The Predecessor Card is Updated Business rule will trigger a predefined action (move, update, or copy some of the card properties) whenever a predecessor card is updated.
A typical example would be to update a successor card if the updated predecessor card update matches certain filters.
1. How to Create the Rule?
Only users with the "Account Owner" or "Manage Business Rules" roles can create business rules.
To configure the business rule, please go to the Administration panel at the top right corner of your screen, open the Business rule tab, and select the "Predecessor Card is Updated" rule option.
Note: If there is a set of defined rules to your account → use the Add new rule button at the upper right side of the panel.
2. How to Set Up and Enable the Rule?
The "Predecessor Card is Updated" configuration panel has the following fields and properties :
- Name — give a name of the rule to distinguish it.
- Description — provide a description of the rule behavior in the system.
Note: When a business rule is created, it will get a rule ID and you will be able to see it in the Business rule panel under the name and description sections. You can specify the board name in the rule name in order to easily distinguish rules configured for each of your boards.
- Share with — this option allows you to share the rule with other users in the system so that they can edit/disable/enable the rule.
Every business rule has three main control settings: When; And; Then. It is a sort of "point-and-click" programming language with which you can automate any process. The way it works is based on the programming conditional statement “if this, then that.”
Click on the Save button in the lower right corner of the window to save/enable the rule.
WHEN
"Predecessor Card is Updated" is the event that will trigger an action.
Note: "Subtask status" refers to any change in the subtask, including marking it as completed/not completed, changing the deadline, updating the name, or adding/deleting the subtask.
AND
Define the filters and select the conditions under which the actions should be triggered.
-
The "Board is” filter is а mandatory field for this rule.
Note: You can use "or" to add extra boards and optimize the scope of the rule. Use the delete sign to remove a board. - Use "Add new property" to configure the automation further. Select a regular or custom field from the panel (for example, 'tag is' and choose a tag).
THEN
- If you want to move the successor card, click choose where to move. Define the board and specify the column/lane (for example: Done) where the system will move the successor card. You can select a cell or an entire column by clicking on the column's name from the board minimap.
- You can update the successor card with a predefined action when an update in the predecessor triggers it.
- You can copy card fields from the predecessor card onto the successor card by setting up which fields should be copied when triggered by an update.
Note: the predecessor card must be in the 'Done' section of the board in order for the successor card to be moved to the 'In Progress' section.
As a result, whenever a predecessor card is updated → the successor card will be automatically moved, updated, and depending on your configuration, some of the card properties can be copied to the successor card.
Please, read more about predecessor/successor card links and how to create them.
3. Using the 'Predecessor Card is Updated' Rule to Copy Card Fields Into the Successor Cards
This rule can be used to copy card fields (both regular and custom* fields) between cards. There is a configuration in the Then section that can be set up so that you can copy the values of the selected fields from the predecessor to the successor.
*Note for custom fields: In some cases, the copy operation between two cards on different boards might fail. This can happen if:
- a custom field is not enabled on the target board
- a custom field has an empty value on the trigger card but has an enforced value on the target card
- the custom field on the target card already has a value and it is immutable
- a custom field that has different min/max values on the two boards
- a custom field that has values that must be unique
- a custom field value that is not one of the allowed values on the target card
Important: For any of the above cases, the whole copy operation would fail which would also cause any other regular card fields, configured in the rule, to not be copied.
You can learn more about the topic in the dedicated article about copying card properties between linked cards.
Note: If a rule is triggered to copy a value from a predecessor to a successor card whenever a new successor card is added, the rule will execute only for the newly created successor card.