This is the documentation for JSU for Jira Server/Data Center. If you are using JSU on Jira Cloud, see our JSU Cloud documentation.
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Description
The 'Follow Up Transition' post function evaluates the workflow conditions of all the subsequent transitions on the target status of the current transition. If exactly one condition is valid, the corresponding transition will be triggered as a followup.
Consider the following workflow:
The issue has a mandatory number custom field.
At the end of the Go transition, we have configured a Follow Up Transition post function.
Each transition leading away from the 'Junction' status has a workflow condition:
'Under Five' has the condition: Number field < 5?
'Exactly Five' has the condition: Number field == 5?
'Over Five' has the condition: Number field > 5?
When the user performs the 'Go' transition, this will always trigger a follow up transition.
For example, if a user enters Number=3 during the Go transition, the issue will transition to 'In Progress'. Similarly, if they enter 42, the issue will transition to 'Closed'.
In this example, we configured the workflow conditions so that always only one condition can be true. The ‘Follow Up’ transition will always lead users to the correct status.
Any workflow condition can be used for followups.
Configuration
There are no mandatory parameters to configure for the Follow Up Transition post function. This post function is used in combination with your workflow conditions. You can select a user to act as the initiating user with the Perform As User option.
Perform As User
When choosing a user account to run a post function, the account specified must have the appropriate permissions to perform the actions of the post function, for example, creating an issue or adding a comment. You can specify a different user account that owns the necessary permissions that acts only as a technical (impersonation), with broad permissions, but not used to log in to a Jira account as an individual.
If you don't specify a user here, the transition on the related issue is performed as the same user who triggered this post function on the origin issue by default. Therefore that user must have the necessary permissions on the related issue. In some setups, that user might not have the required permissions on the related issue or even access to the project of the related issue.
In combination with the User is in Any Users condition, you can hide a transition from all users other than the 'Perform As User' user.
Position of the post function
Ensure that this is the very last post function that will be performed.
You can see here the 'Follow Up Transition' post function is configured as the last post function.
The transition triggered by the Follow Up Transition can’t have any transition screen. (It is not shown to the user respectively.) In the example above this means the 'Under Five', 'Exactly Five' and 'Over Five' transitions cannot have any transition screen.
The Follow Up Transition post function can’t be used in the Create transition (the one that is performed when a user creates a new issue).
Conditions
To complete your setup, you have to configure at least one workflow condition. Let's continue the example from above, where a number field is evaluated. We will configure three conditions; one for each outgoing transition from the 'Junction' status.
Under Five
To add a condition, select Add condition on the Conditions tab. Here we are using the Value Field condition from JSU.
Exactly Five
Over Five
Examples
This section provides some more ideas on how you could use the Follow Up Transition post function.
Yes / No
A simpler common use case is that you have only two transitions leading away from the triggering transition. You evaluate the same condition, but one condition is negated.
a == b?
a != b?
Again you can use the Value Field condition from JSU for this setup.
Check it: 'Follow Up Transition' post function
Yes: Condition a == b?
No: Condition a != b?
Fast forward
An additional step in your workflow might be only necessary if a condition is not fulfilled; otherwise, that step could be skipped.
Start: 'Follow Up Transition' post function
Start Progress: Condition which must be fulfilled to skip the extra step
In this case, you do not have a 'Junction' status but instead, intend that the user should remain at the extra step until the condition is fulfilled.
Management approval
See the Conditional Approval use case for another real-life example.
Troubleshooting
Workflow remains in the Junction status
Not exactly one condition
You can usually identify the problem by reviewing what the post function is configured to do if exactly one condition is valid.
Peform your analysis with the same user that remained in the Junction status. There might be issues with permissions that could lead to a different result, depending on the user performing the transition.
If you look at such an issue: How many transition buttons does it have? Only if there is exactly one transition button, can the 'Follow up' be triggered. If you have none or more than one transition button, review your workflow conditions on the transitions leading out from the Junction status. If there is only one button, there might be something wrong with the subsequent transition. For example, a validator could prevent the transition from getting completed.
Triggered transition fails
Another reason a user may not be able to move past the Junction status could be that the triggered transition does not complete. This could be if it has a validator configured, which fails.