Background

Work item watchers are notified both when an approval starts and on every step decision, and one setting covers all of it. In sequential approvals that notifies people who cannot act yet, and the only way to stop it is to silence everything.

What changes

Settings → Notifications (Jira only). "Watcher notifications" becomes two independent events, both on by default:

• An approval is started

• A step is approved, rejected, abstained or voted on

The previous single setting becomes the step decision event, so an upgraded instance keeps the behaviour it had. Both descriptions are rewritten to match what the events actually do.

Approval definition. A new "Watcher notifications" collapsible section, next to "Webhook notifications", with one checkbox: "Notify watchers when an approval is started", on by default. A definition can only turn the event off; leaving it on means the global setting applies. The value is read when the approval is created, so editing a definition does not affect approvals in progress.

Approval step. The per step control moves from a bare toggle into a "Watcher notifications" collapsible section with one checkbox: "Notify watchers when this step is decided", on by default, worded the same for every step type.

Overrides follow their global event. When a global event is off, the matching section is not rendered, on the definition or on the step. Stored values are kept and apply again once the event is turned back on. This is how every other globally switchable option already behaves on the definition form.

Out of scope

• A master switch above the two events: each one is turned off on its own.

• A switch for "an approval is completed or rejected": the last step's decision email is the completion message, and AP-2423 covers it.

Acceptance criteria

1. An upgraded instance notifies watchers exactly as before, with no admin action required.

2. Turning off "An approval is started" globally stops the watcher email at start; approvers still get their "action required" email and step decisions still notify.

3. While the global start event is on, a definition can turn the start notification off, and approvals from that definition follow it. A definition that leaves it on follows the global setting.

4. A step whose checkbox is off sends no watcher notification when that step is decided, even when the step event is enabled globally.

5. With a global event off, the matching section is not shown, the stored value is not lost, and it applies again when the event is turned back on.

6. The descriptions in Settings match the behaviour, including that the start event covers the "approval started" email.