Why can’t I close or start a sprint?

[#1]

Hello,

Are you facing an issue where you are not able to start or close a sprint in a Jira Software project?

This article will explain to you some of the common reasons why you may be facing this issue and how to resolve them. 

Please note that the 'Manage Sprints' permission in Jira Software allows users to perform the actions like starting or completing sprints.

If you are not able to start or complete a sprint, the most prominent reason for this can be - You don't have the right permissions.

You must have the 'Manage Sprints' permission in all the projects returned by the filter query applied to the board from which your sprint originates.

Steps to check if you have the appropriate permissions:

1. Check the filter query for the board (let's call it “Board A”) from which your sprint originates- check which projects are included in the filter query.
• If the filter query is complex, try to simplify the filter. Please check the following article for more details on this: https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Software-articles/How-to-grant-access-to-a-sprint/ba-p/1764855#M446 OR check out the following link: https://support.atlassian.com/jira-cloud-administration/docs/use-manage-sprints-permission-for-advanced-cases/
2. For each project included in the filter query, check if you have the Manage Sprints permission. If you do not have the permission, add the permission.
3. If the issue is still not resolved, it's possible that your sprint is not originating from the board “Board A” but is originating from a different board. In order to handle such a case, you need to find the board from which your sprint is originating and then repeat Steps 1 and 2 for the corresponding board.

Here is the link to video explaining the above steps: https://youtu.be/BJCulFzOGVI

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @Deepanshu Natani 

Thank you for the information.  At the end of your article, you note a video explaining/demonstrating your steps, however that link appears to be missing.

Best regards,
Bill

[Deepanshu Natani]

@Bill SheboyThanks for pointing out the missing link. I have updated the link.

[Yeshu Manchanda]

Thanks for this valuable information.

[Chirag Agrawal]

Thanks @Deepanshu Natani The 3rd point was crucial in this for me to figure out this issue

[Shivansh Bhatnagar]

• Thanks @Deepanshu Natani for providing with this information.
• Great article.Keep it up.

[Ashwin Singh]

Thanks, Deepanshu for sharing this, it's very helpful. The complete sprint option works only if I am working on one sprint. The moment I have more than one sprint running in parallel, the complete sprint option remains disabled (even after all the stories are in the done status). Is this a bug?

(I also posted the above comment/question on your youtube video)

[Deepanshu Natani]

@Ashwin Singh 

If you are running parallel sprints, then in order to complete a sprint,

• You need to select which sprint to close on the Active Sprints board.
• Normally "All sprints" option is selected by default in that dropdown and in that case, the complete sprint option will be disabled.
• 
• Once you select the sprint which you want to close, the "Complete Sprint" option will be enabled.
• 

[Ashwin Singh]

@Deepanshu Natani  Thanks. That did it!

[Paul.Ligeski]

Can this article be updated please?  I cannot get past the first step of checking the permissions.

[Peter Ellis]

When none of the above works, look at the board filter. I had this exact problem and it was none of the points mentioned above.

The filter was accessing two projects but the user had the project administrator role and start sprint permissions to both.  However the filter was deemed complex resulting in the message, next to the heading 'Project in board' - "The projects in this board cannot be listed because of the complexity of the board filter."

I simplified the filter and the project names became visible again and the user could start/finish the sprint again as normal.

[Paul.Ligeski]

The way I solved the problem was deleting the current sprint.  

[Yatish Madhav]

Thanks for this post as well @Deepanshu Natani  - ditto as my comment on https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Software-articles/How-to-grant-access-to-a-sprint/ba-p/1764855#U2256816 :D

[Stephen Holtom]

I'm stuck trying to close a sprint; the error message that I get is that a Task (let's say XYZ-123) contains incomplete Sub-Tasks.
XYZ-123 has only one sub-task, and it has status "In Archive". The status "In Archive" belongs to the Category of status "Done"...and is indeed colored green.

So, I don't know what Jira wants me to do here.  

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @Stephen Holtom -- Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

For a Scrum board in Jira, issues must be in the far right column to be considered "completed" for the sprint.  The status category has no impact.

Please review your board configuration, and perhaps move that In Archive status to the far right column.

Kind regards,
Bill

[Stephen Holtom]

Right, got it. In Archive was not mapped to anything on the board.

Thanks!!

[larissa touko]

Hi @Stephen Holtom 

could you detailed more on how you resolved this please. I currently face the same issue and unable to close a sprint. your help will be much appreciated