The purpose of this chart
How to read the chart
The horizontal axis represents ...
The vertical axis represents ...
Interact with the bars in the chart
Here's how to get more information about the data reflected by any bar:
- Hover over an individual bar to see ...
- Click the bar to see ...
- You can then click on one of the items on the list to get details about the specific item, including a link to the item in Jira.
Key Chart Controls
Click on any image to make it bigger!
Queueing Stages
You use the Queueing Stages control to tell the chart which workflow stages represent waiting time (time where work is sitting idle.) In the image to the right, there are 2 workflow stages that are designated as queues. All the time spent in those stages will be counted as idle/waiting time for the flow efficiency calculation.
When you first navigate to the chart there are no queuing stages configured and the chart will only be using Blocked Time to calculate flow efficiency.
In this situation, you'll see the following message at the top of the chart.
Calculation Inputs
This control gives you a bit more control over what the chart uses in its calculations.
- Blocked Days: If checked, this will include blocked days as idle/waiting time for the flow efficiency regardless of which workflow stage the item resides in.
- Please note that, if you have items blocked while in a queueing stage, it doubles the idle time while those conditions exist. There is a request in our product backlog to reconsider this particular aspect of the functionality.
- Queueing Stages: When this is checked, the chart allows you to denote certain workflow stages as queuing stages and considers that as idle/waiting time for the flow efficiency calculations. When unchecked, the Queueing Stages control disappears and you are no longer able to set those and the information is not used in flow efficiency calculations.
- Include Items with 0% FE: If checked, work items that have spent their entire "life" in idle states will be included on the chart. If you don't want this, uncheck this line item.
- Include Items with CT <= 1: If checked, work items that had a cycle time of 1 day or less will be included. If you would like to exclude those items, uncheck this line item.
You must have either Blocked Days or Queueing Stages checked in order to calculate flow efficiency.
Without this, there is no idle/waiting time designated so the chart cannot calculate a flow efficiency. In this situation, you'll see the following message at the top of the chart.
Additional Chart Controls
Cursor
When these configurations are active, the chart looks at where your cursor is and tells you the cycle time and the frequency of said cycle time, depending on the axis you are looking at.
Layout > Show Date Control
This configuration option shows you the past data used and allows you to select a smaller data set to use for flow efficiency calculations. As you change the selection, you will see the values in the chart change.
Item Filter
You can filter down the items used for this chart by choosing one or more available fields related to your Jira issues. If you want to clear your filters so that all data is used again, you click the Reset button.
Workflow Stages
Only checked workflow stages will be used for the flow efficiency calculation. Uncheck stages if you want to calculate the flow efficiency of a smaller part of the overall workflow.
