JIRA workflow

[Ajay Taneja]

I have a question.  Let us say, a developer creates a JIRA ticket. That JIRA ticket involves development work, once development work is completed, it requires 3-4 approvals. The approvals may be happening in parallel.

Instead of each approver, writing in the comment field: "Approved", is there a button/switch that can be added in the ticket page so that the approver can just "hit" the button instead of lengthy comments section? 

IS this functionality inbuilt? Can someone help/advise?

Regards

Ajay

CC: @Stefan Salzl 

[Tomislav Sablic]

Hello Ajay,

You could achieve that by implementing an approval step in your workflow. Take a look at it here.

[Ajay Taneja]

Thanks @Tomislav Sablic , can there be several approvals? IS there a diagram showing what you are describing by any chance?

[Parsa Shiva]

Hello Ajay,
Hope you are well!

I suggest the simpler solution of using a plugin, I would recommend the Approval Path for Jira.
It's easy to use, configurable and works with automation as well.

It can resolve the issue right off the start.

Hope that was helpful, let me know if it helped :)

Best,
Parsa

[Antonella Capalbo]

Hi @Ajay Taneja,

If you are interested to an out of the box solution, our Herzum approval for Jira  on premises should fit perfectly your needs and provide you with many other advanced features.

I hope it helps!

Best Regards,

Antonella

[Ajay Taneja]

Hi @Antonella Capalbo 

Regarding the solution you described, what is the process to integrate it in my JIRA Software? What is the cost associated? Can I get a trial version?

Thanks

[Antonella Capalbo]

Hi @Ajay Taneja,,

You can find my answers below.

What is the process to integrate it in my JIRA Software?

The process to integrate our app in your JIRA Software will consist in setting your configurations as illustrated in our customer support documentation:

https://chicago.herzum.com/confluence/display/HAP/Herzum+Approval+Documentation.

If needed, we will be glad to assist you with the setup.

You can open a ticket in our customer portal to ask our help: https://chicago.herzum.com/jira/plugins/servlet/desk/portal/44.

Can I get a trial version?

You can get a trial version. 

For Data Center apps, you can extend your app trial up to 5 times - in other words, for up to six months. 

What is the cost associated? 

Our apps is billed based on the number of users in your Atlassian product.

The app tier should match the maximum tier of the licensed Jira products on your instance. 

App princing by tier can be reviewed at https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1211763/herzum-approval?tab=pricing&hosting=datacenter. 

Best Regards,

Antonella

[Stefan Salzl]

Hi @Ajay Taneja 

There is a built in approval functionality in Jira Service Management (as @Tomislav Sablic mentioned above).

Unfortunately this is not available out of the box in Jira Software. You might find some inspiration on how to solve this in this community post.
https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Software-questions/How-do-I-add-an-approval-to-a-Jira-software-project-workflow/qaq-p/917817

My simple suggestion (with only the information from your original post) would be to create a subtask for each approver and set a condition in the workflow that blocks the transition until all those subtasks are done (condition is called "Sub-task blocking condition") --> see screenshot.

Best
Stefan

[Ajay Taneja]

Hi @Stefan Salzl 

1) You mentioned about the in-built functionality which @Tomislav Sablic suggested. What do you mean that it is not available in out-of-the-box JIRA? What do I have to do to get this functionality available?

2) Regarding the sub-task for each approver, do you mean the subtask will exist for very story (corresponding to the workflow) automatically? That is, I need "not" create the subtask manually for every story but define it as part of the workflow just ONCE?

Thanks a lot

Ajay 

[Stefan Salzl]

Hi @Ajay Taneja ,

1) those are 2 different applications, Jira Software and Jira Service Management. At jira service management this is part of the workflow functionality. In Jira Software (as far as I know) it‘s not.

2) No. This solution would be (as suggested) the most simple way to fullfill the requirement. The subtask for each approver would need to be created manually in this case.

Best
Stefan

[Ajay Taneja]

Hii @Stefan Salzl 

Thanks,

1) If I have both JIRA software and JIRA Service management, will I achieve what @Tomislav Sablic is suggesting?

2) So, everything is manual here. That is for every story:

a) I create the subtask for each approver

b) I define the workflow for every story as you described. IS my understanding correct?

c) What are the permissions I will need for b)? I presume, you are asking me to edit a workflow, so I will need admin rights in JIRA to edit workflows? IS that right?

Thanks

Ajay

[Stefan Salzl]

Hi @Ajay Taneja

1) The approval function is a service management feature so this can (as far as I know) not be integrated in Jira Software like in Service Management.

2)

a) correct
b) no not for every Story. A workflow is something that is associated to a issue type (like story) so it is the same for every story.
c) exactly. You need admin permission to edit workflows.

Best
Stefan

[Ajay Taneja]

Thanks @Stefan Salzl , you've again been very helpful. I have requested my IT Team and I'm going to try this when I get the admin rights. I have one fundamental question

2b (above). I understand the workflow is the same for every story. But, in my case, in some stories I may not require approvals but in some stories I would require approvals. Is it possible to have 2 workflows - one to be used for Story A and another for story B?

[Stefan Salzl]

@Ajay Taneja 

In generell the condition is checking for subtasks and specific status (eg. every subtask needs to have status "Done" in order to do the transition of the story). If there is no subtask (like approval subtask) the transition can be done immediately. So no need for another workflow.

Furthermore: 1 issue type can´t have several workflows. So you would need to specify two different issue types (eg. Story with approval, Story without approval) and create a specific workflow for each one. (which I guess is not necessary).

Hope this explanation makes sense.

Best
Stefan

[Ajay Taneja]

@Stefan Salzl 

Understood. I'm awaiting the admin rights and will update here once I finish the proof of concept. Thanks again

Regards

Ajay

[Stefan Salzl]

Hi @Ajay Taneja 

One important thing I‘d like to ask/mention:

Workflows are a very important entity in Jira, configures centrally by the admins but could be use globally in other projects too. Therefore a change in a workflow could potentially change behaviour in other projects. Are there dedicated people/Jira admins in the IT team dealing with Jira change requests?

Best
Stefan

[Ajay Taneja]

@Stefan Salzl , yes, I will be discussing all of this tomorrow on how to go about this.

[Stefan Salzl]

@Ajay Taneja 

any updates on this? could that be solved? 

Best
Stefan

[Ajay Taneja]

Hi @Stefan Salzl 

We have decided to postpone this activity because of the admin processes involved, I will update here as soon as we restart this

Ajay