Automation for Jira - linking based on field comparison

[David Loszewski]

Hello,

I'm trying out Automation for Jira to hopefully solve a problem that I have.  As Jira cloud does not have a lookup field I'm trying to find a way around to link issues between projects.  

I currently have two projects: 1 called Customers that has a list of issues and the summary of each issue has a customer name. The other Is a service desk which has a pre-populated customer number field. 

What I would like to do it create an automation that will link the issue in Customers if the customer number field matches the one in the Customer.    

With SharePoint all I would have to do is create a lookup field to a table and it would automatically be linked.  

Thanks.

[frother · Accepted solution]

Hi David,

Thanks for reaching out. Yes you can do this by using a JQL branch with a smart value, for example:

project = "Customer" and "Customer number" = "{{issue.Customer number}}"

You will need to ensure the project & field names of course match the ones on your instance exactly. Also this will need to be a global rule, as it deals with multiple project. The complete rule would look something like this:

Hope that helps.

Cheers,
Scott.

[David Loszewski]

Thank you.  

Is there a way to tell if the smart value that I choose will work?  The validate query button is grayed out for me and when I run that rule it does not trigger currently.  Trying to figure out how I can debug.  

[David Loszewski]

OK, I got it working, my apologies, looks like I hadn't added it as a Global Rule but instead a project rule.  I think I need some more understanding between the difference of the two. 

[Schneur Kamensky]

Project rule will be limited in scope to a single project.

Global is for rules that involve or communicate with multiple projects.

[Diogo Rodrigues]

I'm in cloud version and I dont have that "For JQL" option? How do I get that?

[John Funk]

Hey David - is the Customer number field actually defined as a number field or is a text field? If it is a number field that should work. If it is a text field, then try using the ~ instead of =

[David Loszewski]

the customer number field is a Select List (single choice)

[John Funk]

So maybe try the ~

:-)

[David Loszewski]

Tried the ~ and get the following error in the Audit log: 

Error searching for related issues. This is most likely because the following issues don't have a related issue of the type you specified. Try narrowing your search to only include issues that contain links to related issues:AT-4: "((project = "Customers" and "Customer Number" ~ "37258") AND (key != AT-4)) AND (project in (10026))" - The operator '~' is not supported by the 'Customer Number' field.

[David Loszewski]

[John Funk]

Well, guess that answers that. But when you use the = sign, you get no error, but it doesn't return values as you would expect?

[David Loszewski]

Correct, if I use the = sign I get the "No action performed" 

[David Loszewski]

n case you were interested in what kind of data is in the customer number custom field.  

[David Loszewski]

It may also be good to know that if I put the following into an advanced JQL search in Jira, I do get the results I am looking for: 

project = "Customers" and "Customer Number" = "37258"

I want the issue in Jira, to be the Parent issue, does that make a difference in my Then: rule? I guess in either case it should be able to find the issue and link to it.  

[John Funk]

Glad it is working for you. Good to know about the Global Rule.