Top 7 Jira Reports Every Project Manager Should Have on Their Dashboard

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Project Managers don’t struggle with lack of data in Jira, they struggle with having too much of it.

Dashboards become overloaded. Widgets multiply. Stakeholders ask for just one more metric. And eventually, visibility turns into noise.

Instead of building massive dashboards, I recommend focusing on a core reporting set: the 7 reports that consistently provide clarity across projects.

Below is a practical list based on real-world delivery environments.

1. Burndown Report

The Burndown is still one of the most effective sprint-level indicators.

It answers a simple but critical question:
Are we on track to complete the sprint commitment?

Used correctly, it highlights scope creep, stalled progress, and unrealistic commitments early, not at the sprint review. Best for:

• Sprint monitoring
• Early risk detection
• Daily stand-ups

2. Velocity Report

Velocity is not about speed. It’s about predictability.

When reviewed across multiple sprints, it helps forecast future capacity and supports more realistic planning. The key is consistency - the report becomes powerful only when historical data is clean. Best for:

• Sprint planning
• Roadmap forecasting
• Stakeholder expectations

3. Cycle Time Report

Cycle Time shows how long work items actually take from "In Progress" to "Done."

For PMs, this is often more valuable than story points. It reveals delivery friction, bottlenecks, and workflow inefficiencies. Best for:

• Process optimization
• Flow analysis
• Delivery improvement discussions

4. Workload Report (Capacity View)

Workload reporting provides visibility into task distribution across team members. Without it, burnout or underutilization remains invisible until performance drops. A balanced workload directly impacts delivery stability. Best for:

• Resource allocation
• Capacity planning
• Preventing overload

5. Created vs Resolved Report

This report answers a fundamental operational question: Are we closing work faster than we are creating it? If the gap grows consistently, your backlog will expand regardless of sprint success. Best for:

• Backlog health
• Long-term sustainability
• Operational oversight

6. Estimation Accuracy Report

Many teams estimate. Fewer teams measure estimation accuracy. Comparing original estimates against actual time or completion patterns reveals systematic bias -  overestimation, underestimation, or inconsistent refinement. Best for:

• Improving planning precision
• Coaching teams
• Data-driven retrospectives

7. Release Progress Report

Release reporting connects sprint-level activity with strategic outcomes. It shows how epics or versions are progressing and whether release goals are realistic based on current throughput. Best for:

• Stakeholder reporting
• Roadmap tracking
• Executive updates

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Choosing the Right Report for the Right Question

Each of these reports serves a different decision-making layer:

Daily control → Burndown, Workload
Sprint planning → Velocity, Estimation Accuracy
Operational health → Created vs Resolved
Process optimization → Cycle Time
Strategic visibility → Release Progress

If you want a deeper breakdown of the different types of reports available in Jira Cloud and how they’re categorized (Agile, project management, advanced reporting), I’ve covered that in detail here: Types of Reports in Jira

When Built-In Reports Aren’t Enough

As projects scale, common challenges emerge: cross-project visibility, roll-up reporting
, avanced filtering, faster report creation without complex dashboard maintenance.

In those cases, many teams extend Jira reporting with Marketplace apps that provide prebuilt reports and centralized report hubs.

For example, Report Hub - Custom Charts, Reports & Timesheets for Jira provides ready-to-use Agile and project management reports (Burndown, Cycle Time, Workload, Estimation Accuracy, Time Spent, WBS Roll-ups, and more) that work immediately after installation, without configuration-heavy setups.

Final Thought

A dashboard should not impress people. It should help them decide. If your Jira dashboard has 15+ widgets but doesn’t clearly answer delivery questions, it’s time to simplify.

Start with these seven reports. Make them clean. Make them visible. Make them actionable.

Everything else is secondary.