Do Weeks in the Control Chart report count as 5 or 7 days?

Hi @Seán Ó hAnnracháin

First of all, welcome to the Community. 

You are asking all the right questions. The Control Chart is one of the most confusing native reports in Jira, and you've correctly identified why—it mixes calendar time for display and (sometimes) working days for calculation.

Let's break down the math to get you a clear answer.

Do days count as 24 hours? Answer: Yes. The Control Chart always calculates in 24-hour blocks. It measures the total elapsed time, not just the 8-hour workday.

Do weeks count as 5 or 7 days? Answer: 7 days. The chart's display notation is based on a 7-day calendar week.

What does "Include non-working days in calculations" actually do?

When you CHECK this box: You are telling Jira, "Please include all non-working days." This would just be a simple 24/7 calendar time calculation.

Do my board settings (Mon-Fri) matter? Answer: Yes, they do! Your board's "Standard Working Days" settings are what tell the Control Chart which days to subtract when you have that box unchecked in step 3.

 Here is why you are still seeing confusing numbers. Even with the box unchecked, the Control Chart is a blunt instrument. It just subtracts 24-hour blocks for Saturday and Sunday. It does not account for your 9-to-5 working hours.

So, if a ticket is "In Progress" from Friday at 4 PM to Monday at 10 AM, the Control Chart (with the box unchecked) calculates it as 1 hour on Friday + 1 hour on Monday = 2 hours. A different ticket that is "In Progress" from Monday at 9 AM to Tuesday at 9 AM will be calculated as 24 hours.

This is why getting precise Cycle and Lead Time figures is so difficult with the native chart.

I know you said you're not interested in paid plug-ins, and I completely respect that. You've asked for the best possible explanation of the native tool, and I hope the above helps.

However, if getting exact figures (based on working hours, not just working days) ever becomes a critical business requirement, the problem you're facing is exactly why apps like Timepiece - Time in Status for Jira exist.

Unlike the native chart, Timepiece is designed to solve this "calendar vs. working days" confusion perfectly:

Custom Calendars: It allows you to define strict working hours (e.g., 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM), not just working days. This means a ticket worked on from Friday 4 PM to Monday 10 AM is correctly calculated as 2 business hours, not 24. Calendars can be configured based on your working hours, excluding holidays and non-working hours (even lunch breaks) from the calculation.

Clear Reports: It provides straightforward Status Duration and Cycle Time reports that show the exact time in hours or days, so you don't have to mentally convert the chart's "calendar weeks" into "work weeks".

It might be worth a look if you ever get permission to use add-ons and the native chart continues to give you vague data.

Hope this clarifies the "6 days" mystery and helps you understand the native tool better!

Full disclosure, I'm on the team that makes Timepiece.

Hi @Seán Ó hAnnracháin ,

1. Do “weeks” mean 5 days or 7 days? And is a “day” 24 hours?

In the Control Chart:

• 1w is always treated as 7 days, regardless of how your working days are configured.

• 1d is always treated as 24 hours. 

So your interpretation is correct: if you’re seeing 6 days vs 1 week 1 dayThose are using a 7-day week as the base.

Under the hood, Jira stores elapsed time in hours and then converts it into weeks/days using these fixed constants, which is why the display can look a bit odd.

2. What does “Include non-working days in calculations” actually do?

There are two things at play:

1. Board working days configuration
   On your board (Board → Configure → Working days), you define:

   • standard working days (Mon–Fri in your case)

   • specific non-working dates (holidays, etc.)

   Several reports, including the Control Chart, use these settings.

2. The “Include non-working days in calculations” checkbox in the Control Chart

   • Unchecked: Jira should calculate cycle/lead time using only configured working time (based on your working days and time-tracking settings, e.g. 8h per day).

   • Checked: Jira includes all calendar time – weekends and non-working days are counted as if work could have happened on them. 

However, even when Jira uses working-time under the hood, it still displays the result using 1d = 24h and 1w = 7 days, so the label can be confusing. There are also some open issues where the Control Chart doesn’t perfectly respect working-day settings in all scenarios. 

3. Does your board’s “Standard Working Days” setting affect the Control Chart?

Yes, it does have an impact – that’s where Jira gets the definition of “non-working days” that the report will exclude/include. 

But again, the visual labels (w and d) are based on fixed 7-day weeks and 24-hour days, regardless of those settings. So the numbers you see are effectively “working-time hours” formatted into calendar-style weeks/days.

If you want to double-check what’s going on for one specific issue, you can:

1. Apply a very narrow filter in the Control Chart so only 1–2 issues show.

2. Open the issue’s history and note when it entered and left the “In Progress” (or target) status.

3. Compare that with your working-day/working-hour configuration to see how Jira got that duration.

4. If you ever can use an app later…

Totally hear you on:

“I’m not interested in using any paid plug-in… I’m unlikely to get permission.”

That’s a very real constraint for many teams, so everything above is purely about native Jira.

That said, if at some point you do get the option to try Marketplace apps, tools like Time in Status for Jira by SaaSJet can give you much more precise and flexible lead/cycle time analytics (small disclosure: I’m part of the Time in Status team).

With Time in Status you can, for example:

• See exact time spent in each status for every issue (not just a single total).

• Choose between calendar time vs. working time, and exclude weekends/holidays as needed.

• Get ready-made Lead Time and Cycle Time reports, plus averages by project, assignee, issue type, etc.

• Put those reports on dashboards or export to CSV/Excel for further analysis.

If you ever decide it’s worth exploring, you could:

• Start with the free trial in a test project, or

• Book a short demo call with us – we can walk through your specific use case and help you build a lightweight justification for your decision-makers, so you only push for an app if it clearly adds value.

But no pressure at all – your current question is fully answerable with standard Jira; the app suggestion is just “for later” if the permission situation changes.