Changing data after migrating sprints

[Olga Tolstova]

Hello!

I am migrating tickets from youtrack to Jira.

Now I have a task to transfer the tickets of a project that uses sprints.

At the moment, we have 517 of them.

Using the api, I can create sprints with similar data in Jira (name, start date. end date) and when migrating tickets, I can specify a structure so that the history of tickets in sprints is preserved. 

But there is a problem: when the sprint status changes to closed, a date is set - complete Date, which corresponds to the current date and time. It is this date that begins to appear as the end date of the sprint. This is correct and logical.

But for our situation, when we need to migrate already completed sprints, this behavior is not suitable. All our sprints will end on the date when we migrate and close them.

In fact, this problem can be solved with a single change to the database table specifically for our copied sprints.

Therefore, the question arises: Is it possible to update the data in the table containing information about the sprints once and equate the CompleteDate to the end date of the sprint?

Maybe there's some other solution that I'm not aware of.

[Chitra Nagdeo · Accepted solution]

Hey @Olga Tolstova ,

Welcome to Atlassian community!

I understand the unique scenario here, you want to migrate the completed sprint and while performing the same, the completed date will be set as the current date and time when the Sprint was actually completed and it cannot be updated through UI or any API.

You are correct: when you close a sprint in Jira (via UI or API), the completeDate is always set to the current date/time, not the historical end date you want to preserve. This is a well-known limitation and a common pain point for teams migrating from other tools like YouTrack, as it distorts historical reporting and burndown charts.

Key facts:

• Jira does not allow you to set or backdate thecompleteDate of a sprint via the REST API, UI, or Jira CLI. The field is system-managed and always reflects the actual time the sprint was closed in Jira.

• This limitation is confirmed JSWCLOUD-11114. There was a long-standing feature request to allow editing the sprint completion date, but it is not available in Jira cloud.

• Workarounds like setting the sprint's end date do not affect the completeDate used in reports and Advanced Roadmaps. The only way to have the correct completeDate is to close the sprint on the desired date, which is not feasible for historical migrations.

What can you do?

• There is no supported way to set historical sprint completion dates in Jira Cloud. Even third-party tools and migration scripts cannot override this field due to API restrictions.

• Some organizations on Jira Data Center (self-hosted) have resorted to direct database edits, but this is not possible or supported on Jira Cloud.

• For reporting, you may need to rely on the sprint's planned end date or maintain a separate record of the original sprint dates outside Jira.

Summary:
You cannot set the completeDate of a sprint to a historical value during migration to Jira Cloud. All migrated sprints you close will show the migration date as their completion date, and there is no workaround via API, UI, or CLI.

If you need to preserve accurate historical reporting, you may want to document this limitation for your stakeholders.

Regards

Chitra Nagdeo