Custom Business Rules for automatic actions

Custom rules allow you to manipulate the default business logic of Targetprocess. For instance it is possible to automate some actions. The system would perform selected actions automatically whenever needed instead of you making them manually again and again. It could be efficient time saver for you. As a result you focus on the important things that really matter.

Two major ways to configure automatic actions in Targetprocess are predefined Custom Business Rules and Webhooks and REST API chains. Some minor solutions that cover particular useful cases are described in this article below as well.

Predefined Custom Business Rules

We have several predefined Business Rules (Custom Rules) available in Targetprocess. They help to automate a number of actions (for example, start a User Story when one of its Tasks have been started). So far all the rules are pretty simple and work without any cases. You just toggle them on/off using special control buttons. When an action is activated, it is applied to all data in your account in any portfolio (project) and to any user.

Here are examples of rules that can be activated:

• Close a User Story when all its Tasks are done; close a Bug's User Story if all its Bugs and Tasks are closed; close a Task's User Story if all its Tasks and Bugs are closed
• Start a User Story when a Task has been started; start a Feature when a User Story has been started
• Assign a Task to the Person who started it
• Assign the people working on a User Story to a newly created Task
• Assign a User Story's Feature to a Bug
• Assign a Feature's Portfolio (Project) to a User Story
• Assign the Feature's / User Story's Team to all its children; assign a Portfolio's (Project's) Team to a User Story
• Move a Feature to “Planned” state when its Release is set; move a User Story to “Planned” state when its Planned Start Date is set
• Reschedule Features, User Stories and Bugs in a Release; reschedule User Stories and Bugs in an Iteration
• Close a Request when all related outbound or inbound entities are closed
• Try to preserve User Story Effort equal to sum of Tasks Effort
• Close Tasks when User Story is closed
• Close User Story / Task / Bug as Done if time remaining is 0

More details on these rules are described in dedicated article: Custom Rules

Configure Automatic Actions via Webhooks and REST API chains

You may want to automate an action which is not listed as a business rule, like the assignment of a default user to a newly created item or creation of a default User Story set for a new Feature. Some of these actions can be automated using the Webhooks Plugin.

The Webhooks Plugin listens to data modification events (Create, Update, Delete) in Targetprocess. When some event occurs, the plugin receives a signal and sends a piece of custom information to some external service. Key point here is that we can send information back to Targetprocess itself. As a result automatic actions are performed by Targetprocess Webhooks and REST API chain.

Here are examples what actions can be automated:

• Set a default field value (e.g. Description, Business Value, etc.) for newly created entities (e.g. User Stories, Bugs)
• Create a set of default child entities (e.g. Tasks, User Stories) when a parent entity (e.g. User Story, Feature) is created
• Create related entities (e.g. Bugs) from incoming Requests
• Create project structure (list of Features or User Stories) depending on the selected template
• Assign an entity (e.g. User Story or Bug) to the user who created it or moved to some state (e.g. In Testing)
• Assign a default user(s) (e.g. QA Engineers or Support Agents) to a newly created entities (e.g. Bugs or Requests)
• Assign a default requester to newly created Requests
• Assign a Team to a newly created entity or to an entity that is moved to some state
• Add user as a follower upon assignment
• Close parent entity (e.g. Feature) when all its child entities (e.g. Bugs and User Stories) are closed
• Set PlannedEndDate depending on the Custom Field value

Find instructions for setting up this automation on our Developers portal.

Mashups and Plugins

The Entity Templates Mashup adds the option to set a default description, which is automatically applied when a new entity is created.

Task / Test Case Templates mashup and Task Creator plugin help to prepopulate a User Story with Tasks or Test Cases based on a template.

Automatic Assignments in Workflow Settings (Deprecated)

Starting with v3.11.0 the Settings in Targetprocess were finally redesigned. It is now not possible to configure automatic assignments of users with selected roles in Process Workflow settings. All existing automatic assignment rules are still active, but it is not possible to make changes to these settings anymore. Configure Webhooks and REST API control chain for the same purpose in newer versions.