Copy Original Estimate to custom field

[Janakiraman S]

Hi Team,

Happy New Year to all. 

I have configured time estimates in Hours format. I tried to copy the Original Estimate to Text, Original Estimate and Number type custom fields using Automation for JIRA.

On a text field, the Hours format is lost, e.g. gets formatted as 2d 2h. 

On Original Estimate and Number type fields, I run into errors when executing the automation rule. 

Therefore, is it possible to copy the Original Estimate to a field that will retain the format as Hours? 

Appreciate your insights in this regard. 

Thanks & Regards,

Janaki.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Original estimate is not a string, it's actually a number of seconds. The display of 2d 2h is done by code (it's called "pretty format" in Jira world), but the pretty formatting only applies to fields and displays that are coded to use it.

To store a copy of the original estimate, you would need to either use a numeric field (which won't format prettily) or have the automation know how to translate the estimate to a string. 

It sounds like you've tried strings, but what does "the hours format is lost" mean?  2d 2h looks fine to me.

[Janakiraman S]

What I meant is instead of displaying 18h, it is shown as 2d 2h. We are using Roadmaps and here the Estimates are manipulated based on the logged efforts. Inorder to retain the Initial Estimates, I am trying to copy it over to a custom field so that this field can be shown in my Plans. I see Original Estimates in Hours format and this custom field in "pretty format". 

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Ah, I see the problem.

You are mixing up "working time" and "elapsed time".  Or maybe "effort" and "duration" (not sure those are the best phrases to use, but I am trying)

18 hours is 2d 2h.

Imagine one of your developers says "Hey, I want to deal with that story, I think it will take me 18 hours to do it".  They've given you an 18 hour estimate. 

Then you say "great, when can you start?" and they say "first thing tomorrow (Tuesday, 9am), and I'll work on nothing else"

Assuming it does take them exactly 18 hours, when do you expect them to deliver the product? 

Mathematically, the answer is 3am Wednesday, because that's 18 hours away.

In reality, the answer is 11am Thursday because people are usually expected to work about 8 hours a day.  The developer will do 18 hours work on it, but that's not the elapsed time.

Your Jira has been set up to say that 1 working day is 8 hours (and probably 1 working week is 5 working days), which is the default for Jira.

[Janakiraman S]

I fully understand your explanations, Nic. Unfortunately I am a stupid user who feels seeing "Original Estimate" in Hours and the same value in a custom field in "pretty format" are comparing Apples to Oranges.  My problem lies in the Formatting of the estimates and not in the calculation as such.