Count the number of days in a column

alessandro.romolo.e
Contributor
October 7, 2024

Dear all, 

there is a functionality in Jira that allows to see how many days the ticket has been in the column: these are the dots on this ticket. Capture.PNG
The problem is that, when I take a ticket from the backlog, it appears that the ticket has been in the column "to do" of the sprint since several weeks, simply because it has the same status. 
How can I use this functionality to verify how many days the ticket have been in the sprint, and not since the creation?

 

I tried to change the status automatically when the ticket is in the sprint, but this doesn't change the situation, because the first column includes the status "Backlog" and the status "To do". And if I try to remove the status "backlog" from my Scrum Board, all the "Backlog" tickets are not visible in the Backlog. 

4 answers

1 accepted

1 vote
Answer accepted
Bill Sheboy
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October 7, 2024

Hi @alessandro.romolo.e -- Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

For a company-managed project, the solution for this behavior is to have a separate status for the leftmost column of your board which is different from the backlog.  For example:

  • Backlog
    • status is "Backlog"
  • Board
    • leftmost column status is "To Do", "Selected", or whatever works for your team
    • ...other board columns

Kind regards,
Bill

alessandro.romolo.e
Contributor
October 8, 2024

Dear Bill, thank you for your answer.
Unfortunately I realise that my question is not clear, and I don't know how to make it more clear. I already have two different status, a status called "Backlog" and a status called "To do". 

The problem is that, when I remove the status "Backlog" from the leftmost column, it also disappear from the visualisation of the backlog.  


Bill Sheboy
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October 8, 2024

Are you using a company-managed or a team-managed project?  You may find that information in the list of projects, or at the bottom-left of the page expanding area.

alessandro.romolo.e
Contributor
October 14, 2024

It is a company-managed project, and I am an admin. 

Bill Sheboy
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October 14, 2024

Ah, I missed early this is a Scrum board and not a Kanban board.

In that case, there is no built-in solution, because Scrum boards do not separately configure the backlog view: assignment of issues to the active sprint makes the distinction.  Only Kanban boards allow selecting the backlog's issue status values because the backlog view is optional for such boards.

Here is an open suggestion to change that behavior: https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JSWCLOUD-23285

 

A workaround is to not use the built-in, days in column feature.  Instead use custom fields and automation rules to update the value.  Then display that custom field on your card's fields using board configuration.

With this approach, you would probably need 2-3 automation rules:

  • One rule triggered on Sprint Started to reset the custom field "counter" to 0 and another to save the sprint started date / time.  As an alternative, the sprint start / date time could be pulled by getting the value from sprint field (using list filtering).
  • Another rule on a Scheduled Trigger to update the counter daily
  • OPTIONAL: a rule triggered on Issue Transitioned to "done", perhaps to set / round the final counter for any reporting

 

1 vote
Valeriia_Havrylenko_SaaSJet
Atlassian Partner
October 8, 2024

Hi @alessandro.romolo.e  👋 
If you're thinking about installing third-party add-ons, you might want to check out Time in Status

The Time in Status add-on lets you count the number of days in a column. You can easily view this information directly on the board by creating a custom field.

 

image.png

You can also book a live session to ask any questions about the add-on. Add-on developed by my team. 

I hope you find this helpful 🚀

1 vote
Asad
Contributor
October 7, 2024

Hi Alessandro! Welcome here! Could you please try following solutions:
Do Board Configuration which means review your board configuration to ensure that backlog and sprint columns are properly separated. Automation Rule which means set up an automation rule to change the status of an issue when it's moved into a sprint. This could help reset the "Days in column" counter. Hope this helps!

Thanks!
Asad

 

alessandro.romolo.e
Contributor
October 7, 2024

Dear Asad, thanks for your answer. When I set the status "Backlog" in "unmapped status" of my Kanban, all tickets disappear also from the backlog! 
I should create another column called "Backlog" in my board, but that's not what I want. 

Like Asad likes this
0 votes
Danut M _StonikByte_
Atlassian Partner
October 8, 2024

Hi @alessandro.romolo.e,

Jira looks at the statuses mapped on the To Do column of the board. So, it you have a To Do status in workflow mapped on the To Do column of board, it will consider time in column the time since entrance in To Do status. 

As @Bill Sheboy suggested, you should use different statuses like, for example, Backlog (for issues not added in sprint yet) and "To Do" for issues to be completed in the sprint.

Also, for counting the number of days in column, you could also try the WIP Aging Chart gadget offered by our Great Gadgets app. 

image.png

It can calculate the age as time in column, time in current status, time since creation and lets you set a threshold to easily identify the ones that are taking too long already (the ones in red-color, above the red line). The age can be displayed in minutes, hours, or days. 

In addition, can offers a more detailed report with time in column of each issue on board.

image.png    

Danut   

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