Related Condition Some of Sub Task Status != Done

[JasonB3]

I'm running NextGen project online. 

I created the following automate rule:

No mater what i do, i cannot get this to work. When inspecting the logs, it simply says:

Related issues condition

The following issues did not match the condition:IA-441

I've added action logs with smartvalues {{#issue.subtasks}}{{Key}} {{Status}};{{/}}

It'll come back with integer values:

Log action

LogIA-485 10078; IA-484 10078;

I've tried matching status on those integer values instead: status != 10078

Nothing works. 

I've had to abandon this code. It just seems that the != operator does not work with Some Match.

Anyone else see this?

[John Funk]

Hi Jason - What exactly is your scenario? What are you trying to achieve?

[JasonB3]

Simply automatically move the parent into an In Progress state if any sub task is not done. 

I have made a work around. By matching Some sub task status = "In Progress", but my team has a bad habit of just moving a sub task from To Do straight to Done. So the parent sits in "To Do" even tho work is progressing. And to future proof my automation from new State columns, looking for != done saves me from breaking my automation. 

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi, Jason.

In the case you note about future status changes, consider instead using status category as your check.

For logging that doesn't seem to be working, consider adding comments and perhaps re-fetch.  You can remove them later once the rules work.

[John Funk]

I would just prevent them from moving to Done from To Do. Make them at least pull through In Progress. 

So other than that, the rule is now working for you? 

[JasonB3]

@Bill Sheboy  - I'm not sure I follow. I do check status ahead of the related condition checking. Also, what is re-fetch?

@John Funk - I have resigned to doing just that. Educating users. But that is also why I raise this issue up here. This seems to be a deficiency with automate. 

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi Jason,

I was suggesting using Status Category for the condition rather than Status because Status Category is less granular.  It only has the values: To Do, In Progress, and Done. Is basically summarizes the many possible values you have for Status.

Re-fetch is an action in automation rules.  You use it when an issue may have changed while the rule is executing, so re-fetch loads the data again before the rule proceeds. Note that it can slow down a rule, but it solves some problems when the issues change a lot.

__Bill

[John Funk]

Well, I guess I would not consider it a deficiency with the tool when the user is not following the designated process. If you enforce the process in the workflow, then they have to follow the process. It sounds like you are rewarding bad behavior (letting them not update the status in a timely manner and just pull to Done) by having automation try to hide that. That's just my opinion though.   :-)

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @JasonB3 

I haven't seen this before.  Have you tried to confirm/isolate the result by inverting your Some Match JQL from status != "Done" to instead use status IN (your valid other values)

That would confirm if it is the not-equal test or if there is something else causing it not to return the results you expect.

Best regards,

Bill

[JasonB3]

I tried NOT IN as well... no dice. 

But yes, when making an equality like IN or '=', the Some Match works. 

Automate does not provide very good logging. To find out what its trying to do under the hood. I tried a log action to use {{#=}} {{status != "done"}} {{/}} boolean math but nothing prints out.