In this article I will show you two Jira workflow properties settings which are important to be configured in every Jira workflow in order to make a positive user experience. The first workflow property will allow you to configure the sequence of transition buttons. With the second property you will be able to limit the number of resolutions available on the resolution screen.
Order of buttons workflow property
When you open up a workflow diagram on the issue screen, using the link ‘View Workflow’ you will see a diagram. Depending on the way a workflow is designed, normally you can see in what sequence the statuses are arranged.
In my example, the first is status ‘To Do’, later status ‘In Progress’, then status ‘Under Review’ and finally status ‘Done’. All my transition names use the name of the following status (i.e. following the transition arrow direction) and these names are visible on the transition buttons in issue view screen.
If you look at the order of buttons on the issue screen, they are not arranged the way they I want. I want them to be arranged in a sequence which I designed in the workflow diagram. For example, the 'To Do' button is the last one on the issue screen and I want it to be the first one, when I am in status In Progress.
In order to change that, I need to go to Jira Administration / Issues / Workflows and edit the workflow which is assigned to the issue type I have been analyzing. In my example it is the workflow EXP: Story Workflow.
My goal is, when I am in the 'In Progress' status, I want the 'To Do' transition button to be the first on the left, then 'Under Review' and 'Done' always the last. This is the order which reflects the sequence in workflow.
To achieve that, click on the transition you want to modify and then add the property opsbar-sequence. You will need to modify three transitions for status ‘In Progress’.
When you click on one transition then click on the Properties link and put there the Property Key opsbar-sequence and Property Value 10. This value allows for ordering. Always use values like 10, 20, 30 and so on because if you will need to create and insert another transition between existing transitions this still will be possible with values for example 11,12 or 21,22. If you used values 1,2 3 this would not be possible.
Now follow the same procedure for other statuses. Every time you will need to decide which transition should appear as the first one (Property Value 10) then in the middle (Property Value 20) and so on. When you finish configuration, do not forget to publish the Workflow.
When you go back to front end issue view to see the Story issue again, after refreshing the screen you will see that the buttons are now arranged in a new order.
On the picture below you can see the buttons order set for the status ‘In Progress’.
List of resolutions workflow property
When you transition the issue to a status like Done or Resolved, on the transition screen you may see all transitions available in this Jira instance. In this article you can read more about about setting up a Resolution field using a transition screen.
When all transitions are available, then a user needs to know every time an issue is resolved, which resolution type should be selected. That is not very user friendly and will cause mistakes. That is why it is better to select the resolutions that we really want.
Go to Jira Administrations / Issues / Resolutions and check specific numbers of resolutions. On the View Resolutions screen, when you hover over any Actions link, you will see in the bottom bar the number ID of this resolution. Alternatively, you can click on the Edit link and you will see this number in the address bar.
For example, for the Done resolution the ID is 10000. Note down all the resolution IDs which you will want to be available during a resolving transition on the transition screen.
Now, when you go back to Jira Administration / Issues / Workflows, edit the selected workflow exactly the same way as previously. Select the resolving transition and edit its properties.
In the transition property field insert: jira.field.resolution.include and as property values insert the IDs of resolutions you noted down. In my case, I only wanted resolutions Done, Cancelled and Declined with IDs 10000, 10004 and 10100. After configuration you workflow transition properties screen should look as below.
Publish the new workflow version and test your new configuration.
Please remember that with any major changes to workflows, it is a good practice to save your original workflow version under a new name. It is usually less work to switch an old workflow with a new workflow instead of fixing the new and faulty workflow to be again an old and good workflow.
Now when you transition an issue to its resolution status using a transition screen, you will only see these three resolution values available and not the whole list.
Before you go…
These two Jira workflow properties were only two of many configuration options you have as Jira Administrator.
It should always be the primary goal for Jira Administrators to make their configurations user friendly and collect only this data which is absolutely necessary.
Setting up Jira Workflow properties is one of the important ways to achieve this goal.
