How do I include an Issue Link in my Change Request Approval Email?
Asked by Renee Houston-Lang:

I am configuring a Change Management process using JSM and the Change Request issue type. Here is a high-level description of how I want the process to work:

1. Expose Change request form in portal for new request submissions
   1. Includes only a sub-set of fields to submit the initial request
2. Change Manager and team receive the Change Request and fill out additional information for the Change Request
3. Once the Change Request is ready for approval, move to "Pending Approval" status
   1. There will be defined Approval Groups; will need one person from each group to review and approve
4. Notify people in the related Approval Groups **there is a request pending approval, and provide a clickable link to view the Change Request**
   1. I was hoping to do this in Slack, but have not been able to figure out how to truly [@mention](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/732788) specific people.
   2. Apparently the Chat feature does not support this for Approval Groups, only Approvers. I also tried setting up an Automation rule that would add a comment to the Change Request and this does not quite work either.
   3. The comment is added, but [@mention](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/732788) does not translate through to Slack.
5. Assuming I need to go with email notifications, I have found two different options, **but I'm getting stuck on getting the right issue link in the email:**
   1. Customer Notifications (based on having approval step in workflow)-
      1. The standard "View Request" link in the email template here takes the user to the customer view of the request form, not the Issue.
      2. I had configured the form to hide all the fields I didn't want the requestor to worry about, which means the approver also does not see them in this Request Form view.
      3. I believe another option is to unhide these fields, but not make them required. So the requestor will see them, but won't have to fill them out. Then the approver should be able to see them too.
   2. Create an Automation rule which will trigger when the issue status changes to send an email to approvers
      1. I get the automation rule to work and send an email, but I cannot figure out to get a clickable link.
      2. I have used the following variables: {{issue.toUrl}} and {{issue.url}}
      3. Both will insert the full URL link in the email, but it's not clickable
      4. I also tried using these variables in the Customer Notification template to replace the "View Request" link so it would direct to the Issue instead of the request but did not have luck there either

So, I know this is long, but wanted to describe all the different things I have tried thus far. Looking to see if I have exhausted all the possibilities or if there are other ideas out there.


Answers:
author: Samuel Gatica
body: Hi [@Renee Houston-Lang](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5482770)

* To ensure that the link is clickable in your email, please use the {{issue.url.customer}} smart value and incorporate it within an HTML tag.

i.e

\<a href="{{issue.url.customer}}"\>{{issue.key}} - {{issue.summary}}\</a\>

* To mention from a comment, please try:

\[\~accountid:{{issue.assignee.accountId}}\]

Ref: [How to mention another user](https://support.atlassian.com/cloud-automation/docs/jira-smart-values-users/#How-to-mention-another-user)

Hope this helps!

Best regards

Sam

comments: author: Renee Houston-Lang
body: Hi Sam, thanks so much for your answer! This worked, but took me to the request form view. This is not a deal breaker or anything, as I can un-hide the fields I don't need the requestor to fill in, but still want the approver to see, as I described above. I suppose I'm curious if there is any way to provide a link to the actual Issue rather than the Request Form, or is this just how things work when I'm using JSM and the request form?


author: Samuel Gatica
body: Hi [@Renee Houston-Lang](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5482770)

In that case us the following:

\<a href="{{issue.url}}"\>{{issue.key}} - {{issue.summary}}\</a\>

This will take you to the Jira issue link instead.

Best regard

Sam


author: Renee Houston-Lang
body: [@sam](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5367122) Thanks again; now I know how to do both! This is great, I really appreciate it.


Tags: cloud

jira-service-management

jira-service-management-cloud