How to manage progress calculation settings for Jira epics & issues as KRs?

UpRaise allows you to add Jira epics & issues as KRs. When you add epic as a KR, it may or may not contain issues and those issues may or may not have subtasks in them. Similarly, when Jira issue is added as a KR, it may or may not contain subtasks as well. 

UpRaise allows you to set different configurations that allow you to decide how you want to calculate the progress of these epic KRs and other issue-type KRs. You can read How does the progress calculation of Jira issues and epics works? however, before that, it is necessary to know how to set up these configurations. 

There are two ways to get the progress percentages of the epic KRs or other issue types KRs -

• On the basis of the resolution field

• On the basis of a custom field (numerical custom fields only)

Let us see how to implement these options in different scenarios. You can opt for only one of the above options at a time. 

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When you chose to calculate progress of Jira issue KRs on the basis of custom fields, you get to select any custom field (numeric or non-numeric). Based on the value of the custom field, system calculates the KR progress. 

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Progress calculation when epics are key results

UpRaise allows you to add Jira epics as key results. However, Jira epics are special type of issues which act as a container for other Jira issues. In turn, those Jira issues can have their own sub-tasks. In such a scenario, the KR progress calculation can be based on the highlighted 3 options in the image below. 

As shown in the image below, you'd see three checkboxes along with options on what basis you'd calculate the progress for each checkbox option. 

All 3 checkboxes are true

By default, all three options are checked. If the first option is true then the remaining two are also true by default and you cannot make a change in that. Also, if the first check box option is configured with progress to be calculated on a custom field, then other two options will also be set with same option. similarly, if the first check box option is configured with progress to be calculated on the resolution field, then the other two options will also be set with same option.

Progress calculation on resolution field of the epic & issues or sub-task within epic

When all three checkboxes are true & progress calculation configuration is set with a resolution field, system calculates the epic key result progress on the basis of subtasks at the lowest level. Every Jira epic may or may not have Jira issues and subtasks within those Jira issues. Therefore, the system validates each step. It looks for subtasks first, if there are no subtasks then issues else the epic's resolution is considered. 

Progress calculation on custom field of the epic & issues or sub-task within epic

Here, all three checkboxes are true with progress calculations to be made on the basis of the custom field. System calculates the epic key result progress on the basis of custom field value of subtasks at the lowest level. At times, epic may not contain any subtasks within its issues. In such a case, system looks for custom field value of the issue within that epic, if there no issue, then custom field value of the epic will be considered. 

Weightages 

While considering the progress on the basis of custom fields, system needs some weightage to calculate the progress. Weightages can be defined only for subtasks & issues when all three checkboxes are true. Define weightages in one of the following mentioned ways.  

• Equal weightages

• Weightages on the basis of custom fields

To understand the exact way of the progress calculation read. 

Last 2 checkboxes are true 

Progress calculation on the basis of resolution field of the epic & issues within epic

When last two checkboxes are true, system calculates the epic key result progress on the basis of Jira issues contained in the epic. Depending on the number of issues in the epic & the weightage setting, progress contribution of each issue is decided and displayed as the progress of epic key result according to their resolution. If there are no Jira issues in the epic, system considers the resolution of the epic and the progress will be shown 0% or 100% on the basis of resolution is empty or not empty. 

When only last two checkboxes are true, even if there are any subtasks in Jira issues, system completely ignores that and shows the progress on the basis of resolution of the Jira issue.

Progress calculation on the basis of custom field of the epic & issues within epic

In this case, system calculates the progress of epic key result on the basis of custom field value of issues in the epic. In such a case, even if there are any sub-tasks in issues, system completely ignores them. If there are no issues in the epic, then the custom field of the epic is considered. If the custom field is not applicable, epic's resolution is considered for the progress calculation as a fallback.

Weightages 

While considering the progress on the basis of custom fields, system is configurable enough to define the weightages for these progress calculations. When the last two checkboxes are true, weightages can be defined only for issues and not the epics. 

• Equal weightages of issues.

• Weightages on the basis of custom fields of issues.  

Only last one checkbox is true 

Progress calculation on the basis of resolution field of the epic.

When only last one checkbox is true (this becomes mandatory if first two are false), the system calculates the epic key result progress on the basis of the resolution of the epic itself. Which means, if the resolution is empty, the progress of epic key result would be 0%. If the resolution is not empty, the progress of epic key result would be 100%. 

When only last one checkbox is true, even if there are any Jira issues or within the epic, the system completely ignores them and shows the progress on the basis of the resolution of the epic.

Progress calculation on basis of custom field of the epic. 

When only last option is true and the epic KR progress is set to be calculated on the basis of the custom field value, whatever value contains in the custom field is considered as the progress of the epic KR.  Even if there are issues and subtasks in the epic, system does not consider them at all. If the custom field is not applicable to the epic, then the resolution of the epic is used to calculate the epic KR progress as a fallback. 

Weightages 

When the progress is being calculated only considering the epic, there will be no weightage as epic is the only entity for progress calculation. 

Progress calculation when issues other than epics are key results

Like epics, you can also add other issue types as key results. Jira issues work as containers for subtasks and it might be important to consider the progress of subtasks within Jira issue to measure the progress of Jira issue key results.

As shown in the highlighted part of image below, the system provides you two options whether you want to consider subtasks or Jira issue resolution to measure Jira issue key result progress. Also whether the calculation should be done on the resolution field of issues/subtasks or on any specific custom field. 

Both check boxes are true

Progress calculation on basis of resolution field of the issue and subtasks

When both the options are true, system calculates the progress of Jira issue key result based on number of subtasks & their corresponding resolution. If there are no subtasks, progress is directly dependent on the resolution of the issue.

Progress calculation on basis of custom field of the issue and subtasks

In this case, system considers the custom field value of the subtask for the progress calculation of Jira issue KR. If there are no subtasks in the issue, then the custom field value of the issue is considered for progress calculations. If in any case, the defined custom field is not applicable to the issue or subtask, then the calculation is done on the basis of the resolution of the sub-task or issues. 

Weightages 

While considering the progress on the basis of custom fields, system also needs some weightages for these progress calculations. Weightages can be defined only for subtasks and not the issues. You can define the weightage calculation is two ways -  

• Equal weightages of subtasks.

• Weightages on the basis of custom fields of subtasks.  

Last checkbox is true

Progress calculation on basis of resolution field of the issue

When the last option is true and progress calculation is to be done on the basis of the resolution field of the Jira issue, system only checks whether the resolution field of the issue is empty or not empty. When only last option is true, even if there are subtasks within the Jira issue, Jira issue key result progress is measured on the basis of Jira issue resolution and subtasks are ignored completely. 

Progress calculation on basis of custom field of the issue

When progress is to be calculated on the custom fields of the Jira issue KRs, system considers the defined custom field value of the issue. When the custom field is not applicable to the issue, system looks for the resolution field of the issue. In this case, even if there are some subtasks in the issue, system will not consider them. 

Weightages 

When the progress is being calculated considering only Jira issue, there will be no weightage as Jira issue is the only entity for progress calculation.

Read How does the progress calculation of Jira issues and epics works?  to know the details of this feature.