This is part three of a three-part series on increasing efficiency with Atlassian Jira. This series explains features and steps you can take to increase efficiency, gather data for metrics and reporting, and automate mundane, repetitive tasks.

The other two articles are

“Utilising automation in Jira will save many hours of repetitive tasks, ensure self-management and maximise the productivity of the development team.”

Project automation vs application automation 

There are two ways to access configuration for automation; however, they differ slightly depending on where you want the automation to be applied. 

1. Administration > Application Settings > Jira > Automation > Automation rules 

Go here to set global automation roles and configure all the automation rules created within your Jira instance. You can also create labels to group automation rules in details and check automation usage. Note may be some limitation on the number of automation executed based on your license. 

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2. In your desired project(s), go to Project Settings > Automation 

Here, not only can you create global automation rules, but also rules specific for the current project. However, you will not be able to see automation execution usage here.
 
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Setup automation to automatically change status on commit 

One of the most practical uses of automation is the ability to change issue status in Jira via changes to Git. You can change issue status based on the branch created, commit created, pull request created, pull request declined and pull request merged. 

For example, when a developer is assigned an issue, they can create a branch in their git repository with the issue ID (normally in the format of ProjectID-IssueNumber). With automation, simply creating the branch will automatically update the issue status from “To Do” to “In Progress.” When a pull request is created, the issue then updates to “Internal Code Review.” When the pull request is merged, the status is updated to “QA.” 

Your workflow may vary but you can setup triggers to match your workflow and stop wasting time on manual, redundant tasks. 

To enable this automation, first you need to enable integration between Jira and your Git service. Go to Settings > Development tools and connect your Git account. 

Next, you need to setup triggers to link the git status to Jira status. 

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Setup automation to create a new task 

There are repetitive tasks that need to be created repeatedly with small changes, this is especially true for some maintenance tasks.  

In our own scenario, we renew provision profiles for multiple apps at different times of the year. Tracking the date of expiration for those certifications is time consuming and prone to human error – have you ever missed a cert renewal? 

Even though we have implemented CI\CD in our build process, we still need to manually renew the existing profiles in the developer portal. This is especially true for enterprise apps deployed via MDM rather than through the public app store.  

We have created tasks in Jira to track the expiry date and we let Jira create new tasks with new expiry  dates so we can action again later without the need to remember to re-create the task each time.

 

Setup automated notifications for the team and external alerts 

You can setup automation that integrate with a webhook to leverage your internal communication system and update your team instantly. 

A good use case is utilising the “Field value changed” automation rule. When information gets updated by a product owner, the team gets notified. You can add more rules, such as comparing the change to an existing value and set else/if rules to allow more complex automation. 

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Monitor and troubleshoot active Automation 

Is important to ensure your automation is working. Hence, it is good practice to test rules before enabling them in an active project. When automation stops working you can check their status in three ways: 

  1. Check the Audit log to see if any recent changes has been made to that automation rule. 

  2. Check performance insights to ensure it behaved correctly in the past. 

  3. Check global automation service status, to ensure it is not just a service support issue. 

Lastly, note that utilising automation is not a substitute for managing your Jira instance. Automation is a way to help scrum masters and site admins to save time doing meaningless admin tasks. Automation allows scrum masters, admins, developers, and product owners to focus on work and improve productivity and keeps everyone focused on delivering business goals. 

 

Return to part two in the series,
Getting the Most from Jira: Tips to setup an easy-to-manage and flexible cloud instance

Ken Yuan

Ken has worked across our managed services, security and app development business units for the past 6 years. He is currently a business analyst in charge of managing daily operations for the app development team.

Ken loves delivering new mobile apps for customers and seeing the difference it makes to their business.