Can you set an alert when time recorded in Tempo to a Jira issue exceeds a set time (e.g. 5hrs)?

Question

We use Tempo to record hours spent on Jira issues. I want to set a notification for a manager so they are made aware when any issue has 5hrs+ recorded to it.

Is this possible? I can see the time recorded in Tempo reports and can filter the issues by the time logged to them, but it doesn't stop issues having too much time assigned to them very quickly without the manager responsible being aware.

Elinor McClarence · Answer

Thanks for the response! That sounds like a good way of managing it - unfortunately, we don't use original estimates. Do you know of a way of sending alerts for set time limits entered into Tempo, on issues, using Jira without having entered original estimates?

Walter Buggenhout · Answer

Hi @Elinor McClarence,

I assume you use the original estimate field in Jira to add your original estimates. When time is logged, this lands in the Time spent field. Jira - out of the box - has a field available called workratio, that displays the ratio between these fields as a calculated value.

The following simple JQL filter shows all issues where the time spent is bigger than the original estimate:

workratio > 100

By adding e.g. AND updated >= startOfWeek(-1) you can refine the selection to recently updated issues only. You can use any selection that makes sense, of course.

By saving that filter, you could add the list of issues with an excess of hours to a dashboard or set up a filter subscription so it sends a digest email of these issues to the respective managers on a predefined schedule (e.g. once per day).

Hope this helps!