Announcing Upcoming Enhancements to Jira Align Time Tracking

[#1]

We’re excited to announce some upcoming changes to Jira Align. The Time Tracking module is being updated to simplify the administration, creation, and management of time projects (formerly known as work codes).

These enhancements are scheduled to arrive in version 10.76, which will deploy to test instances on August 1st, 2020, and production instances on August 15th, 2020. 

For a detailed description of the changes across various grid pages, administrative settings, and Details panels, please see our new article inside Jira Align’s Help Center: Upcoming Enhancements to Jira Align Time Tracking.

Please comment below with your impressions, questions, and suggestions. We’ll use your feedback to ensure we’re on the right track with the new features, and iterate on future changes.

FAQ

Why are we updating the Jira Align Time Tracking module?

The Time Tracking module is being updated to simplify time project management and extend time tracking to other work items.

How does this affect me?

The time module is now more flexible. It has been expanded to include associations with epics and stand-alone time projects. Time project management has been simplified by moving all fields related to time tracking to a single page.

Time can still be recorded against release vehicles, but all time project-related fields have been removed from the release vehicle page and moved to the Time Projects page (formerly Work Codes).

If you have data created with the old time tracking process, data migration to the new process is in place. All existing release vehicles used for time tracking will be migrated to the Time Projects grid and forms. Once the update occurs, all time projects can be found within the time tracking module and can be viewed on the Time Projects page.

How do I prepare for this change? 

Other than reviewing this announcement and our help article, you don’t need to take any specific action to prepare. We’ll migrate all of your existing work codes (now known as time projects) to the new time tracking module. 

What will I need to do differently after the update?

Just remember to navigate to the Time Projects page after the update to set up and manage time projects. Setting up and managing time projects all happen on the Time Projects page, instead of having to move between multiple pages.

Summary of changes 

Work codes are now known as time projects

• Time projects can be associated with epics or release vehicles
• Time projects may exist as stand-alone entities

Administration

• Admins have settings to control what associations are available for time projects - to release vehicles, epics, or as stand-alone time project
• Setting added to provide a warning in Jira Align timesheets if a project goes beyond its specified due date
• Terminology controls have been expanded to give admins the ability to customize naming for time-related terms
• Blended Rate settings now keep a history of rates used over time and respect the date in the Rate Start Date field
• User role permission controls have been added to allow or restrict access to time projects and time project fields
• Setting added to Users platform settings page to allow a specified number of days in the past that a team member’s record can be closed

Creation

• Approval, status, and date settings previously set on a  release vehicle’s Details panel have been moved to the time project Details panel 
• Fields have been reordered to provide better usability

[Rae Gibbs]

@Don Fuller Nice write-up!

[John Ames]

How will this impact  LEO (BI Warehouse) Time Tracking Fields? 

[Bogdan Sverediuk]

Shouldn't we give a name to these changes, like Time Tracking version 2.0?