Cloud or Server with the mentioned app, these would be the steps to configure that post function:

1 - Navigate to your Project > Project Settings > Workflows > Click to Edit the workflow related to your Sub-tasks. P.S: There is no problem if it is related to other issue types too.

2 - In diagram mode, click in the create transition > Post functions:

3 - Add the post function "Copy Value From Other Field", configuring it to copy the assignee field from the parent issue to the sub-task:

4 - Publish your workflow draft

Let us know if you have any questions.

[Erin Hickman]

Hello Petter! Thanks so much, that has worked for subtasks (we are using Cloud).

Is there a method for achieving the same for bugs? It is already peculiar that bugs must always be manually linked to their parent story, but even when they are, we can't see how to automatically associate the parent issue's account. At the end of the sprint i need to be able to search against a given account and see how much time was spent in development (sub-tasks) as well as time fixing bugs.

Any advice?

Thanks again!

[Petter Gonçalves]

Hello @Erin Hickman

You are welcome!

To answer your new question, please allow me to provide you with a few concepts about Jira Hierarchies, so we can confirm we are on the same page here:

Basically, Jira works with the following hierarchical levels:

Epics   ->   Standard issue types (Stories, Bugs, Tasks, etc)   ->   Sub-tasks

If you are using the default bug issue type provided by Jira, it is not possible to create a parent-child relationship between bugs and stories because they are at the same hierarchical level. The only way to link two standard-issue types would be by using Jira default links, but it works in a completely different way, so you would not be able to use the post function to copy the fields as you need.

That being said, If you want to configure your bugs in a way they would be added in a lower hierarchical level than Stories, you can create a new custom sub-task type called "bug", replacing all your current standard "Bugs" with that sub-task type. You can check more information about it in the documentation below:

- Configuring sub-tasks 

Let us know if you have any questions.