Recurring Tasks module in Data Protection and Security Toolkit for Jira
- Patricia Modispacher
Overview
Compatibility with GDPR, CCPA and other regulations must be based on reforming your data management practices and your data architecture. Defining your technology stack or the use of processors are also essential, as they will help you meet the requirements at the various touchpoints of the regulation. The Recurring Tasks module is a very powerful tool to automate the notification and deletion processes.
With our guide, you will learn how to use the Recurring Tasks module and how to set required parameters properly and in an easy way.
Recurring Tasks Dashboard
The starting point of working with the module is the Recurring Tasks Dashboard. There are two ways to get to it:
Navigate to Manage apps, find the Data Protection and Security Toolkit section in the left sidebar and Recurring Tasks in it. Click on it and you’ll see the Dashboard.
Open the Data Protection and Security Toolkit Home page and find the Recurring Tasks button. Click on it and you’ll see the Dashboard.
How to create a new task
Find the New task button in the top right corner of the Dashboard and click on it. The Task Creation page will show up:
Here is an overview of the task parameters which you can set:
Parameter Name | Default Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
Enabled | Disabled | Tick the box to activate the task. |
Recurrent Task name | Empty | Enter the task name in this field. |
Cron Expression | Empty | Set the periodicity of the task in cron format. You can find hints about cron expressions when you hover the “?“ sign. |
JQL | Empty | Define the scope of the Jira tickets for which the task must run. Use JQL format for this field. You can find hints about the JQL format when you hover the “?“ sign. |
Action type | None | Choose the action to be performed with specific tickets: Add comment to the ticket: This action allows you to create a comment in all tickets of the scope. Delete ticket: This action deletes all tickets of the scope. Hard Cleaning (delete field values): This action clears the values of the required fields in the tickets without deleting the tickets themselves. Send email notification to: This action allows you to create an email associated with the tickets and send it to specific users. Delete attachments: This action deletes attachments in all tickets of the scope. |
Reporting type | None | Set the reporting type if you want to receive the notification about running the task. Send email notification: This type means reports are sent by e-mail. Print to atlassian-jira.log or catalina.out: This type means writing the information to the server log. |
Let’s take a look at the Action type parameter values in detail:
Action Parameter value | Description |
|---|---|
Add comment to the ticket | When you choose this action, you can set the comment text in a Comment field and this text will be displayed in all tickets of the scope. |
Delete ticket | This action permanently deletes required tickets from Jira. |
Hard Cleaning (delete field values) | When you select this action, set fields to be cleared from the drop-down menu (Summary, Description, Text Field (multi-line), Test field, Test text, Root cause, Workaround). Check the Flush issue history box if it’s necessary to clear the ticket history. |
Send email notification to | When you choose this action, you can set the next parameters: Notification grouping: If a user is the author of several tickets, then by default there will be as many notifications sent as there are associated tickets. You can avoid this by the grouping feature. Notifications can be grouped as follows:
Select one of the variants from the drop-down menu. Select notification recipient: Choose one of them from the drop-down menu:
If you want to send notifications to external emails, enter email addresses in the special Emails' field below. Subject: Enter the subject of your message. Message: Enter the text of your message. |
Delete attachments | When you choose this action, you can specify which attachments exactly should be deleted – set the Regular expression for this in the field below. Leave the field empty to find all attachments. |
Click the Save button at the top of the page when all parameters are set, and you’ll see the Dashboard again.
Recurring Tasks action menu
At your Dashboard, you can see the list of created tasks with their overview – name, state, creator, JQL, cron expression, and the last run time. For an enabled task, you will see the status “Enabled“ highlighted in green.
Find the Actions column and click on its button. After that, you will see the Actions menu. Using it, you can:
force the execution of the task by clicking the Run option
navigate to the Edit page
quickly enable or disable the task
see the task history – you will find the last task run date, the result status, details about the performed action and the affected issues
clone the task
delete the task
Use cases
Here are some helpful tips on how to solve common use cases in your everyday life with great ease and speed. The Recurring Task module will help you do that!
Add comment to the ticket
It could be necessary to leave comments in the tickets. For example, you want to send an automatic comment once a month (at 01:00 a.m., on day 1 of every month) to every ticket that belongs to some project, e.g., Test Project, with information like "sensitive data, the ticket will be erased in 4 weeks". To do this, create a Recurring Task with the following parameters:
Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
Enabled | Tick the box |
Recurrent Task name | Set the name which you like |
Cron Expression | 0 0 1 1 * ? |
JQL | project = Testproject |
Action type | Add comment to the ticket |
Comment | Enter the text of your comment |
Reporting type | None |
After the task runs, users will see your text in the comment section at the bottom of the ticket pages.
Send Notification
Use Recurring Tasks when it’s necessary to send notifications associated with tickets.
For example, you want to notify the Project lead about tickets that aren’t assigned to some support manager every day at 6 p.m. Use the following parameters for the task:
Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
Enabled | Tick the box |
Recurrent Task name | Set the name which you like |
Cron Expression | 0 0 18 * * ? |
JQL | project is not empty AND status = Open AND assignee is EMPTY |
Action type | Send Notification |
Select notification recipient | Project lead |
Subject | Enter the subject of your message. |
Message | Enter the text of your message. |
Reporting type | None |
After the task runs, the Project lead will receive this notification if some opened and unassigned tickets are found.
Delete Ticket
If you need to delete tickets, e.g., created more than one year ago, just add the task with the following parameters:
Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
Enabled | Tick the box |
Recurrent Task name | Set the name which you like |
Cron Expression | 0 0 1 1 * ? |
JQL | project is not empty AND created < -360d |
Action type | Delete ticket |
Reporting type | Print to atlassian-jira.log or catalina.out |
The task runs At 01:00 AM, on day 1 of the month, and saves the report to the server log. After this, old tickets will no longer be available in the Jira.
Now, you have an idea of how you can create recurring tasks easily and quickly with Data Protection and Security Toolkit for Jira. If you have any further questions, we will be happy to help you! Just reach out to us.