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Dorota Popowska
Dorota Popowska

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Speed up your Jira templates with dynamic placeholders – end-user-friendly smart values

#jira #software #management

If you’ve ever worked with reusable Jira templates, you probably know this feeling:
You clone the template…
Everything seems fine…
And then you realize you have to update the same information across 10+ issues:

  • names
  • emails
  • URLs
  • contact details
  • contract dates
  • environment info
  • meeting dates
  • go-live details

…and suddenly you're copy-pasting the same values over and over again.

It’s repetitive.
It’s time-consuming.
And it defeats the whole idea of using templates in the first place.

In a previous article, I wrote about building reusable Jira templates:
👉 How to create reusable Jira templates for cross-department workflows

Now let’s take it one step further — and get rid of the repetitive parts entirely.

This is where dynamic placeholders come in.

⭐ What are dynamic placeholders?

If you’ve used Jira Automation, you’ve probably used smart values — things like:

{{issue.summary}}
{{issue.assignee.displayName}}
{{now.plusDays(5)}}
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But smart values only work when the data already exists in Jira.

Dynamic placeholders solve a different problem:

👉 What if you want smart-value-like variables in templates that don’t exist yet?

Something that lets you write:

{{NewHireName}}
{{ClientName}}
{{GoLiveDate}}
{{SPOCEmail}}
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…and decide the real values at clone time, only for this one cloning operation.

That’s exactly what dynamic placeholders do.

They’re available in Clone Expert for Jira, and they behave like customizable variables embedded directly inside your template.

⭐ How dynamic placeholders work

You add placeholders (e.g., {{ClientName}}) into:

  • summaries
  • descriptions
  • checklists
  • subtasks
  • custom text fields

Clone Expert automatically scans all placeholders during cloning.

In the cloning preview panel, you get a clean form that asks you to fill in the values.

When you confirm cloning, placeholders are replaced everywhere, instantly and consistently.

No more manual rewriting.
No more “Oops, I forgot to update it in Task 7.”
No more human error.

⭐ Why placeholders are useful

Teams commonly need to repeat contextual data across multiple tasks:

  • new hire info
  • client contacts
  • project managers
  • environment URLs
  • API keys
  • contract start/end dates
  • kickoff dates
  • roles and responsibilities
  • SLA parameters

With placeholders:

  • you set the value once
  • it appears everywhere
  • it stays consistent
  • you never rewrite the same info twice

It’s basically “smart values for templates,” controlled by end users.

⭐ Example 1: New Hire Onboarding

Let’s start with the classic example — onboarding.

Every onboarding process repeats the same bits of data:

  • new hire’s name
  • private email
  • hiring date
  • manager’s name
  • buddy/mentor
  • training dates

Using placeholders, your template might look like this:

Epic
[TEMPLATE] {{NewHireName}} – Hiring & Onboarding
Tasks
[TEMPLATE] {{NewHireName}} Define agreement details
[TEMPLATE] {{NewHireName}} Medical checks
[TEMPLATE] {{NewHireName}} Prepare employment contract
[TEMPLATE] {{NewHireName}} Send documents for signature

[TEMPLATE] {{NewHireName}} Announce new hire
[TEMPLATE] {{NewHireName}} Assign buddy

Descriptions with multiple placeholders

Prepared documents must be sent to {{NewHireName}} ({{NewHirePrivateEmail}})
at least 1 week before {{HiringDate}}.
Notify {{ManagerName}} once the package is delivered.

During cloning, you fill in:
NewHireName → John Doe
NewHirePrivateEmail → john.doe@example.com
HiringDate → 2025-03-01
ManagerName → Sarah Johnson

All issues become instantly personalized.
No manual editing required.

⭐ Example 2: New Client Implementation

Client onboarding/implementation is even more complex.

It usually requires:

  • contacts
  • environment URLs
  • licenses
  • API keys
  • go-live dates
  • training scope
  • documentation URLs
  • integrations
  • SLAs

This is where placeholders really shine.

Useful placeholders
Contact details:
{{SPOCName}}
{{SPOCEmail}}
{{SPOCPhone}}
{{SMEName}}
{{SMEEmail}}
{{SMEPhone}}

Contract & documentation:
{{documentationURL}}
{{contractStart}}
{{contractEnd}}

Client metadata:
{{ClientName}}
{{ClientShortName}}
{{ClientIndustry}}
{{ClientLocation}}
{{ClientSize}}

Environment & project:
{{EnvironmentURL}}
{{APIKey}}
{{LicenseKey}}
{{GoLiveDate}}
{{KickoffDate}}
{{ProjectName}}
{{ImplementationPhase}}
{{TrainingScope}}

⭐ Example template for Client Implementation

Epic
[TEMPLATE] {{ClientName}} – New Client Implementation

  1. Kickoff & Alignment: [TEMPLATE] {{ClientName}} Kickoff meeting preparation
    Subtasks:
    Prepare agenda
    Send materials to {{SPOCName}} ({{SPOCEmail}})
    Confirm attendance for {{KickoffDate}}

  2. Access & Environment Setup: [TEMPLATE] {{ClientName}} Environment provisioning
    Subtasks:
    Provision instance at {{EnvironmentURL}}
    Set access for {{SPOCName}}
    Generate API key: {{APIKey}}
    Validate license: {{LicenseKey}}

  3. Requirements & Configuration: [TEMPLATE] {{ClientName}} Requirements gathering
    Subtasks:
    Review workflows for {{ClientIndustry}}
    Confirm integrations: {{Integration_CRM}}, {{Integration_ERP}}
    Prepare config draft for {{SMEName}}

  4. Data Migration: [TEMPLATE] {{ClientName}} Data migration preparation
    Subtasks:
    Validate datasets
    Map fields
    Plan migration before {{GoLiveDate}}

  5. Training: [TEMPLATE] {{ClientName}} Training sessions
    Subtasks:
    Prepare materials for {{TrainingScope}}
    Schedule training with {{SPOCName}} and {{SMEName}}
    Create documentation space: {{documentationURL}}

  6. Go-Live Validation: [TEMPLATE] {{ClientName}} Final go-live review
    Subtasks:
    Confirm readiness
    Validate integrations
    Match support tier: {{SupportTier}}
    Official go-live on {{GoLiveDate}}

  7. Post-Go-Live Support: [TEMPLATE] {{ClientName}} Hypercare
    Subtasks:
    Monitor usage
    Review SLAs ({{SLAResponseTime}}, {{SLAResolutionTime}})
    Weekly sync with {{SMEName}}
    Document findings in {{documentationURL}}

⭐ Why this approach works so well

Dynamic placeholders turn static Jira templates into flexible, adaptive blueprints.

They help teams:

  • avoid manual rewriting
  • prevent human error
  • standardize cross-department processes
  • speed up onboarding & implementation
  • personalize workflows in seconds
  • empower non-technical end-users

Once you start using placeholders, it’s almost impossible to go back.

⭐ Want to explore this further?

Dynamic placeholders are part of Clone Expert for Jira, the templating & cloning app that many teams use to standardize large workflows.

You can check it out here:

👉Clone Expert for Jira Templates, Epics and Issues | Atlassian Marketplace
👉Getting Started with Clone Expert for Jira | Quick Setup & Guide
👉Clone Expert for Jira – Clone epics & work items (issues)
👉Calendar to book demo

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