Best way to send reminder "nudges" to reporters and assignees on a time basis

[James H]

We are using Jira Service Desk and it would be really helpful to be able to periodically send a reminder email to both assignees and reporters if an issue has been open for X number of days, and then again after a further X days, and so on - potentially indefinitely, until the issue is Resolved.

Right now the only way I can think (and have implemented) such a reminder system is to use an SLA that triggers after a couple of days, and then another SLA that triggers after a few more days, but I would need to add an infinite number of SLAs to keep reminding indefinitely.

Also I don't really like the idea of using SLAs because I've then got all these SLA clocks running that aren't really SLAs, they're just scheduled triggers.  This messes with the SLA stats and clutters up the right hand of the screen.

I'd be very grateful for any ideas on how best to trigger periodic email based reminders so long as an issue remains in a certain state.

[James H · Accepted solution]

Well it looks like add-ons to the rescue - Automation for Jira can fire rules based on a schedule. Includes the ability to trigger messages into Slack too which is pretty sweet. 

[Larry Talley]

I have done something a little bit similar, that is, setup a JIRA project to help humans manage periodic tasks such as software license renewals or SSL certificate renewals.

I create a project "Periodic Tasks".

I create a status "Inactive" which allows periodic tasks to be disabled but stay in the system. The status "Closed" would probably work just as well, but, we liked Inactive better. I also created a simple workflow that allows these issues to be inactivated and activated. I am not documenting the workflow here because I think it adds little value, I think "Closed" and "Reopened" would work just as well.

Add "Periodic Task Issue Type Scheme" with Issue Types "Task" and "Sub-task".

Associate "Periodic Task Issue Type Scheme" with project "Periodic Tasks".

Add components "Hardware maintenance/support renewal", "Software License or Support Renewal", "SSL Certificate Renewal", "Periodic Manual Review", "Business-related Annual Tasks", etc., etc.

Added a "Select List" custom field "Frequency" with drop-down values "Daily", "Weekly", "Biweekly", "Monthly", "Quarterly", "Annually".

Added a "Select List" custom field "Lead Time Requirement" with values "None", "1 day", "2 days", "3 days", "7 days", "14 days", "30 days", "60 days", "90 days". Add a description to "Lead Time Requirement" that states "Required lead time to ensure successful task completion. When the task due date is within this range the assignee will get reminders via email."

In our case these two custom fields, "Frequency" and "Lead Time Requirement", happen to have contexts set so that they only appear in project "Periodic Tasks", and I left them on the "Default Screen".

I don't currently have customized Screens or Screen Schemes for this project.

The meat of my implementation is in a filters and subscription.

Here is the relevant filters:

"Alert: Periodic Task due within Lead Time Requirement and no recent update":

Description:

A periodic task is due within the specified lead time requirement and there has been no recent (within 7 days) update to the issue. If you make any update to the issue this alert will be suppressed for 7 days.

JQL Query: project = PT and resolution = Unresolved and status != Inactive and updated <= "-1w" and assignee = currentUser() and (due < now() or ("Lead Time Requirement" = "90 days" and due < "90d") or ("Lead Time Requirement" = "60 days" and due < "60d") or ("Lead Time Requirement" = "30 days" and due < "30d") or ("Lead Time Requirement" = "14 days" and due < "14d") or ("Lead Time Requirement" = "7 days" and due < "7d") or ("Lead Time Requirement" = "3 days" and due < "3d") or ("Lead Time Requirement" = "2 days" and due < "2d") or ("Lead Time Requirement" = "1 day" and due < "1d"))

Sorted by: Key descending

I subscribe group "jira-users" to this filter.

This does help humans manage periodic tasks.

[James H]

Larry,

Thanks for taking the time to write such an extensive explanation!  I guess the key thing is your statement "this does help humans manage periodic tasks".  I need something a bit more automated than that, which fires an email reminder to the technician or customer when the ticket has been in a certain state for a certain period of time.  You're running a scheduled check by using the issue search subscription function, and I'm currently doing it using the SLA feature in Service Desk.  Neither are ideal for this use case but clearly the key thing missing is some kind of schedule based status checker/trigger.

By the way for your use case of tracking licenses, license renewals, SSL certs etc I'd highly recommend the Insight add-on.  It can include time based alerts like the ones you describe as well.  

[jamie royce]

@Larry Talley  really nice use of the Jira Automation tool and very helpful post. Thanks and I'll use it to set something similar up!

[Larry Talley]

@jamie royce I don't actually have Jira Automation (although I would like to!) My solution is just plain old Jira.