Upcoming rollback of Jira connector sprint assignment logic

Last updated: September 3, 2024 to include the planned release of a hotfix for on-premise environments.

On Tuesday, September 3, 2024, we are planning to begin rolling back a previously-delivered Jira connector enhancement in order to prevent unintended changes to story and defect sprint assignments in Jira.

Because a specific combination of settings and actions in Jira Align can cause the unintended sprint changes to occur, you are unlikely to encounter this scenario. Review this announcement to understand if you may be affected and the actions you can take to prevent unintended changes.

• Why we're rolling back
• Conditions that cause unintended sprint changes
• Root cause
• Actions we're taking
• Actions you can take
• On-premise environments

Why we’re rolling back

Multiple stories and/or defects in Jira can be moved from their current sprint assignment to the backlog unexpectedly after performing steps in Jira Align to correct sprint misalignments.

Conditions that cause unintended sprint changes

This issue only occurs when the following settings are enabled and specific actions are performed:

Settings

From the Jira Setup tab of the Jira settings page:

• Allow story sync from Jira Align to Jira is set to Bidirectional sync
  AND/OR
• Allow defect sync from Jira Align to Jira is set to Bidirectional sync
  
  
  

Actions

To correct sprint misalignments between Jira Align and Jira, users resync sprints from Jira through these actions:

1. Delete the misaligned sprints from Jira Align.
2. Force a sync between Jira and Jira Align inside connector settings by doing one of the following:
   1. Run a JQL query from the Jira Integration tab of the Jira settings page.
   2. Select the Resync Future Sprints or Sync Board Now buttons from the Jira Sprints tab of the Jira management page.

Root cause

In version 11.1.0, we delivered suggestion JIRAALIGN-4006 by making a change to how sprint assignments are matched through the Jira connector. When a story or defect in Jira Align is moved from a sprint to the unassigned backlog, the connector moves the matching issue in Jira from its sprint to the backlog.

Prior to this change, when sprints are deleted in Jira Align as part of correcting sprint misalignment, any stories and defects assigned to the sprint are moved to the unassigned backlog. However, the update of the story or defect’s sprint assignment would not sync over to Jira.

Following this change, when sprints are deleted in Jira Align and stories/defects assigned to the sprint are moved to the unassigned backlog, the behavior is matched in Jira. Synced issues are moved out of the Jira sprint.

Actions we’re taking

The change responsible for this unintended behavior was released through a system toggle. For environments on the bundled release track running 11.2.X versions, we are planning to disable the toggle through a hotfix release on Tuesday, September 3, 2024. For environments on the continuous release track running 11.3.X versions, the toggle will be disabled in a bug fix release planned for Friday, September 6, 2024. These releases will return the connector’s behavior to how it worked prior to version 11.1.0

In a future release, we will re-introduce the sprint synchronization changes with a way to account for deleting sprints in Jira Align.

Actions you can take

If you do not regularly delete sprints from Jira Align, or don’t sync stories/defects bidirectionally, no action is required.

If you need to delete Jira Align sprints as part of correcting sprint misalignments, please wait until the planned rollback is completed. Should you need to delete Jira Align sprints prior to this time, contact Atlassian Support to have the system toggle for JIRAALIGN-4006 manually disabled.

On-premise environments

Update: We plan to deploy a hotfix version of Jira Align 11.2.1 on-premise, which will be available for download on Wednesday, September 4, 2024. This version will disable the toggle responsible for the connector logic change.

If you have an on-premise Jira Align environment and may be affected by the error conditions, you can review the steps in the Actions you can take section for options prior to the hotfix or version 11.3.X.

The rollback of the connector logic change will also be included in on-premise version 11.3.1, which is scheduled to be available for download on September 25, 2024.