Additional Estimation field

Question

Is there a way to create a custom field or repurpose an existing field that would roll up into 'Original Estimate'?  I would like to split out our Original Estimate field with a 'Original QA Estimate' for granularity and more precise reporting. 
Example:

Original estimate --> 4d

QA estimate --> 1d

Total Original estimate = 5d

Michał Krysiuk - Terano Apps · Answer

Hi @Ahern Nigh ,

Unfortunately, Jira doesn’t currently support multiple native time-tracking fields, and there’s no built-in way to create a second “duration-type” field that automatically rolls up into Original Estimate. This limitation has been raised by many teams over the years, but it doesn’t look like Atlassian plans to introduce it in the near future.

You can create a workaround using a standard Number or Text custom field for “QA Estimate”, but it won’t behave like Jira’s time-tracking field and it won’t propagate changes into the original Time Tracking values. It’s free and commonly used, but definitely limited.

The other option is an app.
My team recently released Time Tracking Fields for Jira, which lets you add multiple fully functional Time Tracking custom fields (e.g., Dev Estimate, QA Estimate, etc.). It also includes an option to propagate logged time from these custom fields into Jira’s built-in Time Tracking so your reporting still stays consistent.

Before I recommend a setup, I’m curious about how you imagine the automatic roll-up working. Would your workflow look something like this?

Create Issue dialog or Issue view:
– You enter 4d in “Dev Original Estimate”
– You enter 1d in “QA Original Estimate”
– The built-in Original Estimate should automatically become 5d?

If that’s the flow you need, that might actually be a great candidate for a feature we could add to the app. Happy to hear more about how you’d expect it to work!

Trudy P Claspill · Answer

Hello @Ahern Nigh

Welcome to the Atlassian community.

There is currently not a native "Duration" type for custom fields. There are two open change requests about that to which you could add your vote.

https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRACLOUD-67720

https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRACLOUD-94778

You could create custom text or number fields and build automation to interpret the data and update the the fields.