How to Generate Weekly, Bi-Weekly, and Monthly Reports in Jira
Generating regular reports in Jira helps teams keep track of their project progress, spot bottlenecks, prepare for sprint retrospectives, etc. Whether you create reports weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly, the right insights can improve planning, teamwork, and overall project performance.
In this article, we will explain how to generate recurring reports in Jira using built-in features. We will also discuss their limitations and explore how the Issue History for Jira (Work Item History) app can give you deeper historical insights for better reporting.
Why Generate Weekly, Bi-Weekly, and Monthly Reports in Jira
| The Type of Jira Reports | Typical Metrics Included | Primary Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly Reports |
|
Help Scrum Masters and PMs monitor ongoing work. Spot blockers early and address risks before they affect delivery timelines. |
| Bi-Weekly Reports |
|
Provide a complete overview of sprint performance. Support sprint reviews and keep teams updated on progress and productivity. |
| Monthly Reports |
|
Provide a clear picture of long-term performance, how well operations run, the status of projects, governance, and readiness for audits. |
Built-in Ways to Generate Reports in Jira
JQL Filters for Recurring Reports
Jira Query Language (JQL) lets you create custom filters that support dashboards and exports. Here are some helpful queries for common Jira reporting situations:
| Reporting Goal | JQL Query |
|---|---|
| Tasks created in the last 7 days | created >= -7d ORDER BY created DESC |
| Tasks resolved this month | resolved >= startOfMonth() ORDER BY resolved DESC |
| Open high-priority tasks | statusCategory != Done AND priority in (Highest, High) |
| Tasks updated in the last 14 days | updated >= -14d ORDER BY updated DESC |
| Unresolved tasks assigned to the current user | assignee = currentUser() AND resolution = Unresolved |
| Tasks that were completed during the previous sprint | Sprint in closedSprints() AND statusCategory = Done |
You can save these queries as filters and reuse them whenever you want.
Jira Dashboards
Dashboards in Jira give you a central view of your project's important metrics by combining several gadgets on one page. After you create and save JQL filters, you can add them to dashboard gadgets. For reporting needs, you can use the following gadgets:
- Filter Results
- Pie Chart
- Created vs Resolved Chart
- Two-Dimensional Filter Statistics
- Assigned to Me
Dashboards update automatically as Jira work items change. This makes them ideal for monitoring project performance on a weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly basis without having to rebuild reports.
Common Challenges with Weekly and Monthly Jira Reporting
Although Jira’s reporting tools are powerful, many organisations face limits as their reporting needs grow.
Historical work item changes
A common question is, what did this task look like last month? Native Jira reports mainly focus on the current state of work items. This makes it harder to analyse trends.
Deleted work item reporting
Deleted work items disappear from Jira and this creates a huge gap in project history. This can be a serious problem for organizations that need to meet audit or compliance standards.
Audit reporting
Many companies using Jira need detailed records that show what user changed the task, what fields were modified, when the changes happened, and the previous and new values.
Jira keeps a change history, but it can be difficult to turn that information into reports that are ready for audits.
Manual reporting effort
Many teams still:
- Export CSV files from Jira
- Merge spreadsheets
- Manually build the charts
- Compare historical exports
This repetitive work takes up valuable time that could be spent on delivering projects.
How to Generate Historical Reports in Jira
When standard Jira reports aren’t enough, Issue History for Jira (Work Item History) app offers deeper insights into your project’s historical data.
Instead of just looking at a work item's current state, teams can access detailed historical information that helps with ongoing reporting and compliance needs.
Key capabilities include:
- Complete Jira work item history
- Detailed field change tracking
- Status transitions
- User activity records
- Deleted work items visibility and restoring
- Exportable audit reports (Excel, CSV formats or via API)
- Advanced filtering across historical changes
These features simplify the process of preparing regular reports without the need to manually recreate work item histories.
For example:
| Team / Role | Typical Reporting Frequency | Common Use Cases | Issue History Functionality |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team Leads | Weekly | Monitor team workload. Track completed work. Identify bottlenecks. Rebalance priorities. |
|
| Scrum Masters | Weekly, Bi-weekly |
Prepare for sprint reviews and retrospectives. Check sprint progress and find recurring blockers. |
|
| Project Managers | Weekly, Monthly | Track project health, monitor milestones, review delivery progress, and share updates with stakeholders. |
|
| Compliance Teams | Monthly | Maintain audit trails, review changes in workflows, and support compliance with regulations. |
|
Deleted work items disappear from Jira and this creates a huge gap in project history. This can be a serious problem for organizations that need to meet audit or compliance standards.
Need Better Jira Reporting?Explore Issue History for Jira on the Atlassian Marketplace → |
Summing Up
Recurring reports are important for maintaining visibility, improving decision-making, and supporting compliance efforts. Jira's built-in dashboards and Agile reports provide a solid foundation for weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly reporting.
However, organisations that need full historical visibility, detailed audit trails, tracking of deleted work items, or thorough change reporting often need more than what native Jira reporting offers.
Issue History for Jira (Work Item History) app addresses these needs by delivering complete Jira change history, audit-ready reports, and export options. These features help teams create more accurate and insightful recurring reports.
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