Internal: CMJ - Status Field Not Updating Properly After Snapshot Import

This article addresses an issue observed during configuration migration using Configuration Manager for Jira (CMJ), where locked custom fields (such as Epic Status) were improperly updated, leading to incorrect status values (e.g., ‘Open’ instead of ‘Done’).

Jira Environment

Data Center

Problem

After importing a CMJ snapshot, certain tickets displayed incorrect status values. For example, tickets that were marked as ‘Done’ before migration were shown as ‘Open’ post-migration. This occurred even though the affected field (Epic Status) is locked. The migration resulted in adding new options to locked custom fields. These updates were not expected and were not traceable via issue history, as no change details (time, user, or action) were recorded.

Example:

The locked custom field Epic Status typically includes the default options: To Do, In Progress, and Done.
After importing a snapshot, an additional option, Open, was introduced.
CMJ updated the Epic Status field and applied the new (invalid) Open status to Epics that were originally marked as Done.

Solution

This behavior is caused by a known Atlassian issue where locked custom fields are unintentionally modified during snapshot imports, even though they should not be editable through this method. If you must modify such fields:

Unlock the field explicitly (not recommended unless necessary) through the UI.
Ensure only valid, expected values are used.
Do not modify locked custom fields through snapshots.
Consider validating the snapshot contents before deployment to prevent unintended changes.

Related Atlassian ticket : https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRASERVER-67230