Can I add a custom field to a dashboard?

[Dustin Strange]

We have a custom field added to our tasks in Jira for visibility, just so certain employees are aware of the existence of said task.  How can I essentially create a dashboard that pulls in that field so I can have a dashboard of issues where I have visibility only?  Thanks! 

[Jack Brickey]

if you are talking about a Jira dashboard then what gadget are you considering for this? Jira Filter or something else. For sure you can associate a custom field into a dashboard gadget. How that "displays" depends on the gadget. If you are using the Jira Filter then just add the field in the edit screen and it will show as a column. If maybe you are using the 2-dimensional gadget and set your x or y axis to be the custom field then it will display the count of issues for each value of the custom field.

Note, I don't quite understand the notion of how/why the custom field is being used to ensure "certain employees are aware of the existence of said task". Understanding this might change my suggestion/answer.

[Dustin Strange]

Basically I have someone assigned to a task as the assignee and then we have a custom field that is "visibility".  It can be assigned to my subordinate and then as their manager I am tagged in it for visibility only (as an FYI).  We want to be able to have a way to show me what I am specifically tagged on for the visibility field only.  I'm sure I can throw a jira filter on there but I'm struggling to make that happen - nothing fancy, just ignorance and inexperience on my part :) 

[Jack Brickey]

You certainly can add the visibility field to your gadget or you could create a unique filter --> visibility = currentuser(), and save that filter and then setup a unique gadget, e.g. Filter list for that filter. Then whoever is logged in will see the issues they are 'watching'....which brings me to why not do it this way response...

Jira has the Watcher field that seems to be a good fit for your requirements. It seems that Visibility is unnecessary. If you do use Watcher then there is a gadget purpose built for this - "Watched issues".

[Dustin Strange]

My understanding (and use) of the watcher field may be incorrect, but isn't that something that the person who would watch needs to initiate?  That's the problem...I don't get notified that I need to be aware of the task (unless someone comments and tags me, which seems sloppy). 

[Jack Brickey]

Ability to manage Watchers is a permission. For most of my projects I have this wide open so anyone in the project can add others as watchers. The only advantage of using a custom field as you are doing is that you can circumvent the notifications that generally, i.e. when an issue is updated Watchers generally are notified via email. Using a your field that would not occurs. But if you want to be notified, and seems maybe you do, then Watchers is the way to go - IMO.

Cheers!

[Adria Alonso]

Hello,

I'm not sure i'm following you, but you can create filters for the dashboards and filter by using that custom field or any other needs.

Thanks