Metric

Cycle Time

The Cycle Time metric measures the duration from when work starts (issue moved to the “In Progress” status category) to when it’s completed (issue moved to the “Done” status category).

Lead Time

The Lead Time metric tracks the time from when an issue is created to when it’s finished (the issue is moved to the “Done” status category).

Exception: the “Metric” selection is unavailable for the Time in Status Cycle Time Chart because this chart focuses solely on the time tasks spent in each status rather than tracking the overall cycle or lead time. The goal is to analyze where tasks are held up within the workflow, not to measure the total duration from start to finish.
The option is available for the Cycle Time Histogram and Cycle Time Trend Charts.

Issue state

Define the issue state you want to include in the chart building.

Please note that the “Issue state” just filters the issue’s scope. Some issues may not appear in the Cycle Time Histogram and Cycle Time Trend Charts when applying the “Issue state” filter options other than “Done.”

You can select the exact issue state scope from the following:

Done: only issues that were “Done” during the selected Time frame.
”Done” issues means also “Updated”. However, they do not have to be “Created” in the same Time frame.
Updated (any status change): only issues where any status changes were made from the first date of the selected Time frame.
”Updated” issues do not have to be “Done”. It also means any status change during the same status category (for example, status change within the “In Progress” status category).
In Jira, "Created" counts as "Updated," so this option will include newly created issues as well.
Created: only issues that were created during the selected Time frame.
”Created” issues do not have to be “Done”.
Any: includes all issues within the selected Time frame, regardless of their state.
The application is used the following JQL request to get the issue list for the “Any” issue state selected:
(created >= start AND created <= end) OR (status WAS IN (...in progress statuses) DURING (start, end)) OR (status CHANGED TO (...done statuses) DURING (start, end))

In Progress statuses

The In Progress Statuses option allows you to customize which statuses are considered "In Progress" for all your charts, whether it's Cycle Time Histogram, Time in Status Cycle Time, or Cycle Time Trend Charts.

This flexibility lets you redefine what "In Progress" means for your workflow by including statuses that are typically categorized as "To Do" or "Done".

By default, all statuses of the “In Progress” status category are predefined.

Exception: when the “Lead Time” metric is selected, the “In Progress” field disappears for the Cycle Time Histogram and Cycle Time Trend Charts because for the Lead Time the progress between the date of creation and completion is not important.

Done statuses

The Done Statuses option allows you to customize which statuses are considered "Done" for the Cycle Time Histogram and Cycle Time Trend Charts. This flexibility lets you redefine what "Done" means for your workflow by including statuses that are typically categorized as "In Progress" or even "To Do".

By default, all statuses of the “Done” status category are predefined.

Exception: the Done Statuses option is not available for the Time in Status Cycle Time Chart because this chart’s primary focus is to track how long tasks are spent in each individual status - no matter their category, rather than when they are completed. The Time in Status Cycle Time Chart aims to provide insights into the time distribution across all statuses within the workflow, making the concept of a "Done" status unnecessary for this specific analysis.

Let see how to tailor your process using the "In Progress" and "Done" statuses fields on practical examples

Imagine your team includes Developers Team and QA Team with the following statuses of the workflow.

For the Developers Team work starts from the “In Progress”, passes the “In Code Review” status, and can be considered as “Completed” when the issue moves to the “Ready for QA” status. The setting of the fields will look like this:

For the QA Team work starts from the “Ready for Test” status, passes the “In Testing” status, and can be considered as “Completed” when the issue moves to the “Done” status. The setting of the fields will look like this:

Timer control

The Start timer on and Pause timer on options allow you to precisely define when the clock starts and stops on your issues, which is particularly useful when issues move through the same statuses multiple times. By customizing these settings, you can focus on the specific part of the issue’s lifecycle that matters most to your analysis.

Available options:

First transition to status: starts or pauses the timer the first time the issue transitions to a selected status. This option is a default for the “Start timer on” field, meaning the timer starts when an issue first enters an “In Progress” status.
Last transition to status: starts or pauses the timer the last time the issue transitions to a selected status. This option is the default for the ”Pause timer on” field, meaning the timer stops when an issue last enters a “Done” status.
First transition from status: starts or pauses the timer the first time the issue transitions from a selected status.
Last transition from status: starts or pauses the timer the last time the issue transitions from a selected status.

The Timer is available only for one status. If the “In Progress” or the “Done” status category includes a few statuses and you did not clarify which one status you want to track exactly, all “Timer” options are blocked.

When and why should I use the Timer?

There are a few scenarios to help identify what this setting is about.

Managing reopened issues:
Imagine an issue that gets reopened several times during a sprint. By using the “Start timer on: First transition to status” and the “Pause timer on: Last transition to status”, you ensure that the timer only tracks the time from the first moment the issue starts progressing to the final moment it is marked as Done, giving you an accurate measure of the total active work time.
Tracking revisions in Ready for Test:
Consider an issue that bounces back and forth between "In Progress" and "Ready for Test" multiple times. Setting “Start timer on: Last transition from status” and “Pause timer on: First transition to status” allows you to focus on the cycle time in the final round of work before it was last sent for testing, ensuring you capture the most critical work phase.
Focus on the final push:
Suppose you’re interested in how long it takes to complete the final phase of work on an issue. In that case, you might set “Start timer on: Last transition from” one “Done” status (for example, "Ready for Release") and “Pause timer on: Last transition to” another final “Done” status (for example, "Released"). This setup tracks only the last, decisive push to move the issue from being ready to actually being released, giving you a clear view of the final effort required to get the issue over the finish line.

If "First/Last transition to" is used as the "Pause timer on" option, then only issues that are currently/during the selected time frame in “Done” status have the Cycle/Lead Time metric.

Calculation method

Calendar: this option calculates the total calendar units (days, weeks, months) an issue remains in the "In Progress" status, including weekends and holidays. For example, if an issue enters "In Progress" on Wednesday and leaves it on the following Thursday, the Cycle Time will be 8 calendar days.

The calculation takes into account time zone settings, holidays and weekends based on your Work schedule.
The default duration of the “one day” for the Calendar option is 24 hours.

Duration: this option only calculates the actual working time when the issue was in "In Progress," excluding weekends, holidays, breaks, and non-working hours which you can setup in the Work schedule. In the same example, from Wednesday to the following Thursday, the Cycle Time would be 6 working days, as Saturday and Sunday are weekends (by default) and are excluded.

Set the Work Schedule during the Calculation method selection ensures that time-based metrics accurately reflect either calendar days or actual working hours, including breaks and holidays. It helps avoid misleading results.

Let's see the Calendar and Duration calculation methods on practical examples

The default Work schedule is the next:

Workdays: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Weekends: Saturday, Sunday.
Work hours: 09:00 AM - 06:00 PM
Breaks: 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM

By default, the work week has 5 days, and the work day has 8 hours.-

Case	Dates in period	Calendar	Duration
Case 1: Issue starts: Friday, 06 September, 03:00 PM. Issue completed: Tuesday, 10 September, 11:00 AM. *during the same month	06 September	03:00 PM-00:00 AM= 9 hours	03:00 PM-06:00 PM= 3 hours
	07 September	0 hours	0
	08 September	0 hours	0
	09 September	24 hours	8 hours
	10 September	00:00 AM-11:00 AM= 11 hours	09:00 AM-11:00 AM= 2 hours
	Total	44 hours/2 days/1 week/0 months	13 hours/1 day/0 weeks/0 months
Case 2: Issue starts: Tuesday, 30 July, 10:00 AM. Issue completed: Monday, 05 August, 04:00 PM. *issue included in two months	30 July	10:00 AM-00:00 AM= 14 hours	(10:00 AM - 01:00 PM) + (02:00 PM - 06:00 PM) = 5 hours
	31 July	24 hours	8 hours
	01 August	24 hours	8 hours
	02 Augustr	24 hours	8 hours
	03 August	0 hours	0 hours
	04 August	0 hours	0 hours
	05 August	00:00 AM-04:00 PM	(09:00 AM - 01:00 PM) + (02:00 PM - 04:00 PM) = 6 hours
	Total	102 hours/4 days/1 week/1 month	35 hours/4 days/0 weeks/0 months
Case 3: Issue starts: Sunday, 08 September, 05:00 PM. Issue completed: Tuesday, 10 September, 01:00 PM. *during the same month	08 September	0 hours	0 hours
	09 September	24 hours	8 hours
	10 September	00:00 AM-01:00 PM = 13 hours	09:00 AM-01:00 PM = 4 hours
	Total	37 hours/1 day/1 week/0 months	12 hours/1 day/0 weeks/0 months
Case 4: Issue starts: Sunday, 28 July, 10:00 AM. Issue completed: Friday, 02 August, 06:00 PM. “24 hours per day” is enabled *issue included in two months	28 July	0 hours	0 hours
	29 July	24 hours	24 hours
	30 July	24 hours	24 hours
	31 July	24 hours	24 hours
	01 August	24 hours	24 hours
	02 August	00:00 AM-06:00 PM = 18 hours	00:00 AM-06:00 PM = 18 hours
	Total	114 hours/4 days/1 week/1 months	114 hours/4 days/0 weeks/0 months