Cloning issue through Automation not generating a cloner link

[Bryan.Barr]

I am trying to automate a handoff process between two projects within my organization. When an issue reaches the complete status of the first project, I've set up a simple automation to clone the issue into the backlog of a different project, designating that it has been "handed off" from development to execution. 

When I first set up this automation, the clone worked, and correctly autogenerated the "Is cloned by" link to the new issue from the first project. This link allowed users to see previous discussions/attachments/etc from the development team before beginning execution. 

However, recently the automation is no longer creating the cloner link, despite successfully cloning the issue to the new project. As things like comments and attachments are also not cloned over, it's preventing me from providing any type of link to the "development" issue when it shows up on the "execution" board. 

I tested this automation back in December of 2023 and have discovered it not to be working over the past couple weeks, so I'm not sure if something changed on the atlassian side? Looking for any help on getting that "Is cloned by" link to autogenerate when an item is being auto-cloned across projects. 

[Bill Sheboy · Accepted solution]

Hi @Bryan.Barr -- Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

When you look at the history for an example issue that has been cloned, what do you observe?

For example, I wonder if there is another automation rule running which is removing the link information on issue created.  If that exists, that other rule is likely in the destination project: SCTE.

Kind regards,
Bill

[Bryan.Barr]

Good morning Bill, appreciate the help. There doesn't appear to be anything else in the history besides automation creating the issue. 

The automations I'd set up within the SCTE project actually trigger based on cloner links being present in these newly created issues to help populate some of the fields, so the problem I'm seeing is having a bit of a cascading effect. 

Through other research, another way I'm trying to solve the problem is to change the scope of the automation in the origin project, so that it has "permission" to write the cloner link in the destination project, but this was not necessary a couple months ago when I set this up in the first place. 

Let me know if you can think of anything else I could try besides changing the scope of the initial automation, as I'm not a Jira admin within my organization and it might take a bit to get IT to make the adjustment

[Bill Sheboy]

I reproduced what you are observing, although I do not specifically recall the earlier behavior to confirm what changed...I think you are right that something is different.

• when an issue is manually cloned within a project, the clone links are added
• when an issue is cloned using automation, to the same or different project, no clone links are added

I could not find anything for this symptom in the public backlog, and so I suggest working with your site admin to submit a ticket to Atlassian to learn if this was an intended change: https://support.atlassian.com/contact/#/  You are appear to be on a paid license and so the admin can do that.  When you hear back from them, please post what you learn.

As a work-around, you would need to do what you described:

1. add a branch to most recently created issue, followed by the Link Issue action to add the link
2. perhaps add a condition after the trigger on the project to limit the rule impact
3. change the rule scope to multiple project; your site admin will need to do that

With the changes to the rule packaging limits, rule usage is no longer limited by project / global scope: it is just usage now against the product license limits.

[Bryan.Barr]

Interesting that you tested that it doesn't even make the clone link when automating a clone within the same project. I figured the issue was being caused by read/write permissions across multiple projects. 

Based on that assumption, I had my admin change the scope to multiple projects, but as you appeared to guess, this didn't immediately fix the problem. Even with the multiple project scope, I still needed to specifically build in the branch / link issue step. 

I may or may not be able to open a ticket with support to investigate this, as my site admins are stretched a little thin, but I'll definitely update you if I do. Really appreciate the input @Bill Sheboy !

[Luka Hummel - codefortynine]

Hi @Bryan.Barr and welcome to the community!

If the native cloning functionality isn't meeting your needs, and you are willing to try a third-party app, you could try our app Deep Clone for Jira. Deep Clone is a powerful app that allows for advanced cloning options, including the cloning of links, comments, and attachments. It provides more granular control over what gets cloned and how links between cloned issues are managed. This could be a robust solution to ensure that your handoff process between projects is seamless and that all relevant information is carried over effectively.