How to use "Start date" from the timeline in Automation

[Gordon Whybrow]

I am trying to set up some automation to set the Story Points of a task based on the number of days between the "Start date" and "Due date" as set on the Timeline.

Ideally I would use the following with some complexity multiplier

{{issue.Start date.diff(issue.Due date).days}}

however this does not work and the field remains empty

Using {{now.diff(issue.Due date).days}} works, but obviously provides the wrong answer

Using {{issue.Start date.diff(now).days}} does not populate the field, neither does {{now.diff(issue.Start date).days}} 

Has anyone managed to reference the Start date from the Timeline in automation? If so, could you share your solution?

[Marc - Devoteam · Accepted solution]

Hi @Gordon Whybrow 

Welcome to the community.

Can you show your current automation rule, provide details on the following points:

1. what type of project is this (e.g., company-managed, team-managed, etc.), 

2. images that show your complete rule.

3. images showing the details of any relevant actions/conditions/branches.

4. images showing the Audit Log details for the rule execution.

5. Explain where the issue is.

These questions are not for not willing to help, but to have community members understand on how automation works.

On topic.

You would need to use smart conditions in an IF/Else condition

example;

First value: smart value:{{issue.Start date.diff(issue.Due date).days}}

Condition: set as required

Second value: set a number, like 4

Then edit the field Story points

Or it might be that you want to store the difference first and then edit the Story point field, see this KB correct-way-to-store-date-difference-to-a-custom-field-using-automation 

[Gordon Whybrow]

Hi Marc, thank you for responding. Hopefully the following will help.

1. This is a team managed project
2. Automation Rule 
3. Dates set via Timeline
4. Dates & Results on Dashboard
5. Audit Log 

The issue is that the field "Actual Story Points" is not being set. Actual Story points is a custom field that does get set if the formula calculates from now to Due date, but when Start date is used this results in an empty value. It could be that the formula is picking up the wrong "Start date". Does the one populated in the timeline have a different name for use in formula?

[Marc - Devoteam]

Hi @Gordon Whybrow 

I suspect that there are multiple custom fields called Start Date in your instance.

Check the fields section un der the admins section work items, if there are multiple fields, get the custom field id from the correct field and then adjust the smart value by using

issue.customfield_xxxxx instead of issue.Start date (where xxxxx is the id of the custom field)

[Gordon Whybrow]

Hi @Marc - Devoteam 

Thank you, that worked!