I'd like to have a simple numerical field on my dashboard that shows how long an issue has been open

[Paul Warkentin]

It seems I can only find the answer of 'subscribe to an app', is there really no way for basic Jira to provide this simple data point? I can export the data to Excel and instantly have the info, I am shocked that so far I cannot easily produce a basic metric data point like this in Jira, doesn't seem right - I am not asking for some way out there metric.

[Danut M _StonikByte_]

Hi @Paul Warkentin,

Unfortunately, this is not easy to do in Jira. 

An useful gadget in this case would be the WIP Aging Chart gadget offer by our Great Gadgets app. 

This gadget displays the issues from a board/filter/JQL by their age (time in that status or in board column, or time since creation, etc).  If you hove an issue in the plot chart, you will see the number you are looking for. 

It let's you set a threshold, so you can easily identify the ones who stay for too long (the ones in red). 

You could start with a 1-month of free trial. The app offers many other useful gadgets, so it might be worth it.

See also this article:

https://community.atlassian.com/t5/App-Central/An-effective-dashboard-for-Service-Desk-and-Customer-Support/ba-p/2360369

Hope this helps.

Danut.

[Paul Warkentin]

Thank you, I'll check out your app.

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello @Paul Warkentin 

I can export the data to Excel and instantly have the info

Do you mean that when you export the issue data you see a field pre-filled with the information about how long the issue has been open? Or do you do data manipulation in Excel to get that information?

As far as I know, for Software projects there is not a native calculation stored in a field in each issue for how long that issue has been open. This is a calculation that would have to be done on demand, at the moment the issue is accessed, and the value would be constantly changing.

You could create a custom field, periodically calculate that time period, and fill the data in for the issues with Automation Rules. However, there are limits on how many issues an Automation Rule can process. There are also limitations on how many Automation Rule executions are allowed per month. Depending on how many open issues exist in your environment, use of Automation Rules might not meet your needs for this.

[Paul Warkentin]

Thanks, that is what I suspected. My goal was to be able to display a field on a dashboard filtered for currently open issues that shows the number of days an issue has been open (obviously today's date-open date). It is a nice, simple management metric that is kind of basic in my mind as a dashboard field. I had assumed I could create a custom calculated field and plop it in there, but so far it seems that is not an option.

My reference to Excel was simply that I could export the project's filtered issues and do this sort of field in Excel easily, but that would defeat the purpose of managing via Jira.

thanks again.

Paul

[Trudy Claspill]

Unfortunately Jira does not provide a native "calculated field" custom field type, so you won't be able to set up a "calculated field" custom field and plug in the calculation to happen on demand. Calculated/Scripted fields require a third party app.

Depending on how often you want to generate the data, and to whom you want to make it available, rather than calculating and storing the value in a custom field you could consider using a scheduled automation rule to generate the information using and on-the-fly calculation, and send the information to specified individuals in an email.