BACKLOG: how to define criteria for filter

[Ratom]

Hi all,

I'm frankly confused with the concept of the backlog, If  I got it correctly there is no   Jira field  BACKLOG_YN  to check, is that correct ?

I want to write a filter  (or quick filter) to list all issues in the BACKLOG, how to approach this task, is this a combination of values ( e.g. Status <> in progress,  and Not Assigned , etc..)

Appreciate if you point me to the right place. I also read that users "move issues to/from BACKLOG",  do they do it by dragging it ??

Thanks

Ratom

/on Jira Cloud

[Harrison Ponce · Accepted solution]

Hi @Ratom , thank you for your question! When people are referring to the backlog they are usually talking about the workflow status "Backlog". This is a "Not Started" category status (grey color). These live with other common statuses (e.g., To Do, In Progress, In Review, Done, etc.)

You can create a filter (and apply it to a quick filter) using something like the following JQL:

status = Backlog

 When they move issue to/from the backlog, it is moving it to and from different workflow statuses. If they are looking at issues via a board view, they are able to drag issues from column to column, and these columns can be set up to represent statuses.

Hope this helps!

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @Harrison Ponce 

Regarding issues moving to / from the Backlog view, there is a difference between Company-managed (CMP) and Team-managed projects (TMP):

For CMP, the issue Status and mapping of Status values to the Board does impact when an issue shows in the Backlog versus on the Board (or neither for completed issues with Kanban time-outs or Sprint completion).

For TMP, issues must explicitly be added to the Board from the Backlog view.  The Status value has no impact...with the exception of when completed issues "time out" for display due to aging.

Kind regards,
Bill

[Harrison Ponce]

Thanks for adding that additional piece for TMP! Those are definitely newer and take getting used to!

[Ratom]

Thanks Bill and Harrison, 

I need to work with TMP. However I don't have an option for
 status = BACKLOG
 however I see backlog on the left pane on dashboard. 
Need to spend little more time to understand what is going on.
 

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @Ratom 

Here is the documentation for moving issues to / from the backlog for Team-managed projects: 

https://support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/enable-the-backlog/#Move-issues-from-the-backlog-to-your-board

Kind regards,
Bill

[Ratom]

Thanks Bill.
I still don't have  reliable criteria for my filter.  For my instance I'm trying to  set it like 

Where   sprint not in (openSprints(), futureSprints())  and assignee is empty

[Bill Sheboy]

@Ratom there is no indicator for "in the backlog" for team-managed projects that can be used with JQL expressions.

Let's assume your team is using Scrum and you want to find the issues not assigned to any sprints yet.  That would be this:

project = yourProjectName
 AND statusCategory != Done
 AND sprint IS EMPTY
 ORDER BY Rank ASC

But if the issues have been in prior closed sprints, are not in current or planned future sprints, and are not yet completed, that could be this:

project = yourProjectName
 AND statusCategory != Done
 AND (     
         sprint IS EMPTY
      OR (
              sprint NOT IN openSprints()
          AND sprint NOT IN futureSprints()
         )
      )
 ORDER BY Rank ASC

[Viktor Moshkovoy]

Thanks Bill, you mean run this sql on unloaded db ?

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @Viktor Moshkovoy 

No, that is JQL for a filter, not SQL.  I just formatted it to improve visibility for this post.

Kind regards,
Bill

[Ratom]

Thanks  Bill and Walter and all!