Automatically remove a closed epic from the backlog

Owned by IT Ops Notifications
Last updated: Sept 16, 2024 by Deborah Scott
3 min read

This is the documentation for JSU for Jira Cloud. If you are using JSU for Jira Server or Jira Data Center, see this use case in our Server/Data Center documentation.

Goal

Get a clear view of your team's actual backlog

Scenario

Do your epics stay in the backlog of your Jira agile board after closing them? Here's why.

Besides the workflow status, epics have an additional field called epic status which is only accessible on the Backlog screen. Only epics with the Epic status field marked as DONE get removed from the backlog.

Let's have a look at how this can be automated using JSU

Components

 How to configure this rule

  1. Create a draft of your project workflow. If you're unsure how to get to this page, follow the onboarding steps in Edit a Jira Workflow. You can then view your workflow in Text or Diagram mode. The steps in this use case represent Text mode.

  2. Select the transition for which you want to run the post function. In this case, we are using the done transition.

    Draft workflow issue page displayed in Text mode with the Done transition selected.

  3. Select the Post Functions tab, then select Add Post Function.

  4. Select the Update any issue field (JSU) post function, then click Add.

  5. Because we want to perform this post function only for Epics, we need to configure a precondition. Set the precondition to be True. In this transition, you want to have your Epic status updated to done.

  6. Complete the required fields to configure the post function:

    1. Update field on all issues related: Within same issue

    2. Issue Field: Epic status

    3. Field Value: Done

      Configuration options for the Update Any Issue Field post function.

  7. Create your precondition to prevent errors when the workflow is used on non-epic issues. Click Add Precondition, then click Add next to the Value Field precondition.

     

  8. Set Issue type = Epic.

  9. Select Add at the bottom of the configuration page, then publish your workflow. 

  10. Now test your new post function with some test issues. Your epic is currently visible on the backlog; move your epic to done and go back to your backlog. The epic is longer there.

This is only a sample of what you can do with JSU. See our app documentation for some more examples and configuration screenshots.