Project Import completed with error: Unable to create issue due to Field Required Validator on target workflow

Platform Notice: Data Center Only - This article only applies to Atlassian products on the Data Center platform.

Note that this KB was created for the Data Center version of the product. Data Center KBs for non-Data-Center-specific features may also work for Server versions of the product, however they have not been tested. Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.

*Except Fisheye and Crucible

Summary

Problem

Project Import completes with error about 1 or more issues that cannot be created:

The following appears in the atlassian-jira.log

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 2015-12-09 18:22:58,376 ProjectImport: CreateIssues-1 ERROR admin 1102x963x1 1kx0y8o 127.0.0.1 /secure/admin/ProjectImportSummary.jspa [jira.imports.project.DefaultProjectImportPersister] Unable to create issue with key 'NT-1'. com.atlassian.jira.external.ExternalException: Unable to create issue: test1 at com.atlassian.jira.external.ExternalUtils.createIssue(ExternalUtils.java:246) at com.atlassian.jira.imports.project.DefaultProjectImportPersister.createIssue(DefaultProjectImportPersister.java:147) at com.atlassian.jira.imports.project.handler.IssuePersisterHandler$1.run(IssuePersisterHandler.java:78) at com.atlassian.jira.util.concurrent.BoundedExecutor$1.run(BoundedExecutor.java:58) at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142) at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617) at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745) Caused by: com.atlassian.jira.exception.CreateException: com.atlassian.jira.workflow.WorkflowException: An unknown exception occured executing Validator com.atlassian.jira.workflow.SkippableValidator@694adb88: root cause: java.lang.NullPointerException ... at com.opensymphony.workflow.AbstractWorkflow.verifyInputs(AbstractWorkflow.java:1523) at com.opensymphony.workflow.AbstractWorkflow.transitionWorkflow(AbstractWorkflow.java:1203) at com.opensymphony.workflow.AbstractWorkflow.initialize(AbstractWorkflow.java:615) at com.atlassian.jira.workflow.OSWorkflowManager.createIssue(OSWorkflowManager.java:886) ... 8 more at com.googlecode.jsu.workflow.validator.FieldsRequiredValidator.validate(FieldsRequiredValidator.java:123)

Solution

Some workflow validator is configured for the Create Issue transition on the target workflow e.g. Fields Required Validator from JIRA Suites Utilities Plugin.

Workaround

Edit the relevant workflow on the target instance before import, and remove the validators (i.e. if the requirements imposed by this validator are no longer actually required; or if it is more important to import the data as-is than to enforce constraints on the data).

Resolution

Ensure that all requirements imposed by the Workflow Validators on target instance are met. e.g. If you have a Fields Required validator on Create Issue transition of target workflow that makes Assignee field required, then you should make sure that all the matching issues being imported (for the relevant project and issue type) have assignee field set.

Updated on April 2, 2025

Still need help?

The Atlassian Community is here for you.