I’m working with a company-managed scrum project in Jira and need to implement an approval system for our development workflow. Basically, I want to require approval whenever someone tries to move a task from one status to another, like when moving from “To Do” to “In Progress” or from “In Progress” to “Done”.
I also need these approvals to be tracked and logged so we can see who approved what and when. This is important for our compliance requirements.
I’ve been searching for guides or documentation on how to configure this kind of approval workflow in Jira but haven’t found clear instructions yet. Has anyone successfully implemented something similar? What’s the best approach to set this up in a company-managed project?
Any step-by-step guidance would be really helpful since I’m still learning how to configure Jira workflows properly.
Honestly, the easiest approach I’ve found is combining automation rules with custom fields for approval status. Create a dropdown field called “approval required” and set up automation to move issues automatically when someone updates that field. Configure watchers to get notified when approval’s needed - Jira tracks all field changes in the activity log anyway, so your compliance team gets their audit trail.
I had the same requirement last year and got it working with custom workflow conditions and validators - no marketplace apps needed. I modified the workflow scheme to add approval transitions that check for specific user roles or groups. Set up post functions to auto-assign issues to approvers and used field configurations to make approval fields mandatory. The trick is using Jira’s built-in workflow editor to add validators that block unauthorized transitions. All workflow transitions get logged in the issue history automatically, so you’ve got your audit trail for compliance. You’ll need admin permissions to set it up, but once it’s configured, it runs smoothly and won’t mess with your existing scrum board or team workflow.
To set up an approval workflow in a company-managed scrum project in Jira, start by utilizing the Atlassian approval add-on from the Marketplace. Incorporate approval steps as intermediate statuses, such as ‘Pending Approval - Progress’, between your main transitions. This setup ensures that each key status change requires approval, and the add-on will automatically log important details like timestamps and approver identities, fulfilling compliance needs. Additionally, configuring notifications for approvers is crucial to prevent bottlenecks. It’s also wise to restrict permissions to ensure that only designated personnel can authorize transitions. This approach may take some time to refine, but once established, it provides a reliable workflow.