When creating a new epic, I want an automation rule to copy the parent initiative field values (wsjf
Asked by Carrol Patterson:

Trigger: Issue Created

Condition: If Issue Type equals Epic

Action: copy the new epic's parent WSJF field values to the new epic.

problem: "Issue to copy value from" "Parent Issue" doesn't work for epics


Answers:
author: Bill Sheboy
body: Hi [@Carrol Patterson](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/1455040)

Are you using Jira Cloud or Server/Data Center version? Let's assume Cloud...

In that case, you could use advanced edit with JSON (under *More options* for the Issue Edit action) to copy the field from the parent data to the new epic, as described here: <https://support.atlassian.com/cloud-automation/docs/advanced-field-editing-using-json/>

But first...I recommend confirming that your field is supported by automation rules and to confirm the exact smart value name (or custom field id). You can do that using this how-to article: <https://support.atlassian.com/cloud-automation/docs/find-the-smart-value-for-a-field/>

Kind regards,  
Bill

comments: author: Carrol Patterson
body: ### Jira v9.4.1 {#toc-hId-2030041400}

### Server/Data Center Version {#toc-hId-222586937}

I was able to create this rule:

Trigger - when values change for WSJF BV, WSJF RR \| OE, WSJF TC

Condition: If Issue type equals Initiative

JQL - project in (CMSSANDBO2) AND issuetype = Epic AND issuekey in childIssuesOf({{triggerIssue.key}})

Condition: Issue Type equals Epic

Edit Issue

Copy WSJF BV from Trigger issue

Now i want to do the same thing in the other direction

Trigger: When a new epic is added or epic is moved

copy the WSJF values from the parent initiative down to the epic


author: Bill Sheboy
body: Let's try this...When an issue has a parent, some of the fields appear to be directly available to a rule, such as like below. This does not always work for all fields; if it did a single rule could pull in a lot of issues/data in a chain.

```
{{issue.parent.myCustomField}}
```

I believe with the relationships your issue is using, the parent field may work correctly even though the rule doesn't acknowledge it for "copy from parent".

If that does not work, we can investigate another approach.


author: Carrol Patterson
body: Sorry - it took me a while to get back to this. I don't think "parent" works for Initiative parents of Epics.

This is what I tried:

Trigger: Issue Created

Condition: If Issue Type = Epic

Condition: And if parentIssuesOf ({{triggerIssue.key}}) does not equal null

Edit Issue: Then WSJF BV copy from Parent issue

When I trigger it by creating a new Epic as a child of an existing Initiative here are the logs:

first 2 conditions passed

edit issue failed "can't find issue to copy from customfield_10571

no fields or field values to edit for issues (could be due to some field values not existing in a given project)

Which doesn't make sense because I could do the same fields in the other direction. I think it's because it doesn't recognize "parent" of an epic.

Is there another way to do it?


author: Bill Sheboy
body: I was not suggesting to try "copy from parent" again from the edit options. Instead you can try editing the field and *entering the smart value directly*:

```
{{issue.parent.myCustomField}}
```

When you do this, the smart value expression will appear below the edit value, and you can select it so the rule will use it.