Tempo’s Solutions for Atlassian’s 10K Worklog Limit

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We’re excited to share important updates that will help you navigate Atlassian’s upcoming 10K worklog limit while using Tempo Timesheets.

As Atlassian moves to improve performance and reliability of Jira Cloud, a cap on the number of worklogs per issue was introduced. This limit was initially set at 5,000 and has now been increased to 10,000. Atlassian has released Bulk Worklog Move and Delete APIs to help customers adapt to this new limit. However, if you are using Tempo Timesheets, Atlassian's Bulk APIs may not work as specific Tempo solutions are needed, particularly when dealing with:

• Keeping Tempo and Jira worklogs consistent – If you’re using Tempo Timesheets to log your time and then use Jira’s Bulk Worklog APIs to delete or move Jira worklogs, it may result in discrepancies between worklogs in Tempo and Jira.
• Moving worklogs from closed periods and approved timesheets - Tempo Timesheets has historically not provided the ability to do so within the UI or Tempo API, until now.

Tempo has developed solutions that will allow you to bulk move and delete worklogs ahead of the limit rollout. We’re also introducing an alternative syncing method for Internal Issues that may allow your organization to reduce the change management associated with the 10K limit.

Preparing for the limit rollout

Find out which issues are near or at the limit

To help you prepare, it starts with determining which Jira issues are near or at the 10K limit.

• For Cloud users with API querying capability: Use Atlassian’s Get Issue Limit Report API to identify issues approaching the limit.
• For those without API querying capability: Use the Worklog Count column in Tempo Reports. Simply run a Logged Time Report, include the Worklog Count column, and sort it in descending order to spot potential “problem issues.”

Once identified, you can decide whether to proactively move or delete worklogs before the limit is enforced, or create new issues as needed after it is enforced.

Bulk move and delete worklogs from closed periods and approved timesheets in Timesheets

Released to GA [documentation]

For those who choose to move or delete worklogs to keep using existing issues, we’ve introduced a new Override Mode that will allow Tempo Admins to bulk move or delete worklogs from closed periods and approved timesheets, either via the UI or Tempo Public API. These actions will help ensure your key issues remain well below the 10K limit.

Limitations:

• Bulk actions are currently limited to 5,000 worklogs in the Bulk Worklog Editor.
• Tempo Bulk APIs are not yet available, but users with scripting capabilities can use our existing worklog APIs to mimic bulk move and delete actions.

Options once the limit is enforced

Create new Jira issues

Regularly monitor your issues using Atlassian’s Get Issue Limit Report API or the Worklog Count column in Tempo Reports. If an issue reaches the limit, you’ll need to create a new Jira issue, as Timesheets will no longer allow time to be logged against it.

Periodically move or clean up worklogs

If you prefer to keep the same Jira issues active, use Tempo’s bulk move and delete features to periodically archive or clean up worklogs.

Enable daily summary worklogs to extend Tempo Internal Issues’ usability to 10,000 days

Status: Available in TempoLab

By default, creating a Tempo worklog automatically generates a corresponding Jira worklog. However, many of you have raised concerns about quickly reaching the new worklog limit especially when using Tempo's Internal Issues. We want to help our customers avoid the potential confusion and change management challenges that could result from frequently having to create new Jira issues.

To help you manage the worklog limit, we’re introducing an alternative method that aggregates worklogs in Internal Issues into a single Jira worklog per issue per day. This option significantly reduces the number of worklogs created, effectively extending the usability of an Internal Issue to 10,000 days before reaching Atlassian's limit.

Please note, however, that this method is not ideal for all organizations. We do not recommend this approach for organizations that:

• Use Plans (formerly Advanced Roadmaps), Capacity Planner, and/or other third-party apps to track the Original Estimate, Remaining Estimate, Time Spent, and other worklog-influenced fields related to Internal Issues in real-time
• Need minute-by-minute worklog reporting on said fields while using Jira’s API, reports, and/or gadgets for any worklog-related reporting

Try the solutions in TempoLab

These solutions designed to help you navigate the 10K worklog limit are now both available in TempoLab, our early access program. We encourage you to sign up and try out the new features on your test instances. Looking forward to your questions and feedback, and happy testing! 

[Stefan Krooshof]

Hi @Kathryn Vargas _Tempo_ ,

You mentioned that "users with scripting capabilities can use our existing worklog APIs to mimic bulk move and delete actions."

I've managed to achieve the Bulk Delete action by searching for issues by date and iterating through them using the Delete Worklog REST API.

However, for Bulk Move, are you suggesting a workaround that involves deleting the existing worklogs and then recreating them under the new Jira issue using the Create Worklog API? Or is there an actual method that allows updating the associated Jira issue for existing worklogs directly?

Looking forward to your insights!

Best regards,
Stefan

Edit: the existing for below parameter in the Create worklog REST API (and not anywhere else) confirms the solution would be re-creating worklogs: 

bypassPeriodClosuresAndApprovals

boolean Bypass period closures and approvals. If the value is 'true' and the period is closed, the worklog will be created. You need the Tempo Administrator permission and Override Mode enabled. [TempoLab only]

And that the period would need to be Opened, or Override Mode is enable (which requires TempoLab registration). 

[Kathryn Vargas]

Hi @Stefan Krooshof, thanks for trying out the features and my apologies for the delay in getting back to you :( 

You're right - the solution is indeed to recreate the worklogs. In the meantime, we have released Override Mode which hopefully should help. In case you have any other questions or feedback, let us know! 

Best, 
Kathryn 

[Garth Hume]

Hi, the bulk edit option works well.  However, I am running into an issue for people the that have left our organization.  It is unable to move those logs.  How do you recommend dealing with these?

[Michaela Kubicová]

Hi, 

I've got a question regarding the bulk move option. I've tried to move the work logs, however I am receiving the following error. 

The account in TEMPO to which I am trying to move the work-logs is not archived or closed. 

Is there anything I am doing wrong?

Thanks