Create a customer ticket follow up process in JSM Cloud using Automation

Summary

Learn how to create a ticket follow-up process in JSM using the Automation rule feature.

Solution

To setup a follow-up/reminder process for customer tickets that have been in the "Waiting for Customer" status for x number of days, you will need to create multiple rules using automation. It is important to understand that using a single automation rule may not be sufficient to achieve the desired outcome.

Workflow overview

When an automation rule adds a no-response comment, the ticket's Updated field is set to the current date. Because the follow-up timing depends on whether the status changed after the specified date, adding the first reminder comment can prevent the same rule from independently sending the second reminder, as intended. Use separate automation rules and workflow statuses to distinguish the reminder stages.

Use a distinct workflow status for each reminder stage. The first rule identifies tickets that remain in Waiting for Customer; after the first follow-up, transition the issue to 1st follow-up or Resolved. The second rule then identifies tickets that remain in Resolved before adding the second follow-up and transitioning the ticket to Closed.

Here is the configuration for the automation rule to send the 1st reminder/follow-up to the customer when the ticket is in the status 'Waiting for the customer' for 5 days:

Rule 1:

• Use a Scheduled trigger with a suitable execution frequency, such as once per day or more frequently if necessary.

• Enable the JQL option and use:

status = "Waiting for Customer" AND NOT status changed after startOfDay("-5")

• Use Add comment to issue to send the first follow-up.

• Optionally include {{issue.key}} to reference the ticket number or {{issue.SLAName.elapsedTime}} to include elapsed SLA time in milliseconds.

• Use Transition the issue to move the ticket to 1st follow up or Resolved.

Note: If you need to exclude weekends or only count business days, you may need to account for this in your setup using custom fields or additional automation rules.

• Followed by Add comment to issue action - Sending the 1st follow-up.

Note: You can add {{issue.key}} to reference the ticket number in your email comment, or {{issue.SLAName.elapsedTime}} to include the elapsed SLA time in milliseconds.

• Followed by Transition the issue to action to "1st follow up"/"Resolved" status.

And here is the configuration for the automation rule to send the 2nd follow-up to the customer and transition the ticket to "Closed" status when the ticket is in "1st follow-up"/"Resolved" for another 7 days.

After creating Rule 1, manually set a test ticket's status to "Waiting for Customer" and simulate the 5-day condition (for example, temporarily lower the JQL threshold to a few minutes) to confirm the rule fires and moves the ticket to "1st Follow-up" as expected before relying on the full schedule.

Rule 2:

• Use a Scheduled trigger with a frequency of once per day.

• Enable the JQL option and use:

status = "Resolved" AND NOT status changed after startOfDay("-7")

• Use Add comment to issue to send the second follow-up.

• Use Transition the issue to move the ticket to Closed.

• Optionally update the Resolution field.

You can refer to the following links for more information on adding a new status/transition in the workflow:

• Work with issue workflows

• Activate inactive workflow

To learn more about available smart values, refer to the document:

• Smart values in Jira automation

Additionally, after updating JQL queries, test them using sample tickets in a non-production environment to ensure they return the expected results. Check automation logs to verify that conditions match and actions are executed correctly.