Forcing an Agent to Choose Priority

[Erin Blomert]

I feel like this is an old question, but all my searching can not find a satisfactory answer.

I want my service agents to set a priority on new tickets.   Currently all new tickets are generated as "Medium" and they stay that way.  Since Priority can not be null, I can't have them default to no value and force it using a workflow "Field Required" validator.

Then I had the idea to create a priority "Needs Prioritization" and make that the default priority.  I wanted to use a "Regular Expression Check" Workflow validator to ensure tickets could not progress without a set priority.   However it appears that Priority is not available for Regular Expression checks, so I am back to square 1.  

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[Mark Segall · Accepted solution]

@Erin Blomert - Unfortunately, this is a longstanding open request:

https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRACLOUD-13048

A workaround (admittedly not elegant) is to do something like this:

• Create a custom field to serve as your priority intake which mimics the actual priority options
• Add the custom field to your create screen
• Remove Priority from your create screen and add to the view/edit screens
• Add a regex validator against your new custom field with the following regex: 

  • (.|\s)*\S(.|\s)*

This will solve for giving you the validation.  From there, you need to add an automation rule to sync up what was selected on the create screen with your Priority field

• TRIGGER: Issue Created
• ACTION: Edit Issue
  • Use the smart value {{customfield_xxxxx}} where xxxxx = the custom field ID of your priority intake field

Again, not saying this is an optimal solution, but it's a solution.

[Erin Blomert]

Hey Mark, Thanks for the response.

Looks like this would only work for ticket creation?  I am wanting agents to assign priority to tickets that a customer has created via the portal, so I think I'd actually need to validate on a transition?

[Mark Segall]

Yeah my solution won't work then.  Most people want a solution to set priority on creation.  You really only have a couple options:

1. Just use the custom priority field instead of the system priority field.  Main impact is that you will not get to see the priority at a glance on your boards
2. Use a condition instead of a validator.  This would hide the ability to change status until the condition has been met.  Impact of this one is that the user isn't getting a glaring red indicator of what's wrong so it's a little more change management effort.

[Erin Blomert]

Yeah, I think both of those solutions will create more work than we are saving, unfortunately. 

It's crazy to me that basic workflow functions won't work on a longstanding system field!

Thanks very much Mark, I appreciate your help!

[Mark Segall]

Sorry none of the options are appealing.  I would recommend to add your vote for https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRACLOUD-13048

[Erin Blomert]

I did - even though it's not what I want.  Just validating the priority field on workflow transition would be enough for me. I don't need a NULL option.  

Thanks again!

[Mark Segall]

Ultimately, there are a handful of possibilities on how to deal with it, but the main issue is that you can't use the priority field in a validator.

The proposed null solution is one way to allow validation.  The idea is that you set null by default and then a validation could be set to ensure that it can't proceed until something is set.  Part of the issue with how things function today is that priority defaults to a legitimate value so it's impossible to validate whether the field was ignored or was set and it coincidentally matches the default value.