Managing work across multiple Jira projects can make it feel impossible to keep track of all the work for your teams and program. In our recent post on the PlanWeaver automations, we discussed how it could help make these views easier to manage.
If you’d like to get started with PlanWeaver but are new to automation in Jira, you may have some questions about how to install the files we shared. In this post, we’ll walk through how to set up your projects and import automations as JSON files.
Creating the Parent and Child Tag Fields
Before you can use the PlanWeaver automations, you’ll need to create custom fields for the Parent and Child tags. From your settings menu (the gear in the top right of the header), select the “Issues” view (1), then click “Custom Fields” in the sidebar (2).
You’ll then need to create a new custom field for “Parent Tags.” Hit “Create custom field” on the top right of your screen (3), then select “Labels” from the pop-up (4).
Next, name your new field “Parent Tags,” and add a description (5) before clicking the Create button (6).
Then select all the projects where you anticipate using the Parent Tags and select Update (7). You can also leave these unchecked and update the field in the future. Repeat these steps for the Child Tags custom field.
Importing the Rule
Now that you have the Parent and Child Tag fields, you can import your first rule. In this case, we’ll be importing the automation titled “on-parent-change-update-child-tags.json”. If you haven’t added our PlanWeaver files yet, you can download them as a zip file or access them from our GitHub.
First, click the “System” tab from the settings menu at the top right (1). Then click “Global Automation” in the left sidebar (2).
Next, click the “•••” and select “Import rules” (3).
From here, click “Upload JSON” and select the “on-manual-update-all-parent-tags” file from PlanWeaver. Select the rule and applicable projects if you don’t want the rule to be global (4). Finally, click “Next” and let the rule process.
Customizing the Automation
You’re almost done! Now, you just need to customize the automation for your projects before you enable it. Each automation has a few different points that require updates, almost all specific to your issuetype hierarchy. In our hierarchy, Outcomes are on top, followed by Milestones, Initiatives, and Epics; check out our Miro board for a visual!
Open up your new rule and select the first conditional statement (1). Replace “Milestone” with the issuetype second from the top of your hierarchy. Do the same for the second conditional (2) and the final conditional (3). If you have fewer than three levels above Epics, you can remove one of these conditional blocks. If you have more, you can copy the block by hovering over the “For: JQL” of any conditional block. Finally, enable your automation by clicking the toggle near the top (4).
Testing the Automation
The final step is to test your new automation. Navigate to an issue and select the Actions menu (1). From there, select your new automation. This will take a little time to run, but after seeing the notification that it is completed, you should see your Parent Tags field (3) display your new tags!
Now that you’ve manually populated your Parent Tags, you’ll need to repeat the steps of importing and enabling automations to make full use of the PlanWeaver suite. For further guidance on necessary updates for each automation, check out our Miro board that breaks each automation down and notes areas for customization.
Conclusion
By importing your Jira automations—like the PlanWeaver suite—you can add utility to your Jira instance without ever writing a line of code. It can be incredibly time-consuming to build and implement Jira automations on your own, which is why Bitovi is here to help.
Our Agile Project Management consulting experts are Jira wizards, here to demystify project automations and guide your program to success. Be sure to join our community of engaged professionals on Discord.
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