Running total calculation in backlog or filter.

Taylor Elley

I am trying to find a way to achieve something in Jira that I am currently using spreadsheets for.

My team is involved in both operations and development, and we keep a backlog of all tasks where we use a modified form of WSJF to prioritise them. Often, a stakeholder wants an estimate on when we will have a task completed by. The easiest and most accurate way to do this I have found is to take a total of the Story Points of the task question plus all tasks above it in the backlog, and divide this by the Story Point flow rate of the team. To do this I have a spreadsheet that looks much like this -

Team flow rate = 5 Story Points per Day

Task summary	WSJF Score	Story Points	Story Points Running Total	Estimated Days until Completed.
Task 1	100	5	5	1
Task 2	90	5	10	2
Task x	n	sp	(previous running total) + sp	(story point running total) / (team flow rate)

Is there any way I can implement something similar with in Jira?

Nikki Zavadska _Appfire_

Hi @Taylor Elley

to do ditch the spreadsheets and do the WSJF prioritization in Jira you can use Foxly - backlog prioritization app for Jira Cloud. Foxly comes with a predefined WSJF template so you don't need to worry about this part of the setup. Just fill in the required metrics and the WSJF score will be automatically updated.

You can also add additional columns to the priorities table in Foxly like Story points and other fields.

To create the Story points running total and Estimated days until completed you can use Automation for Jira. I created an article with examples and videos on how to set up the rules related to prioritization, you can have a look and see if that will help you with understanding the Automation.

 

Just as an example of such a rule to calculate Estimated dates. I would create a custom field called "Estimated days" and a custom field "Story points running total". Then the automation rule will look like this:

Trigger: Field updated - Story points running total

= So the rule gets triggered when "Story points running total" gets updated

Action 1: Create a variable called "ED" and add this formula as a smart value: 

{{#=}}{{issue.Story points running total|0}} / 5 }}{{/}}

 

Action 2: Edit issue field, choose More options, and add the following JSON:

{
"fields":
    {
    "Final impact score - Impact sum Value": {{ED}}
    }
}

 

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions!

Nikki