Automatic Update of Start and Due Date based on Fix Version

Question

Hi Team,

I have a list of release versions set up in my JIRA Project. They contain a name, start date and due date:

I have created a plan where I am assigning a fix version to an epic issue type.

My question is - Is there some automation to automatically add the 'Start Date' and 'Due Date' to an Epic, when the Fix Version is populated? For example, when the fix version is set to 'BOH-24.2', the Start Date is set to 01 Apr 2024 and the Due Date is set to 30 Jun 2024, as set in the Releases in the image above:

The automation I have attempted to create is below. When a fix version for an Epic is updated:

Then, set the Start date and Due Date field. I'm wary that advanced field editing using JSON or smart values are probably required for this. But I don't have the knowledge to be able to create this myself. The Start Date and Due Date values should be copied from the Fix Version.

I would really appreciate it if anyone can shed any light on how to get this automation working.

Thanks for your help.

Chris

Bill Sheboy · Answer

Hi @Christopher Vickery and @Trudy P Claspill

Regarding the challenges Trudy surfaces for changes to the Fix Versions field, there is also a known defect for the changelog for that field...and so it cannot be relied upon to discover changes during rule execution: https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRACLOUD-80486

However...I believe the startDate and releaseDate smart values are available for any versions set in the version fields, such as Fix Versions and Affect Versions.

And so if you assume the version you want is the latest one in the field, the values could be found like this:

Kind regards,
Bill

Christopher Vickery · Answer

Hi Trudy,

I think you're right. The automation could get very messy and complex bearing in mind the other 3 use cases you've listed above. To answer your question:

1. Fix Version Cleared - The Start and Due Dates are also cleared

2. Fix Version with more than one entry - The Start and Due Dates values update based on the latest Fix Version (Fix Version with Due Date furthest in the future)

3. Date in Fix Version changed after it has already been associated to issues - The Start and Due Dates of all epics would update based on the new dates in the Fix Version.

Maybe this is one of those 'nice to haves' that realistically I won't be able to create. I have to populate the Fix Version, Start Date and Due date of a very large amount of Epics. To save some time I wanted the Start Date and Due date to be automatically populated. However, I'm thinking this may be more effort than it's worth so I may not pursue this any longer if I don't have any luck with my experimentation during the day.

Appreciate your response.

Thanks,

Chris

Trudy P Claspill · Answer

Hello @Christopher Vickery

This is not a simple automation because the Fix Version field is actually a multiple selection field - an issue can have more than one Fix Version associated to it.

Additionally there is no built in step to get the Start date and Release date for a Release/Version. To do that you would likely need to use the Send Web Request action to call the Jira REST API to get the Release/Version information, parse the response to get the dates, and then put those into the Epic field.

And what would you do in the following cases?

* The Fix Version/s field is cleared of all entries
* The Fix Version/s field gets more than one entry.
* The dates in the Release/Version are changed after it has already been associated to issues.