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How to Capture Full Cycle Time in Jira Control Chart with Back-and-Forth Status Transitions

Jacob I

Hi Atlassian Community,

I'm working with Jira’s control chart to measure cycle time and need to capture the full cumulative time that issues spend in specific 'In Progress' statuses, including any back-and-forth transitions. My main question is whether selecting columns in the control chart displays only the most recent time an issue was in those statuses, which would exclude the full time spent if it moved in and out of these statuses multiple times.

Could someone guide me on:

Configuring the control chart or using quick filters to capture the total cycle time across all transitions into and out of 'In Progress' statuses?
Whether quick filters targeting each relevant 'In Progress' status are necessary, or if there’s an alternative configuration?
Tips for using the control chart's rolling average to ensure meaningful trends in cycle time.

Thank you for your help!

Accepted answers

Danut M _StonikByte_

Hi @Jacob I,

I'm afraid that the Jira's Control Chart report cannot be customized for achieving what you want. You'll need something more advanced and more flexible/configurable.

My advice is to search on Atlassian Marketplace for an app that is able to do this type of calculation.

If you consider the idea of using an app, our Great Gadgets app might be the perfect solution. It offers Control Chart gadget that is similar to the Jira's report but much more advanced and configurable.

In addition, the same app offers a Time in Status gadget that lets you calculate the "time in status category" directly - so you will get the total or average time in "In progress" category with just a few clicks!

And both gadget display a Data tab with details at the issue level, so you can identify where the delays come from.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact support@stonikbyte.com at any time.

Danut.

Bill Sheboy

Hi @Jacob I -- Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

As a disclaimer, I do not work for Atlassian or any marketplace vendor. I am just another Jira user with a bit of experience in process analysis in various domain areas.

I agree with @Danut M _StonikByte_: if you need an actual control chart to manage anything other than lead time for a very simple workflow, a marketplace app (or custom built) chart will be better than Atlassian's interpretation of a control chart.

For your specific questions...

In my experience, and according to the documentation, the built-in chart does accumulate total time in a status by using the issue history information. However that is impacted by the known defects in the logging of status transitions in the issue history for some Jira sites; usually, this aspect of the chart works as expected. For a more complicated flow which spans different boards, all bets are off as the reporting uses the history, regardless of board column / status mapping, and so measures would span time from multiple boards if the status values overlapped (e.g., done).

Regarding using quick filters, that can help with the chart's challenges in scaling and status selection, however there does not appear to be a way to correctly manage time-in-status for individual status values, other than for a very simple workflow. (If you push / pull all issue history into another tool, such as a log file viewer, it would be possible to build more accurate control charting.) The one thing quick filters can help with for the built-in chart is hiding outliers...but only if you manually tag them or build an automation rule to do so.

For the rolling average and Atlassian's interpretation of standard deviation, I find both of them of suspect accuracy and not effective for helping teams manage flow effectively. Using alternatives which show a single value for a period of time are more helpful. (e.g., average build cycle time for the last N weeks, or the current lower / upper control limits, etc.)

And so my final tip would be: try the built-in chart if you have a simple workflow to learn how it does / does not help the team manage flow, and use a trial of some of the marketplace apps to observe how they compare.

Kind regards,
Bill

Vitalii_Bobak_SaaSJet

Hi @Jacob I

To start, the control chart in Jira, by default, does display only the most recent duration that an issue spent in a selected status. This means that if an issue moved in and out of the ‘In Progress’ status multiple times, the control chart would not capture the full cumulative time across all transitions. It focuses on the last transition period rather than a total accumulated time.

Here are a few suggestions on how to proceed:

Configuring the Control Chart: While the control chart is helpful for cycle time analysis, it calculates only the latest time an issue was in a given status. If an issue moved in and out of the ‘In Progress’ status multiple times, Jira’s default control chart will not provide a full cumulative total across all transitions.
Quick Filters: Setting up quick filters for each ‘In Progress’ status can help isolate time in specific statuses but won’t give a complete cumulative view over multiple entries and exits from these statuses. This setup might be useful for getting partial insights or if you only need the most recent time an issue spent in each status.
Rolling Average: You can leverage the control chart's rolling average to smooth out individual cycle time spikes. This feature helps reveal cycle time trends but doesn’t address cumulative time per status directly.

If you’re open to using add-ons, Time in Status can be solution for you. Add-on calculate the total time an issue spends in any chosen statuses, including 'In Progress,' by summing up all the transitions. This approach allows you to capture cumulative time accurately, reflecting every time the issue entered and exited these statuses.

Additionally, Time in Status provides detailed breakdowns and visual reports (charts, dashboards, gadgets), which are helpful for tracking performance trends over time.

I hope this helps!

You can also book a live session or contact us at Support - we'll help you with Time in Status.

Add-on developed by my team.

I hope you find this helpful 🚀

All comments

Danut M _StonikByte_

Hi @Jacob I,

I'm afraid that the Jira's Control Chart report cannot be customized for achieving what you want. You'll need something more advanced and more flexible/configurable.

My advice is to search on Atlassian Marketplace for an app that is able to do this type of calculation.

And both gadget display a Data tab with details at the issue level, so you can identify where the delays come from.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact support@stonikbyte.com at any time.

Danut.

Bill Sheboy

Hi @Jacob I -- Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

As a disclaimer, I do not work for Atlassian or any marketplace vendor. I am just another Jira user with a bit of experience in process analysis in various domain areas.

For your specific questions...

Kind regards,
Bill

Jacob I

Thank you! Do you know if easyBI has the ability to calculate total cycle time? Or is that limited as well?

Bill Sheboy

I have not used that tool and so do not know, although I suspect the answer is "yes". If a tool can pull in and parse the issue history, it can identify the when / duration issues were in specific status values...then the next step is to align that with the workflow for measurement calculation.

Which reminds me of another limitation of the built-in reporting: lack of change management to effectively show changes in measures when workflow changes.

Vitalii_Bobak_SaaSJet

Hi @Jacob I

Here are a few suggestions on how to proceed:

Configuring the Control Chart: While the control chart is helpful for cycle time analysis, it calculates only the latest time an issue was in a given status. If an issue moved in and out of the ‘In Progress’ status multiple times, Jira’s default control chart will not provide a full cumulative total across all transitions.
Quick Filters: Setting up quick filters for each ‘In Progress’ status can help isolate time in specific statuses but won’t give a complete cumulative view over multiple entries and exits from these statuses. This setup might be useful for getting partial insights or if you only need the most recent time an issue spent in each status.
Rolling Average: You can leverage the control chart's rolling average to smooth out individual cycle time spikes. This feature helps reveal cycle time trends but doesn’t address cumulative time per status directly.

Additionally, Time in Status provides detailed breakdowns and visual reports (charts, dashboards, gadgets), which are helpful for tracking performance trends over time.

I hope this helps!

You can also book a live session or contact us at Support - we'll help you with Time in Status.

Add-on developed by my team.

I hope you find this helpful 🚀

Jacob I

Thank you, do you know if easyBi has this feature to capture total time in progress?

Elita Kalāne - eazyBI Support

Hi @Jacob I ,

Thanks for your questions!
Indeed, you can create reports in various ways to display the Time issues spent in status. Here is an example dashboard - https://eazybi.com/accounts/1000/dashboards/7513-age-lead-and-cycle-time with average days in Cycles, but you can display the Total time as well, instead of average. You can easily determine the cycles in eazyBI import options (read more about the Issue cycles here - https://docs.eazybi.com/eazybi/data-import/data-from-jira/issue-cycles)
You can also reach out to us directly at support@eazybi.com if you have more specific questions regarding your use case or check out our Community page as well - https://community.eazybi.com/

Best wishes,

Elita from support@eazybi.com

Vitalii_Bobak_SaaSJet

@Jacob I
I’m not entirely sure if EasyBI alone can calculate the total time an issue spends across multiple entries and exits in a specific status. However, you can definitely get this data through Time in Status
Here is documentation
https://saasjet.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/TIS/pages/3040641025/Export+from+Jira+to+EazyBI+Using+Time+in+Status+App

Gizem Gökçe (OBSS)

Hello @Jacob I ,

Welcome to the community!

If you’re ok to use Jira add-ons, Timepiece - Time in Status for Jira ,the oldest and leading "Time in Status" app in Atlassian Marketplace, which is developed by my team at OBSS, has several report types that will meet your need. Our app is available for both Jira Cloud, and Data Center. Also, it is possible to integrate Timepiece data with eazyBI. You can check this article: Integrate Timepiece - Time in Status for Jira Data with eazyBI for Enhanced Reporting

Timepiece mainly allows you to see how much time each issue spent on each status or each assignee. You can combine the time for multiple statuses to get metrics like Issue Age, Cycle Time, Lead Time, Resolution Time etc.

Consolidated column (2).png

Lead Time.png

For all numeric report types, you can calculate averages and sums of those durations grouped by the issue fields you select. For example total cycle time per month or average lead time per sprint, week, month, issuetype, request type, etc.

Average Lead Time.png

The app calculates its reports using already existing Jira issue histories so when you install the app, you don't need to add anything to your issue workflows and you can get reports on your past issues as well.

Visit Timepiece - Time in Status for Jira to experience the full range of features.

If you wish, you can also schedule a live demo. We will provide a comprehensive overview of the application and address any inquiries you may have.

Hope it helps,

Gizem

Jacob I

Thank you, I’ll check this out. Just to clarify, if control charts only track the most recent time in any given status, wouldn’t that mean the lead time calculation isn’t fully accurate as well?

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