Create a burndown chart for an epic whose stories are in the backlog

[william.taylor]

We generate backlog Jira stories for security requirements.  Developers rarely move them into sprints because most security requirements require interaction with other teams whose SLA doesn't fit the developer sprint.

It would be helpful to get a burndown-like report for non-sprint Epics showing # in To Do, Open, In Progress, Done, assigned / not assigned, number of comments, most recent comment, and whatever else might give an idea whether there is activity on these non-sprint stories. 

Such stories can remain hidden in the backlog until close to the time security approval is needed for deployment.  Stories discovered late in the game can cause a great deal of heartburn.  Late-cycle code re-work may invalidate a pen test, for example.

This non-sprint progress report would also be helpful for stories that span multiple sprints.

[Zane eazyBI Support]

Hi @william_taylor

If you do not mind using 3rd party apps, you can use eazyBI for Jira to analyze the flow of an issue sub-set.

Suppose you have some means of categorizing security issues, for example, component, label, team, or some custom field. In that case, you can use that field as a filter in the ready-to-use eazyBI reports.

Here are links to a few of the report templates:

• For example, to see a flow of past statuses over time: https://eazybi.com/accounts/1000/cubes/Issues/reports/50046-unresolved-issues-by-statuses-over-time
• How old are unresolved issues to catch forgotten issues: https://eazybi.com/accounts/1000/cubes/Issues/reports/50398-unresolved-issues-by-age-interval-and-priority
• Or trend of newly created and resolved security issues: https://eazybi.com/accounts/1000/cubes/Issues/reports/80614-created-vs-resolved-issues-over-time.
• Or how many critical issues are still on To Do list: https://eazybi.com/accounts/1000/cubes/Issues/reports/499768-risk-chart-by-status-and-priority

Best,
Zane / support@eazyBI.com

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

There's no way to do this.   

A burndown, by definition, is commitment vs delivery for a sprint.  Without the sprint, there's no frame of reference for it.

There's nothing wrong with having non-sprint issues, but you can't expect to do sprint activity or reporting on them!

[william.taylor]

I totally get that - your documentation is clear.  I should have probably either put "burndown" in quotes OR said "burndown equivalent" or some such, sorry.

I need a way to report on tasks in an Epic when all stories are in the backlog.  Jira and I are acquaintances, we aren't yet friends, so I may have overlooked something I can easily do with queries and reporting, but I solicit suggestions.

Developers seldom put security stories into a sprint because completion USUALLY either spans several sprints, which is a PAIN in Jira, or depends on other groups whose SLAs don't match the developer sprint.  So I need a way to get a report of story state - to do, done, in progress, whatever - assignee, and a total count of story state in a report.

I suspect that's possible, I just don't know how.

[william.taylor]

Would that tool allow membership in a specified epic to select stories?  we can't really specify much else that would be specific because our security epic stories are processed by dev teams which have incompatible conventions for labeling and otherwise identifying their stories.

[Zane eazyBI Support]

@william_taylor was that questions regarding the eazyBI app?

Yes, you can create a burndown chart for an epic and look at results over time or by sprints (if any).

Here are several examples of how to follow Epic progress; take a look at "Story points burn-up in epic over time": https://eazybi.com/accounts/1000/dashboards/16272-agile

[william.taylor]

Thank you very much.  I will poke at this but, since Jira and I are but acquaintances - we are not yet friends - I may get back to you with more questions.  

[william.taylor]

I passed your note to my team's JIra expert.  She reports that she cant find information how to request the plug in.  Can yo tell us how?

Jira is a vast and complex ecosystem with interlocking food chains...

[Zane eazyBI Support]

The Atlassian ecosystem is quite big =)

Here is instruction on how you can install eazyBI for the Jira app on Jira Cloud: https://docs.eazybi.com/eazybijira/set-up-and-administer/set-up-and-administer-for-jira-cloud/installation-in-jira-cloud.

And here are instructions on how to do this on Jira Server: https://docs.eazybi.com/eazybijira/set-up-and-administer/set-up-and-administer-for-jira-server/installation-and-setup#Installationandsetup-Installation.