Time And History Documentation

Overview

Time And History is an app for Jira Cloud and Jira Server that measures how long your issues spend in every stage of your workflow. It reads the change history of each issue and converts it into working time using your own work calendars, so weekends, evenings and holidays never inflate the numbers. This guide covers the Jira Cloud edition.

The app includes four reports:

• Time in Status — how long each issue stayed in every workflow status, as a table or interactive charts;
• Time in Changes — the change history of issue fields: who changed what, when, and how long each previous value lasted;
• Assignee Time — how long each issue spent with every assignee;
• Time to Resolution — how long issues take from creation to each resolution.

Inside Jira the app is available from two places:

• the Time And History item in the Jira top navigation bar opens the reports;
• Jira Settings → Apps contains the Time And History section with the Access Settings and Calendars admin pages.

Getting started

1. Install the app. Find Time And History on the Atlassian Marketplace and install it on your Jira Cloud site. Right after installation the Get Started page walks you through the first steps.
2. Explore the reports. Open Time And History from the Jira top navigation bar, pick a project and a date range, and see where time goes.
3. Set up work calendars. Define business days, work hours and holidays so every report counts only real working time (see Work calendars).
4. Grant access to your teams. Choose which Jira groups can view reports and manage calendar or permission settings (see Access settings).

Reports & filters

All four reports share the same filters, calendar, time format and date range controls, shown above the report table. (Time in Changes replaces the Columns selector with its own History by Fields control — see the report’s section.) The app remembers your selection — the next time you open it, your report, filters, calendar and time format are restored exactly as you left them.

Filters

• Project — the project to report on (single select);
• Epic, Sprint, Reporter, Assignee — multi-select filters with checkboxes and a Clear all action; an empty filter means “Any”.

Changing the project reloads its epics, sprints and users and resets the dependent filters.

Date range

The Date range for issues control limits the report to a period. Pick a preset — Any Days, Yesterday, Last 7 Days, Last 30 Days, This Month, Last Month — or select a custom range on the two-month calendar. The range can be applied by one of three issue fields:

• Created — shows issues created in the selected period;
• Updated — shows issues updated in the selected period;
• Resolved — shows only resolved issues from the period.

Time formats

Durations in every report can be displayed in four formats:

Columns

In Time in Status, Assignee Time and Time to Resolution, the Columns selector controls which Jira fields appear in the report table. Search across all fields (system and custom), switch between Active and Inactive tabs, toggle fields on or off and press Save. The default columns are Type, Key, Priority, Reporter, Assignee and Status. Time in Changes uses a fixed column set instead.

Editing issues inline

Hover over a Type, Priority, Assignee or Reporter cell and click the pencil to open the Edit issue dialog. You can change the issue type, priority, assignee (including Unassigned) and reporter without leaving the report — after saving, the report reloads automatically.

Pagination

Reports are paginated (50 issues per page by default). The footer shows the current range (for example, 1 - 50 Of 320) with previous/next navigation, a refresh button and a Send Feedback action.

Time in Status

The flagship report answers the question “where does our time actually go?”. For every issue it shows the working time spent in each workflow status, plus a Total Time From Create Issue column.

Table mode

• one column per workflow status found in the filtered issues — statuses appear automatically, no configuration needed;
• your selected Jira fields as leading columns (issue keys link to Jira, user chips show avatars, statuses and priorities are color-coded);
• empty cells display “-” when an issue never visited a status.

Chart mode

Switch to charts with the view toggle in the controls row. Chart data is aggregated over all issues matching the filter (not just the current page) — a progress bar shows the preparation status, and the preparation can be cancelled at any time.

• Donut chart — share of total time per status, with a legend showing durations. Click a legend item to hide or show a status; the center displays the total issue count.
• Bar chart — stacked working time per period with per-status tooltips.
• Area chart — stacked timeline of status time; the Points view settings let you show dots on every period and keep numeric labels next to them.

For bar and area charts, the Metrics dropdown sets the grouping period: Auto (based on your date range), Day, Week, Month, Quarter or Years.

Time in Changes

Time in Changes tracks the history of issue fields — who changed what, when, and how long each value lasted. The main table lists issues with a Total Time From Created column; every row expands into a detailed change log.

Change history drill-down

Click a row (or its chevron) to expand the issue’s history:

• Date — when the change happened;
• Changed By — who made the change;
• Field Key — which field changed (Status, Assignee, Priority…);
• Old Value / New Value — the transition itself;
• Time In Old Value — the working time the previous value lasted, calculated with your work calendar.

The last row of each history shows the current value and the time elapsed since the most recent change.

History by Fields

The History by Fields selector chooses which fields appear in the drill-down. Search the field list, toggle the fields you care about and press Save — the selection is remembered per user.

Assignee Time

Assignee Time shows how long every issue spent with each assignee — ideal for understanding who carries the load and balancing work across the team.

• one column per assignee, with avatars linked to their Jira profiles;
• an Unassigned column accumulates the time issues spent without an assignee;
• the Total Time From Create Issue column sums each issue’s full working age.

Time to Resolution

Time to Resolution measures how long issues take from creation to being resolved, based on your work calendar — the honest version of your delivery time.

• each resolution gets its own column; if an issue was resolved more than once (for example, reopened and closed again), the report shows Done 1st, Done 2nd and so on;
• the Total Time To Resolution column sums the working time to resolution;
• unresolved issues display “-” with the hint “The issue has not been resolved yet”.

Work calendars

Work calendars define what counts as working time. Every duration in every report is computed against the active calendar: non-business days are excluded, only the configured work hours count, and holidays that fall on business days are subtracted.

Each calendar consists of:

• Name — up to 25 characters;
• Time Zone — the IANA time zone the calendar operates in;
• Business days — seven weekday checkboxes, plus the Use the same work hours on all business days toggle;
• Work Hours — one shared range (for example 09:00 – 17:00), or an individual range per weekday when the shared toggle is off;
• Holidays — picked on a mini calendar with a description; entries can carry a Yearly label and can be removed at any time.

A Default Calendar (Monday–Friday, 09:00–17:00, GMT) is created automatically. You can create any number of calendars — support and engineering can each measure time against their own schedule. Every user picks their active calendar in the report controls, and the choice is remembered.

Exporting reports

The Time in Status report can be exported through the Export History dialog (the export button in the controls row). Exports run in the background and always cover all issues matching the current filter, not just the visible page.

The dialog keeps your 20 most recent exports with live progress and status (In Queue, In Progress, Success, Failed). Finished files can be downloaded or deleted at any time; exports are private to the user who created them.

Access settings

The Access Settings page controls which Jira groups can open each part of the app. Access is granted per group across three areas:

• Report — the report pages;
• Calendars Settings — creating and editing work calendars;
• Permissions Settings — the Access Settings page itself.

Grant access with the Add … buttons, revoke it with the trash icon, then press Save. Reset Changes restores the last saved state. A granted cell shows a green Done chip.

• Jira admin groups (jira-administrators, administrators, site-admins, system-administrators, atlassian-addons-admin, org-admins) always keep full access and cannot be revoked;
• groups that were granted access but no longer exist in Jira are marked Unavailable — their grants can still be revoked;
• users without access to a page see a permission error and are asked to contact their Jira administrator.

Appearance & dark mode

• Light and dark themes — switch with the sun/moon buttons in the app header; every report, chart, table and dialog is tuned for both themes;
• Collapsible sidebar — pin the navigation open or unpin it to a compact icon bar that expands on hover; the choice is remembered.

Data & security

• Reports are computed on the fly from the Jira REST API — no Jira issue data is ever stored by the app;
• all Jira reads happen on behalf of the current user, so existing Jira project permissions always apply;
• the app stores only your preferences (filters, columns, calendar and format choices), work calendars, access grants, export files you created and feedback ratings;
• the only write operation to Jira is the explicit Edit issue dialog — the app never modifies issues on its own;
• export files are private to their creator and deletable at any time.

FAQ

My report is empty. What should I check?

Make sure a project is selected and the date range is not too narrow (try Any Days). Remember that you only see issues your Jira account can access.

Why is a duration smaller than the wall-clock time?

Durations count only working time from your active calendar. Time outside work hours, on non-business days and on holidays is excluded. Switch the time format to DHM or Decimal Days to see 24-hour totals that ignore business days.

Who can open the reports?

Any user whose Jira group has the Report grant in Access Settings. Admin groups always have access.

Which report can I export?

The Time in Status report exports to XLSX, CSV and PNG (chart snapshot).

Does the app change my issues?

Only when you explicitly save the Edit issue dialog. Reports themselves are read-only.

Can different teams use different schedules?

Yes — create a calendar per team (each with its own business days, hours, time zone and holidays) and let every user pick theirs in the report controls.