We need Epic to summarize task time

[Lara Cabrera]

Hello community!

My teammate and I tried to investigate how we could see the sum of the task estimate in the "original estimate" of the epic, but we couldn't. We asked for support and they told us it was with an automation, but again, we didn't find the field listed. Does anyone know if that is possible or not?

In conclusion, we want to see in the epic the sum of the task estimates.

Thank you!!!

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @Lara Cabrera MSA 

The support team was correct that there is nothing built-in for Jira to sum values across all the issue type levels.  Instead automation rules may be used to do this.

The original estimate is one of the fields in the {{timetracking}} smart value of issues.  You may use the Lookup Issues action to gather your issues with JQL, and then sum the results.  For example:

{{lookupIssues.timetracking.originalEstimateSeconds.sum}}

There are many example rules in the community showing the details of doing this.

Also, smart values are name, spacing, and case-sensitive...and they are not all listed in details on the documentation pages.  And so using automation rules often requires learning and experimentation to find the smart values.  This how-to article may help when you are trying to find the smart values supported by rules: 

https://support.atlassian.com/cloud-automation/docs/find-the-smart-value-for-a-field/

Kind regards,
Bill

[Vishal Biyani]

@Lara Cabrera MSA 

Your use case is

there can be n number of tasks in an epic. If original estimate is added/updated/removed, then the updated sum of all the original estimates in the n number of tasks should get updated in epics original estimate field.

The challenge with this use case is, JIRA automation using smart values does not support lookup of original estimate field. from what i had researched you could aggregate story points at the epic value 

Solution

The way i resolved the issue was to use JIRA REST API.

1. Provide list of epics in a flat file.
2. Against each epic use JIRA REST API to find all child Tasks and corresponding original estimate.
3. Sum up the original estimate and store in a variable.
4. Update epics original estimate using value in #3

[Lara Cabrera]

Hi Vishal! Thank you so much! I will try that way. 

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @Vishal Biyani 

Are you using Jira Cloud or Jira Server / Data Center?

I ask because Jira Cloud's Lookup Issues action has supported all issue fields, including original estimate, for several years.  However for Jira Server / Data Center, the Lookup Issues action was only recently added, and I believe it does not yet contain all issue fields.

Kind regards,
Bill

[Vishal Biyani]

@Bill Sheboy 

I am using JIRA cloud. I tried to use lookup values. However, it did not work out. May be i am doing something wrong.

The automation rule I wrote is:

• When value changes for Time Tracking
• For Epic (Parent)
• Edit Issue Field (Original Estimate)
  • {{lookupIssues.aggregatetimeoriginalestimate.sum}}

This does not work. Require a rule that can sum up original estimate of all story/tasks if any of the story/tasks original estimate is updated.

[Bill Sheboy]

The smart values you note are in a different location in the issue data.  Please see my other response for the values, and...

You may use this how-to article to confirm the smart values, their structure for issues, and if they are supported by automation rules:

https://support.atlassian.com/cloud-automation/docs/find-the-smart-value-for-a-field/

[Vishal Biyani]

@Bill Sheboy @Hannes Obweger - JXL for Jira 

Thanks for your inputs. I am able to make JIRA automation work correctly and rollup original estimate at StandardIssueLevel to Epic. 

@Hannes Obweger - JXL for Jira your screenshots were helpful to understand the mistake i was making.

Now that JIRA Cloud is migrating to parent instead of Epic link so i tweaked my rule to use parent = {{ issue.key }} instead of "Epic Link" = {{ issue.key }}

[Hannes Obweger - JXL for Jira]

Hi @Lara Cabrera MSA,

welcome to the community!

Just to add to the previous answers around Jira Automation, I always find this article to be a good starting point: https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Software-articles/Calculate-the-sum-of-original-estimates-of-all-issue-types-to-an/ba-p/1660572

Also, for a completely different direction: There different views available that would sum up the estimates "live", as you make changes to them. Depending on your exact use case, these may also be a useful option:

• If you are on Jira Premium, Advanced Roadmaps would allow doing so.
• Alternatively, there's also a number of options available from the Atlassian Marketplace. I myself happen to work on an app in which your use case would be trivial to solve; I'll add more information below.

Best,

Hannes

[Hannes Obweger - JXL for Jira]

Just to expand on the last point, this is how this would look in the app that my team and I are working on, JXL for Jira:

For context, JXL is a full-fledged spreadsheet/table view for your issues that allows viewing, inline-editing, sorting, and filtering by all your issue fields, much like you’d do in e.g. Excel or Google Sheets. It also comes with a number of advanced features, including support for (configurable) issue hierarchies, issue grouping by any issue field(s), sum-ups, or conditional formatting. With these, a view like the one above can be created in just a couple of clicks.

Any questions just let me know!Hannes