Can I create a custom JQL field for calculated SLA or age of issue?

[Dinakaran R]

I want to track dynamic values such as the age of an issue (i.e., how many days it has been open) or a custom SLA calculation. I'm trying to find a way to create a custom field that is automatically updated and can be used in JQL queries to filter or sort issues.

[Rahul_RVS]

Hi @Dinakaran R 

For a readily available solution, to calculate the age of an issue, you might be interested in a mktplace app,

Time in Status Reports 

The "Time in Status" report with Status grouping feature, and the "Time between Statuses" report can help to meet your use case of calculating the issue age. Also the app has 20+ reports to meet a variety of use cases.

More details here.

Disclaimer : I am part of the app team for this add-on

[Birkan Yıldız_OBSS]

Hi @Dinakaran R 

That's an excellent question. Being able to sort issues by age or SLA status is a common and important goal. While a calculated custom field might seem like the direct solution, that approach can cause significant performance issues and data staleness, as the values don't update in real-time.

If you are keen to use a marketplace app, a more performant and reliable alternative is to use a reporting app that calculates this data on-demand. This ensures the information is always accurate when you view it, without continuously taxing your Jira system.

Our app, Timepiece - Time in Status for Jira, is built specifically for this purpose. It allows you to create dynamic reports for time-based metrics that directly address your requirements:

Sort by Age or SLA Time: You can generate a report showing real-time issue age or time spent in the current status. The key feature here is that you can simply click the column header to sort the entire list by that calculated time. This brings the oldest or most urgent issues to the top.

Live Views on Your Dashboard: Any report you create can be displayed in a Timepiece gadget on your Jira dashboard. This gives your team constant and immediate visibility of aging tickets or issues about to breach their SLA, right from your main workspace.

Highlight Critical Issues: To make urgent issues stand out even more, you can set thresholds to visually highlight them. For instance, any issue older than 7 days can be automatically colored red, making it impossible to miss during a quick scan.

Scheduled Reports & Alarms: Timepiece can also be configured to automatically email these reports on a schedule (e.g., daily or weekly) to keep stakeholders. Plus, you can set up Alarms to jump in only if your attention is needed.

To learn more about Timepiece - Time in Status for Jira, you can visit its Atlassian Marketplace page.
Disclosure: I am part of the team at OBSS that develops Timepiece. Please feel free if you have any question.