Have you ever read the definition of automation by the writer Noctuel?
“Automation: a system that simplifies work to such a degree that we will end up needing an electronic brain to twiddle our thumbs.”
If there had to be a tool in the ecosystem Atlassian in line with this definition, it would undoubtedly be the Code Barrel: Automation for Jira solution.
This new member of the Atlassian teams leaves no one indifferent in the Australian publisher’s ecosystem.
With over 20,000 clients in 150 countries, the automation tool is one of the must-haves for any self-respecting Atlassian instance.
Available on Cloud and Server versions (with more or less the same features, a feat in itself), both on Jira Software and Jira Service Desk, this tool is like a Swiss Army knife, allowing you to carry out different actions with full autonomy.
So how does it work?
Automation for Jira, which could almost be called WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), is highly intuitive to configure. It doesn’t use API requests, scripting or other such delights. It takes care of everything for you. All you have to do is configure…
- … a trigger.
- One or more conditions,
- And one action.
For example, here is a very simple rule that adds a “Hello!” as a comment when a client creates a ticket.
Once these 3 elements have been mastered (the WHEN, the IF, and the THEN), you can do almost everything (and we hope anything) on your platform.
Let’s have a quick overview with 3 essential rules in a customer support context with Jira Service Desk.
In fact, we recently wrote an article on building effective customer support.
3 essential rules of Automation for Jira
#1 Automatic transition on a comment
We’re sure that many of you have a status in your workflow that specifies that a ticket is waiting for a customer.
With the below rule, any comment entered by a client in this unique status will automatically reposition the ticket to the correct status.
You can, of course, do the same thing but in the other direction, to position the ticket as waiting, when a support agent publishes a comment.
Let’s move on to another rule, which is endlessly customisable and can be used in multiple cases.
#2 Email notifications
Although Jira has its own, relatively efficient notification system, Automation for Jira takes things further with its “Send email” action.
In this example, Automation for Jira “listens” to any potential changes to the value of the Fix Version field. As soon as this is modified, and with no prior condition in this specific case, an email is sent to the reporter of the ticket so as to automatically send them this crucial information.
Practical, isn’t it?
#3 Closing tickets
As we know, in a customer support context, as soon as a problem is resolved, we rarely have confirmation of its resolution. We will therefore go with the saying: “No news is good news” with this final rule.
Have you guessed it?
This rule allows us to close a ticket once it has spent over 14 days with “Resolved” status.
This also shows the true power of the tool in just the first two steps:
- In the first, this time we are able to use a “scheduler” (which of course supports CRON expressions).
- And in the second, we fill in our JQL search directly to filter with the right tickets.
Incredible performance!
Unlimited possibilities
It is obviously very difficult to be exhaustive with this tool, so wide is the field of possibilities: a rule triggered on an expired SLA, when creating a linked ticket, or the use of webhooks.
In any case, one thing is almost certain: you will save a considerable amount of time and gain huge peace of mind in your daily processes.
So, are you convinced about the usefulness of such a solution on your platform?
If so, there’s only one thing left to say:
“On your marks, get set… Automate!”
Please feel free to contact us if you need any support with implementing a solution like this, or advice on Atlassian tools more generally. Our team of publisher-certified and accredited consultants will be delighted to help you.