Set Jira due dates with timer events

Never miss a deadline again with the aid of timeout boundary events!

Learn how to integrate these powerful triggers into your Flower process, transforming Jira into a proactive, deadline-meeting machine. that makes your team always stays ahead of the clock.

Timer Boundary Event

Drag & drop timer events in BPMN

Timer events can be used to set a due date on a Jira ticket in a graphically comprehensible way. In other words, we always use them in conjunction with a task as boundary events. To do this, simply drag the event symbol onto the desired activity in your process diagram, as shown in the graphic. You can then select the event type using the wrench icon: Timer boundary event (interupting or non-interupting).

Timers in action

If the process execution now reaches an activity that contains a timer boundary event, the issue property "flowerTimer" and the field "due date" are set on the Jira task, whereby the former can no longer be changed. Both values can be used in Jira search (JQL (opens in a new tab)), e.g. to create a board that monitors all escalated tasks.

Resolution IS EMPTY AND duedate >= -7d
Resolution IS EMPTY AND flowerTimer < now()

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The Flower BPM Engine starts the timeout once a day at 0:00 UTC for each element in the result set from the following query: flowerType = Activity AND Resolution IS EMPTY AND flowerTimer <= endOfDay()

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The due date can only be set in Jira if the field is on the edit screen. In most cases, this is the default setting. Ask your Jira administrator to check this if necessary.

Setting the clock: Defining timers by providing a date or duration

Timers must be defined by providing either a time date, a time duration (cycle time durations are not supported in Flower):

Time date

A specific point in time defined as ISO 8601 combined date and time representation. It must contain timezone information, either Z for UTC or a zone offset. Optionally, it can contain a zone id.

2019-10-01T12:00:00Z - UTC time
2019-10-02T08:09:40+02:00 - UTC plus two hours zone offset
2019-10-02T08:09:40+02:00[Europe/Berlin] - UTC plus two hours zone offset at Berlin

Time duration

A duration is defined as a ISO 8601 durations format (opens in a new tab), which defines the amount of intervening time in a time interval and are represented by the format P(n)Y(n)M(n)DT(n)H(n)M(n)S. Note that the n is replaced by the value for each of the date and time elements that follow the n.

The capital letters P, Y, M, W, D, T, H, M, and S are designators for each of the date and time elements and are not replaced, but can be omitted.

P is the duration designator (for period) placed at the start of the duration representation.
Y is the year designator that follows the value for the number of years.
M is the month designator that follows the value for the number of months.
W is the week designator that follows the value for the number of weeks.
D is the day designator that follows the value for the number of days.
T is the time designator that precedes the time components of the representation.
H is the hour designator that follows the value for the number of hours.
M is the minute designator that follows the value for the number of minutes.
S is the second designator that follows the value for the number of seconds.

Examples:

P14D - 14 days
P14DT1H30M - 14 days, 1 hour and 30 minutes
P3Y6M4D - 3 years, 6 months, 4 days

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Although durations can be expressed to the second, only a date can be set as the due date in Jira. Times shorter than one day trigger the timeout immediately.

The impact of interrupting vs. non-interrupting Timer Events

There are two different types of timer event that influence the behaviour of the process execution on the associated task. You can determine whether the timeout should interrupt the regular process flow (interupting) or not (non-interupting).

Interupting

In the case of an interrupting timeout, the process is not continued if the task is resolved at some point after the due date. This makes sense if the process is only to be executed in the escalation swimlane after the timeout.

Non-interupting

Whereas the non-interrupting timeout splits the process execution and continues to follow both flows. For example, if the escalation swimlane intervenes communicatively in the process, but then the original task continues to be processed regularly.

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It is also possible to simply set a non-interupting timer event on a task without continuing the process from there (see Regular Second Task in the graphic). This simply sets a due date on the issue, which must then be handled directly in Jira.