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Automatically sum story points from child stories to parent epic using JMWE event-based actions (Cloud)

Automatically sum story points from child stories to parent epic using JMWE event-based actions (Cloud)

Overview

This article explains how to use JMWE Event-Based Actions to automatically sum values from child Stories and update the parent Epic whenever a child issue field changes.

Although this example uses Story Points, the same solution works for any numeric field in Jira.

Use case

At the Epic level, there are often many Stories, each with its own Story Points. The goal is to automatically calculate the total Story Points of all Stories linked to the same Epic and update the Epic's Story Points field whenever a Story's points change.

Solution

Step 1: Identify the story points field

First, determine the custom field ID for Story Points in your Jira Cloud instance.
Example: customfield_10042.

Step 2: Configure an event-based action in JMWE

  1. Go to JMWE Administration in your Jira Cloud instance.

  2. Select Event-based Actions.

  3. Create a new Event-based Action with these settings:

    1. Event(s): Issue Field Value Changed

    2. Issue Type(s): Story (or your relevant child issue type)

JQL Filter (optional): To further restrict which issues trigger the action

Step 3: Add the "Set Issue Fields" action

In the EBA configuration, add a Set issue fields action.

Target Issue:

  • Select "Epic of the current Issue".

Field to Set:

  • Select the Epic's Story Points field.

Value:

  • In the action configuration, use the following Nunjucks expression to sum the Story Points from all child stories and update the parent Epic:

{{ issue | epic("key") | stories("customfield_10042") | field("fields.customfield_10042") | sum }}

  • This expression will sum the Story Points of all stories linked to the Epic and update the Epic's Story Points field.

  • Replace customfield_10042 with your actual Story Points field ID if different.

References

For more details on Event-Based Actions in JMWE, see the official documentation.

Troubleshooting

  • Ensure the custom field ID for Story Points is correct.

  • Make sure the EBA is triggered on the correct events (e.g., Story Points field update).

  • Test the configuration on a sample Epic and Stories before rolling out to production.

If you need further assistance, contact Appfire Support.