Compare and update parent Target end field upon certain conditions being met

[adam.quinn]

Hello Atlassian Community,

Our team was tasked with the following:

Ask: Can you automate that when the "Target end" date field is updated, if the update date is a greater date than the Parent "Target end" date field that the Parent "Target end" date field is updated to match the new date.

Example: We have two issues, a Story and a parent, linked Epic. They both have a "Target end"  date of September 30, 2022. We update the Story to be October 31, 2022.

We want the automation to compare the two dates and if the child is now greater the parent's it updates the parents due date to be October 31, 2022

We are using Jira Cloud and would like to use Native Automation Functionality to solve this ask. 

The issues we are facing: While "Target end" date can be a trigger, we cannot edit it in the final steps. We are also experiencing an issue with how to use smart values to compare these two fields.

This thread had a similar issue, but used "Due Date" to achieve their desired outcome. Has anyone had success using automation to compare and update the "Target end" date fields?

[Mark Segall · Accepted solution]

Hi @adam.quinn - This is totally possible, but I would recommend instead of automatically updating the date, you flag the parent to spark conversation.  Typically leadership needs to know if the original target end has been adjusted.  Anyway, here's how you would accomplish your goal:

• TRIGGER: Field Value Changed (Target End)
• CONDITION: Issue Type = Story
• BRANCH: Epic (Parent)
  • CONDITION (Advanced)

    • {{triggerIssue.Target End}}

    • Is Greater Than

    • {{issue.Target End}}

  • ACTION: Edit Issue
    Target End is not a selectable field so you have to update with JSON
    

    • {
         "fields": {
         "customfield_13603": "{{triggerIssue.Target End}}"
         }
      }

If you choose to go my selected route, you would just change the Edit Issue action to set the flag and you can add the component Add Comment

[adam.quinn]

Thank you Mark,  this is fantastic and it works.

I totally agree with you about your note about a flag over auto-edit, but luckily this is a project level automation and not a global :)

I should easily be able to take this a step further for Epics to update Initiatives and Initiatives to update Themes with a very similar automation. Changing Condition and Branch rules.

One thing I noticed, these updates do not reflect in the audit log, my initial assumption is that is due to updating via JSON.

Thank you again Mark for the quick response and wonderful formatting.

[Stefan Salzl]

Hi @adam_quinn 

as far as i got your requirement right the following automation rule should do the work. (just exchange my date field with your corresponding field).

Best
Stefan