Time tacking

[Robert McCool]

How would you set it up so that when an issue is moved to "pending" status that the timer automatically starts and have the timer automatically stop when the issue is moved to "done" status. Then display the difference in another field so that you can see how long an issue takes to complete from the time it's started to the time it is completed?

[Robert McCool · Accepted solution]

I ended up using Automations and using the {{now}} smart values to store the time and date for when the issues transition between stages and then sending it to power automate to use preform some of the more complex calculations that I wasn't able to do in Jira. Not perfect but it works. 

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello @Robert McCool 

Welcome to the Atlassian community.

I would use two custom fields and Automation Rules.

An Automation rule would set Field 1 to the date the issue moved to the "pending" status, when that status change happens.

Another Automation rule would set Field 2 to the difference between now and the date/time in Field 1, when the status changes to "done"

Alternately you might find third party apps in the Atlassian Marketplace that can get you the information without you specifically having to create additional fields and automation rules.

[Robert McCool]

Thank you. If I can I'm trying to stay away from using automation rules since the new update coming in October will limit even the number of project automations allowed per plan. I have looked into a few different plugins like timetracker but they all seem to need to be manually triggered. Is there any way to create something like a calculated field or column to get the desired result?

[Trudy Claspill]

The ScriptRunner app has the concept of Scripted Fields that you might be able to use.

https://docs.adaptavist.com/sr4jc/latest/features/scripted-fields

The trick then would be that the transition date/time when the issue goes to "pending" is not necessarily recorded as an independent value in an independent field, so I'm not sure how you would get that value.

I have not used that particular functionality from ScriptRunner, so I can't provide much guidance.

I'm sure there are probably other apps also that provide scripted or calculated field options.

Another option instead of Automation Rules might be to use the REST API, but that is going to take more work on your part, where you might be able to get the same result through a third party app.

[Emre Toptancı _OBSS_]

Hello @Robert McCool ,

You can do this with automation rules but it is very hard (and so expensive) to build and maintain. Actually, the data needed for such a report is available in each issue's history but Jira does not present this as a ready-to-use report. I suggest you use a marketplace app for this.

If you are OK with using a marketplace app, our team at OBSS built Timepiece - Time in Status for Jira exactly for this. It is available for Jira Server, Cloud, and Data Center.  

Time in Status mainly allows you to see how much time each issue spent on each status or each assignee. 

   

You can combine the time for multiple statuses to get metrics like Issue Age, Cycle Time, Lead Time, Resolution Time etc. 

For all numeric report types, you can calculate averages and sums of those durations grouped by the issue fields you select. For example total in-progress time per customer or average resolution time per sprint, week, month, issuetype, request type, etc. The ability to group by parts of dates (year, month, week, day, hour) or sprints is particularly useful here since it allows you to compare different time periods or see the trend. 

The app calculates its reports using already existing Jira issue histories so when you install the app, you don't need to add anything to your issue workflows and you can get reports on your past issues as well. It supports both Company Managed and Team Managed projects for Jira Cloud.

Time in Status reports can be accessed through its own reporting page, dashboard gadgets, and issue view screen tabs. All these options can provide both calculated data tables and charts.

   

Timepiece - Time in Status for Jira

EmreT

[RVS_Support]

Hi @Robert McCool 

Welcome to the community !! 

If you are fine to try out a mktplace app to find the time in each status, take a look at 

Time in Status Reports 

The app allows to group your statuses to define your own resolution/completion time. In the example below we have combined few statuses to define our own cycle time.

Do try it out.

Disclaimer : I work for RVS, the vendor for this app

[Mehmet A _Bloompeak_]

Hi @Robert McCool

Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

If you prefer to use a marketplace app, you can try Status Time Reports app developed by our team. It mainly provides reports and gadgets based on how much time passed in each status.

Here is the online demo link, you can see it in action and try without installing the app. For further details, please see Status Time Reports How to Videos.

• This app has a dynamic status grouping feature so that you can generate various valuable reports as time in status, time in assignee, status entry dates and status counts, cycle time and lead time, average/sum reports by any field(e.g. average in progress time by project, average cycle time by issue creation month).

• You can search issues by Project, Issue Type, Status, Assignee, Issue Creation/Resolution Date(and any other Date field) and JQL Query.
• Status durations are calculated according to the working calendar you define. Once you enter your working calendar into the app, it takes your working schedule into account too. That is, "In Progress" time of an issue opened on Friday at 5 PM and closed on Monday at 9 AM, will be a few hours rather than 3 days.
• You can set different duration formats.
• You can export reports in CSV file format and open them in MS Excel.
• You can also add this app as a gadget to your Jira dashboards and reach “Status Time” from Issue Detail page.
• You can enable/disable access to Status Time reports&gadgets and Issue Detail page per project, users, groups or project role.

If you are looking for a completely free solution, you can try the limited version Status Time Free.

Hope it helps.

[Robert McCool]

Will this automatically track when an issue is moved to "pending" and when it is moved to "done" and find the difference to calculate the total time worked without any type of manual entry?

[Mehmet A _Bloompeak_]

Implicitly yes. It can calculate the time passed in each statuses between pending and done. In the app you can  group the statuses you want to get the total time. Given that you have the following workflow

New -> Pending -> In Development -> In Testing -> Done

then the app can track the time passed in "Pending+In Development+In Testing" and displays this total time(aka cycle time) in a report. You can

• either list the issues and get cycle time for each issue
• or create an aggregated report like average cycle time by issue resolution month or average cycle time by project. The aggregation is totally dynamic you can aggregate by any field like project, component, sprint etc.