Time Tracking field - inlude subtasks

[Amos Hoste]

Hi there

Using the time tracking feature in Jira we have experienced something rather odd. When looking at an Epic and the time tracking field, we would like to see all time logged in all child work items throughout the hierarchy of work items below. At the moment the field only includes the work items and their work logs in the level jus below. This means all work logged on a sub-task level is not included in the time tracking field when looking at it on an Epic level. This leads to misalignment of expected time used on the Epic in total and can lead to misinformation and wrong decisions made if users are not aware of this detail when looking at the time tracking field.

Is there some configuration that needs to be done for it to be able to include work logs from all levels below the current work item?

[Tomislav Tobijas · Accepted solution]

Hey @Amos Hoste ,

We've been struggling with that too. Unfortunately, there's no way to natively do this aggregation. Some apps, such as Tempo, do show aggregates from all levels below, but on Epic itself, you cannot see all time logged, which would include sub-tasks as well.

There's a feature request related to this: JRACLOUD-70150: Sub-tasks no longer have their estimate and time tracked on the parent (Epic) issue for the new Full View Issue experience 

I'd recommend checking the workarounds listed there (you can use automation), or maybe this might be helpful as well: Understanding "Time Spent" vs "Σ Time Spent" in Jira 

Cheers,
Tobi

[Amos Hoste]

Thanks Tobi, I expected this outcome, I'll look into tempo as we have this for creating an overview of work logged per user during a sprint. Maybe they have a field we can display on our work items. I'll spread the word on the feature request.

Thank you for the answer.

[Ada Kardos]

"Understanding "Time Spent" vs "Σ Time Spent" in Jira" finally gave me the tool I needed to see the generic roll-up time of all Epic task and subtask level work logs. I had previously understood the Σ Time Spent field to only work one level down. I is unfortunate that to see the details of the rolled up issues' subtasks I still need to do a manual JQL for childissuesof function. 

[Fatma Uzundemir from The Starware]

Hi @Amos Hoste 👋🏻,

Jira’s native time tracking unfortunately does not roll up work logs across all hierarchy levels, but I’d like to offer an alternative that can fully address this limitation. If you are open to using third-party apps, WorklogPRO - Timesheets for Jira provides a simple and effective solution.

🌱 The app includes three custom fields — Total Time Spent, Total Remaining Estimate, and Total Original Estimate — which automatically aggregate values across the entire issue hierarchy (sub-tasks, tasks, and epics). This means you can easily see the full amount of time logged under an epic, including all nested sub-tasks.

🌱 These custom fields also work in the Child Work Items tab and in reporting views, and all data can be exported to CSV, Excel, or PDF formats.

🍀 To learn more, feel free to contact me or explore the application through the Atlassian Marketplace link I’ve provided. 🍀 

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Disclaimer:I work for the vendor who developed this application.

[Rahul_RVS]

Hi @Amos Hoste 

Not sure if this can be achieved out of the box in Jira. As suggested by Tomislav, a mktplace app can help. If you are open to try out one for this need, I can suggest 

Issue Hierarchy 

The app allows you to view your project issue hierarchy (cross projects as well) created with issue links as well or standard Jira hierarchy or both in a tree view. You can view %complete progress at each parent level. It sums up the time tracking fields, story point or numeric fields at each parent level. The app can be added to a dashboard as well.

Disclaimer : I am one of the app team member

[Anastasia Andriyanova _Teamlead_]

Hi @Amos Hoste

I know plenty of tools have been suggested here already, but I just have to throw our own solution into the ring because it fixes this exact "blind spot" natively.

Jira’s math when it comes to Epics and sub-tasks is legendary — it’s so easy to make a wrong decision during planning when half the team's hours are simply invisible at the top level.

We got tired of doing manual math to find the gaps, so we built TeamTime: Resource Reports & Estimate vs Worklog Sumup.

Here is how it covers your case:

• Deep Hierarchy Roll-up: It automatically aggregates logged time from all nested sub-tasks and stories straight up to the parent Epic. You see the true total without skipped levels.

• Estimate vs Actuals: It calculates the exact ratio of your logged hours against the original estimates, so you instantly spot overruns before they ruin the budget.

• Right Inside the Issue: You don’t need to jump to separate heavy dashboards. TeamTime injects a clean mini-report right into the Jira issue view, showing the breakdown of all child items.

• Custom Fields: It includes custom fields that you can add to your standard layout to see rolled-up totals alongside native Jira fields at a glance.

It’s completely free for teams up to 10 users, so you can easily test it on your current Epics and get the full picture.

Best regards,
Anastasia

(Full disclosure: I’m part of the Teamlead development team behind TeamTime).

[Nikola Vojtek]

Hi,

As indicated by others, this is actually expected Jira behavior. The Time Tracking field on an Epic only sums work logged on issues directly linked to the Epic, and does not include sub-task time. Because of that, Epic-level totals can be misleading if users assume full hierarchy roll-up.

If you need accurate time across the entire hierarchy (Epic → Story → Sub-task), this is exactly the gap our Jira app Talon is built to solve. It rolls up logged time end-to-end and shows it per ticket, per user, and per period, without changing Jira workflows.

Talon - Precision in Every Ticket 

If this limitation is causing reporting or decision-making issues, it may be worth trying Talon to get the full picture.

Best Regards,
Nikola Vojtek

Smart Consulting Agency Team

[Anastasiia Maliei SaaSJet]

Hi @Amos Hoste,

You’re correct — Jira’s native time tracking field only rolls up time from the immediate child issues, which means sub-task work isn’t included at the Epic level. There’s no built-in configuration to automatically aggregate all levels of the hierarchy. As one option, I can suggest trying the Time & Cost Tracker for Jira app, which addresses this exact challenge. The app helps by:

• Aggregating time logged on all work items in the full hierarchy below an Epic or any parent issue.

• Providing custom reports and dashboards that summarize actual time spent at the Epic level, including all sub-task and child issue logs.

• Delivering more accurate and comprehensive time tracking data for project decisions.

• Allowing drill-down into detailed work logs so users can see time logged at every level of the hierarchy.

[Tomasz Korusiewicz_SolDevelo]

Hi @Amos Hoste 

Precise time tracking aggregates of sub-tasks within Epics might currently be difficult or even impossible with native Jira features.

However, with the help of one of the Atlassian Marketplace apps, such as our solution called Worklogs - Time Tracking, Time Reports, Timesheets, developed in-house by our development team at SolDevelo, you can easily track all time tracked natively in your Jira, including precise reports and time totals for Stories, Tasks, Sub-tasks, Epics etc. 

With the wide variety of filters and groupings, you can easily adjust the Worklogs reports to your needs!

It is also worth mentioning that Worklogs makes use of the native Jira time tracking provider, meaning that all time logs tracked natively by Jira will already be available in the app.

If you would like to try it out, we warmly invite you to do so!

Cheers,

Tomasz
SolDevelo Team

[Arunas]

Hi,

You've identified one of Jira's most frustrating limitations — and unfortunately there is no native configuration to fix it. Jira's time tracking field on an Epic only reflects time logged directly on that Epic, not rolled up from child Stories or Sub-tasks. This is a known gap that Atlassian has not addressed natively.

I ran into exactly the same problem managing projects — opening an Epic and seeing incomplete time data led to wrong sprint planning decisions and budget misalignment, just as you described.

This is actually why I built TimePillar, a Jira plugin that solves this exact issue. It adds a panel directly in the Jira issue sidebar that rolls up estimated and logged time from every Story and Sub-task all the way up to Epic and Project level — so you always see the full picture without leaving the issue view. It also exports the full breakdown to PDF or CSV if you need to share it with stakeholders.

You can find it on the Atlassian Marketplace: search for TimePillar. It is 30 days free, you can try it.

Hope that helps!

Arunas

[Kh_Safal]

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