Setting up automation rules in Jira to

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update a parent issue's status

...

based on

...

its child issues

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Use cases cover most scenarios where a parent's status might need to be updated:

• When a child issue is added to a parent issue

• When a child issue transitions between status categories

• When a child issue is removed from a parent issue

🟩 When an new issue is created and added to Initiative/Epic

An issue is created and a parent field is populated relating it to an Epic or Initative, this rule will run to check the status of the newly created issue, along with the statuses of the other child issues and update the status of the parent issue status accordingly.

Expand
title Automation rule details
Update Parent Epic/Initiative status when child issue added Trigger Issue Created Image Removed Conditions 1 Issue is not a sub-task - we are excluding these as parents would be Stories/Bugs etc. Parent is not empty - this issue is related to an Initiative or Epic Statuscategory = “In Progress” - issue is in an “In Progress” status category Image Removed Branch 1 to the Parent Parent Condition - Parent statuscategory != “In Progress” Parent Action - Transition to “In Progress” Image Removed Conditions 2 Parent is not empty - this issue is related to an Initiative or Epic Statuscategory = “To Do” - issue is in a “To Do status category Image Removed Branch 2 to the Parent Parent Condition 1 - Parent statuscategory != "To Do" Parent Condition 2 - ALL children’s statuscategory != “In Progress” - there are no child issues “In Progress” status category Parent Action - Transition to “To Do” Image Removed

🟩 When an child issue is transitioned to To Do status category

When an issues that is related to an Initiative or Epic and it is transitioned to a “To Do” status category, this rule will run to check the status of the transitioned issue along with the statuses of the other child issues and update the status of the parent issue accordingly.

Expand
title Automation rule details
Set parent status to To Do when ALL children are in To Do status category Trigger: Issue Transitioned Image Removed Conditions: Issue is not a sub-task - we are excluding these as parents would be Stories/Bugs etc. Parent is not empty - this issue is related to an Initiative or Epic Statuscategory = “To Do” - issue is in a “To Do” status category Image Removed Branch to the Parent Parent Condition 1 - Parent statuscategory != "To Do" Parent Condition 2 - ALL children’s statuscategory = “To Do” - all child issues are in “To Do” status category Parent Action - Transition to “To Do” Image Removed

🟩 When an child issue is transitioned to In Progress status category

When an issues that is related to an Initiative or Epic and it is transitioned to a “In Progress” status category, this rule will run to check the status of the transitioned issue and update the status of the parent issue accordingly. We don’t check the other child issues because the trigger issue being transitioned to “In Progress” would meets to requirements for the parent issue to be “In Progress.”

Expand
title Automation rule details
Set parent status to In Progress when any children are In Progress status category Trigger: Issue Transitioned Image Removed Conditions: Issue is not a sub-task - we are excluding these as parents would be Stories/Bugs etc. Parent is not empty - this issue is related to an Initiative or Epic Statuscategory = “In Progress” - issue is in an “In Progress” status category Image Removed Branch to the Parent Parent Condition 1 - Parent statuscategory != "To Do" Parent Condition Note - We don’t check other child issues because if one child issue is “In Progress” parent issue should reflect “In Progress” Parent Action - Transition to “To Do” Image Removed

🟩 When an child issue is transitioned to Done status category

When an issues that is related to an Initiative or Epic and it is transitioned to a “Done” status category, this rule will run to check the status of the transitioned issue along with the statuses of the other child issues and update the status of the parent issue accordingly, unless the parent issue is On Hold. If so, it will remain On Hold.

Expand
title Automation rule details
Trigger: Issue Transitioned Image Removed Conditions: Issue is not a sub-task - we are excluding these as parents would be Stories/Bugs etc. Parent is not empty - this issue is related to an Initiative or Epic Statuscategory = “Done” - issue is in an “Done” status category Image Removed Branch to the Parent Parent Condition 1 - Parent statuscategory != "Done" and status != “On Hold” - we don’t update the status if the Epic/Initiative is On Hold Parent Condition 2- ALL children’s statuscategory = “Done” - all child issues are in “Done” status category Parent Action - Transition to “Done” Image Removed

🟩 When an child issue is removed from a parent issue

When a child issue is removed from a parent issue, the rule will check the status of other child issues and update the parent accordingly.

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' statuses is an effective strategy for maintaining project organization and ensuring accurate high-level reporting.

Four automation rules are established to run every morning before 7am, targeting Initiatives and Epics that are not closed. These rules are designed to update the parent issue to

Status
title TO DO

,

Status
colour Blue title IN PROGRESS

, or

Status
colour Green title DONE

based on the collective status of all child issues.

Additionally, a Power BI report for Ferguson IT Leadership, which includes all Initiatives and Epics not in a 'Closed' status, is updated daily to reflect these changes. This approach not only streamlines the workload for Project Admins/Leads but also ensures that project statuses are accurately reflected in reports.

Automation Rules

There are 4 automation rules that will run every morning for your project:

1. Status
   title To Do

   1. Trigger - Scheduled every morning. Time may be different depending on project but will be before 7am. It will query for project category and issuetype (Initiative, Epic) in order to reduce the number of issues it targets.

   2. Condition 1 - For each Initiative and Epic it will look at all child issues and determine if ALL Child are in

      Status
      title To Do

      status category

   3. Condition 2 - Checks if the Initiative or Epic and will determine if that issue is NOT in

      Status
      title To Do

      status category

   4. Action - If both conditions are True, the Initiative or Epic will be updated to

      Status
      title To Do

      .

2. Status
   colour Blue title In Progress

   1. Trigger - Scheduled every morning. Time may be different depending on project but will be before 7am. It will query for project category and issuetype (Initiative, Epic) in order to reduce the number of issues it targets.

   2. Condition 1 - For each Initiative and Epic it will look at all child issues and determine if ANY Child are in

      Status
      colour Blue title In progress

      status category

   3. Condition 2 - Checks if the Initiative or Epic and will determine if that issue is NOT in

      Status
      colour Blue title In Progress

      status category

   4. Action - If both conditions are True, the Initiative or Epic will be updated to

      Status
      colour Blue title In Progress

      .

3. Status
   colour Green title done

   1. Trigger - Scheduled every morning. Time may be different depending on project but will be before 7am. It will query for project category and issuetype (Initiative, Epic) in order to reduce the number of issues it targets.

   2. Condition 1 - For each Initiative and Epic it will look at all child issues and determine if ALL Child are in

      Status
      colour Green title done

      status category

   3. Condition 2 - Checks if the Initiative or Epic and will determine if that issue is NOT in

      Status
      colour Green title done

      status category

   4. Action - If both conditions are True, the Initiative or Epic will be updated to

      Status
      colour Green title DONE

      .

4. Mixed statuses of

   Status
   title To Do

   and

   Status
   colour Green title DONE

   1. Trigger - Scheduled every morning. Time may be different depending on project but will be before 7am. It will query for project category and issuetype (Initiative, Epic) in order to reduce the number of issues it targets.

   2. Condition 1 - For each Initiative and Epic it will look at all child issues and determine if ALL Child are NOT in

      Status
      colour Blue title In Progress

      status category

   3. Condition 2 - Checks if the Initiative or Epic meets the following JQL - "Percent Complete (Issue Count)" !~ 100 and statuscategory != "To Do"

   4. Action - If both conditions are True, the Initiative or Epic will be updated to

      Status
      title To Do

      .