Epic Link Retired - Causing Errors in SS-Jira Connector

Grace_User · 02/27/24

Now that the Epic Link has officially retired since 2/13, there are errors in our Jira-SS connector. It's as if on the SS side, it is still using the Epic Link and SS has not updated the Parent filter.

The (old) Epic Link filter option has a drop down of all of our Epics/Parents.

The (Current) Parent filter is a text box. This should map to the Epic numbers, as the Epic Link filter did previously and should be a drop-down of all the Parent IDs.

Please fix this!

Has anyone run into this or found a work around?

Humashankar · 03/07/24

Hi @Grace_User

Would you like to go over the best practice which will help you to get rid of this issue:

Find and fix sync errors

You can use the following resources to find and resolve workflow errors:

Run History: Go to this page to see a count of the number of sync errors for a workflow and the error message with the issue details.
Error Reports: When issues occur, the workflow owner and the person who edited the field or workflow row that caused the issue will receive an email.
Error Column: Check this column in your sheet to review a message on rows with a sync issue.

Run history

After creating a workflow, you can go to the Run History page to see the sync history and any errors that occurred. You can access Run History by selecting the timestamp in Run Date for your workflow.

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You’ll see the following run Types in your Run History:

Sync to Smartsheet: Workflow runs for changes from Jira that were synced to Smartsheet
Sync to Jira: Workflow runs for changes from Smartsheet that were synced to Jira
Filtered Row Finder: Workflow runs for changes made to any issues that should be filtered out based on your workflow configuration. Filtered Row Finder is a background process that runs every 2 hours. Filtered out issues will be added to your sheet's Filtered Out by Connector—Not Synced hierarchy. The Filtered Row Finder process will only run with automated workflow types. This process will run even if you have not specified filters in your workflow.

Best practices

Save and refresh often

To minimize sync errors as users work across both systems, save changes and refresh your sheets as you make updates. Saving and refreshing frequently will ensure that others see your changes. Learn more about saving and refreshing Smartsheet sheets.

Lock columns to avoid errors

Do not modify data in the required Issue Key field in Smartsheet. To secure the integrity of the data in this column, the sheet Owner or someone who shared the sheet with Admin privileges should lock the Issue Key column. For more information, see Locking & Unlocking Columns and Rows in the Smartsheet Help Center.

View changes

Use the Smartsheet View History feature to see a record of changes made to a cell. For sheets that include data shared between Smartsheet and Jira, the name of the user associated with the difference will be the person who created the workflow. This can help pinpoint a specific user’s workflow if unexpected changes are being made to your sheet.

For more details on tracking changes in Smartsheet, see Viewing Cell History in the Help Center.

Check sheet permissions on unexpectedly blank columns

If a column appears empty on a sheet you’ve mapped in your workflow, the column may be locked. Have the sheet Owner (or another Admin) grant you Admin permissions on the sheet.

Push data from Smartsheet to Jira for specific rows only

To give you greater control over which rows explicitly push data back to Jira, you can create an Update Issue in Jira column on your sheet and a Sheet Filter in the Smartsheet Jira Connector workflow to sync only those rows with the Update Issue in Jira checked.

Hope this helps - Happy to help further!!

Thank you very much and have a great one!

Warm regards

Danielle Wilson · 04/16/24

We have released the Parent Field within the Smartsheet Jira Connector! You can see more details on the release here.

For Jira on-prem workflows, you can now select the Parent field (bi-directional) in addition to the Epic Link (bi-directional) and Parent Link (uni-directional) fields within the Jira Connector. For Jira Cloud workflows, as the Epic Link and Parent Link fields have been removed from Jira Cloud, these fields have been removed from the Jira Connector and the Parent field has been added to the workflow builder.