Workflow with Approval(s)

[AgilePM]

Hello - my question is fairly simple... What is the best way to handle an approval in JIRA? I am modelling a support process and at one step in the workflow an approval needs to be collected from the requestor and either (a) continue on in the workflow or (b) revert to the previous step in the workflow.

I want the support lead to maintain control over moving the workflow along and the requestor's input is only either YES or NO.

What is the best way to accomplish this?

- Have Requestor add Comment?

- Create special Approval Subtask and assign to Requestor?

- Plugins for Approvals?

[Alex · Accepted solution]

We actually use JIRA for our Support Desk! JIRA's customizable workflow makes it really easy to create approval workflows.

I'd suggest creating a workflow step that the support lead assigns to the requestor for approval with transitions to either accept or reject which then transitions back to the support lead.

If you don't want the requestor to own any part of the transition process I might suggest adding a comment.

[AgilePM]

Thanks for the comments, is this something that happens programmatically or can be configured via web GUI?

So if the 'Assignee' is the Support Lead and the 'Requestor' is the person who opened the ticket... the 'Assignee' would move the workflow into 'Waiting UAT' and then the 'Requestor' would come into JIRA and Accept or Reject to move the Workflow appropriately (Either to the next stage (Approve) or back to In Progress (Reject)).

[Ramiro Pointis]

Here you have documentation to customize your workflow:

https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/Creating+a+Custom+Workflow

What you have to it's edit your workflow and add status and transition.

In this case what you need it's the assignee to do a transition 'Get Approval' this would fire a post function that will assign the issue to the user who has to approve, then this user will have a transition called 'Approved' that will make the issue assigneed to the user who requested the approval.

[Ramiro Pointis]

To achieve that you can use Postfunction like:

-Assign to role member

-Update event field (choose assignee field)

That way you can set automatic assignations inside transitions.

[AgilePM]

Thanks Ramiro. I like the approach outlined by Alexandra and expanded on by you. I guess what I need to figure out is how to have the assignee flip flop like that, from Original Assignee, to Approver, back to Original Assignee.

[Ramiro Pointis]

Search for JIRA Misc Workflow Extensions on Atlassian Market. It's free and it's a must have plugin :)

[EddieW]

http://atlss.in/workflowguide is a good resource for this. See page 5.

[Ewa Boloczko]

Is there any chance approvals will be availble in JIRA Software. We don't use SD, and there is no plan for that. It's a nice feature!

Thanks,
Ewa 

[Phillip Ponzer _Cprime_]

You can model this using workflows by having a status like "Needs Approval" that can only be transitioned away from by the assignee. See the accepted answer for more information on that.

[Ramiro Pointis]

Hi, if I understand correctly, the best and easiest option to do this will be having a previous transition-status that only a bunch of people can do, this would have two transitions an approval or a rejection, if this user gives his approval then it will go to a status where the other user can continue.

Hope this helps.

[AgilePM]

Thanks Ramiro. I like the approach outlined by Alexandra and expanded on by you. I guess what I need to figure out is how to have the assignee flip flop like that, from Original Assignee, to Approver, back to Original Assignee.

[Brad Mace [ATS]]

As of Service Desk 3.2.0 there is native support for approvals built in:

Setting up approvals

[Fabio Racobaldo _Herzum_]

Hello @AgilePM,

There's a great add-on that could fit your needs https://marketplace.atlassian.com/plugins/com.herzum.jira.plugin.approval.herzum-approval-plugin/server/overview . 4.0 will be released in few weeks with more features and a graphic restyling that makes it awesome. 

Regards,

Fabio