Automation in team-managed projects in JSM is powered by workflow rules, which enable you to accelerate the path of requests through JSM’s different request-type workflows.
Atlassian has a library of lots of JSM automation rule templates, which can give you an idea of what’s possible.
When it comes to workflow rules, the following are in place in team-managed JSM projects by default:
- Assign new requests for automatic triage or when requests are escalated
- Require approval and verification before requests can be transitioned
- Set assignees and managers as being responsible for transitioning issues
- Provide reminders to fill in relevant fields
- Check and update request fields and check requests have passed statuses
- Harmonise time and date formatting
Rules fall into three categories:
- Restrict transition – taking place before a request is transitioned – hiding transitions from individuals until the required criteria are met, for example, allowing a team leader to triage requests before assigning them
- Validate details – taking place when a request is transitioned – ensuring details are correct before requests can be transitioned, such as ensuring fields are filled out
- Perform actions – taking place after a request is transitioned – doing something, like assigning the request to a specific team member
If you want to add a rule to a transition (with the ability to add ten rules to each transition):
- Go to “Service project settings” then “Request types” and select the relevant request type
- Then click “Edit workflow” and then “Rules” from the workflow toolbar
- Choose the rule to add and click on it
- Then from the “For transition” dropdown, choose the transition to be affected
- Fill out the fields and hit the “Add” button
You can then set up a test request to see the rule working.
Alternatively, to create an automation rule, you can:
- Go to the service project sidebar and click on “Project settings” and then “Automation”
- Next, select “Create rule” or choose an existing rule to edit.
Note: By default, there are two rules included with JSM.
From the “Templates” tab you can access lots of JSM-related automation rules.
If you need to edit a rule:
- Go to the service project sidebar and click on “Project settings” and then “Automation”
- Select the “Rules” tab
- Click on the name of the rule then edit the rule and click save
- When you are finished editing the rule, publish the modified rule by clicking on “Publish changes”
To delete a rule, click on the 3 dots and select “Remove”. Please note, you can also Disable your rule, that way the rule will be kept for later but won’t be triggered.
Automation in Jira Service Management
There are several broad types of automation rules in team-managed JSM projects:
Restrict requests based on having passed statuses – this ensures requests have gone through the required stages of the workflow. To put this in place, go to the “For transition” dropdown and on “Check that the request has been through”, choose the relevant status.
There are also options to “Include the request’s current status”, “Reverse this rule” (to check a request has not gone through a status), “Only consider the request’s most recent status”, and “Ignore status updates from looped transitions” – which do what their names suggest.
Restrict the request based on field values – this limits transitions that can be actioned depending on the information entered on the request. To apply this, go to the “For transition” dropdown and then choose the field to check with the “For this field” dropdown.
You can also add “Review its value as” or “Check if it” and “This value” from the relevant dropdowns to evaluate and compare field values. Once finished, select “Add”.
“Review its value as” can evaluate fields based on:
- Numbers – useful for checking if the value is higher, lower, or equal to
- Selections, including checkboxes, dropdowns, and user IDs
- Time stamps
- Text – checking for matching strings
“Check if it” can compare fields for:
- “contains” and “doesn’t contain”
- “equals” and “doesn’t equal”
- “is after” and “is before”
- “is or is after” and “is or is before”
- “is greater than” and “is greater than or equal to”
- “is less than” and “is less than or equal to”
Restrict who can transition requests – can be accessed from “For transition” and allows you to restrict transitions to:
- The assignee
- The reporter
- A selected user
- Individuals with specified permissions
- Specific roles and groups
Validating user permissions – gives access to specific transitions based on user permissions, giving you more granular control than restricting who can transition requests.
Remind people to update fields – you can remind users to complete or check up to 40 fields, using the “For transition” dropdown to set the rule.
Update fields – automatically updating fields when requests are transitioned or their status is changed. You can access this from the “For transition” dropdown.
Assign requests to an individual – when a request’s status is changed, its assignee can be changed automatically. This can be applied with the “For transition” dropdown. Requests can be assigned to:
- The current user or someone updating the status of the request
- No one – so the request is unassigned
- A specific individual
Recommended Reads:
- A Complete Guide to Jira Subtasks
- ESM vs. ITSM: Key Differences in Enterprise and IT Service Management
- A Comprehensive Guide to Jira User Stories
- Master Jira Work Management with this Comprehensive Guide
- How To Use Labels in Jira: A Complete Guide
- Jira for Project Management: Level up your Business Activities
