Work Ratio

You can use ∑Work Ratio as a rollup field in the Progress section or as a column in the Summary or Breakdown section, as shown in the screenshot above.

1. The Work Ratio displayed in the Progress section is a rollup value for all work items included in the report. Its elements, such as Original Estimates, Time Spent, and Remaining Time, are also calculated as rollup values.

2. In the Summary section of the Work item Structure tab type, or similarly in the Breakdown section of another tab type, ∑Work Ratio can be displayed for each group. In the example shown, work items are grouped by space.. The ∑Work Ratio for Project Bravo is 48%, calculated from the cumulative Time Spent and Remaining Time values of Bug #1, Bug #2, Story #1, and Story #2.

3. Within each group, rollup values are also shown throughout the work item hierarchy. For example, Story #1, which is the parent of three sub-tasks, has a ∑Work Ratio of 46%.

You can use ∑Work Ratio as a rollup field in the Progress section or in the Summary section of a Pivot tab type, as shown in the screenshot above.

1. The Work Ratio of 68% displayed in the Progress section is a rollup value for all work items included in the report. Its components, such as Original Estimates, Time Spent, and Remaining Time, are also calculated as rollup values.

2. In the Summary section, the ∑Work Ratio subtotal for all work items is also 68%, matching the value shown in the Progress section. The Summary section also displays the ∑Work Ratio for each space and release. For example, Project Bravo has a ∑Work Ratio of 48%, while Release 1.0 has a ∑Work Ratio of 93%.

3. The Summary section can also display the ∑Work Ratio by assignee. In the example shown, Adam Grant has achieved 75% progress overall. Most of this progress comes from work completed in Project Charlie, where the ∑Work Ratio is 70%.

The default Work Ratio field available in Jira's Issue Navigator measures progress by dividing Time Spent by the Original Estimate. This calculation applies only to the work item itself and does not include data from child items.

By comparison, the Work Ratio indicator available after installing the app measures progress by dividing Time Spent by the sum of Time Spent and Remaining Time. When using the ∑Work Ratio rollup field, the calculation includes values from child items, providing a complete view of progress across the hierarchy.

Remove the Remaining Time when closing a work item

You can follow the steps described in a separate Atlassian article to add a workflow post function that automatically clears the Remaining Time field when a work item transitions to Done.

By clearing this field for closed work items, you can track cumulative remaining hours within a sprint, release, or space. This also supports burndown charts, helping you assess whether you are on track to deplete all estimated hours by the target date.

Measure the Remaining Time when closing a work item

If you retain Remaining Time for closed work items, you can display it through the following indicators and rollup fields.

1. The Work Ratio progress indicator shows the cumulative remaining unspent time.

2. The ∑ Unspent field displays the remaining unspent time per closed work item and per group. In the example above, there are 3 hours of remaining unspent time for closed work items. This indicates that 3 hours were overestimated for Story #1 and Project Alpha, which includes it.

When the app is installed, several progress indicators are available within a report, including Estimate Accuracy and Time Budget.

Estimate Accuracy is calculated by dividing the Original Estimate by the sum of Time Spent and Remaining Time. This indicator measures how accurately work was estimated before it began by showing the combined effect of overestimating and underestimating effort.
A value below 100% indicates that the original estimate was not accurate. For example, a value of 90% means the estimate was 90% accurate.

IF Spent Time+ Remaining Open > Original Estimate
THEN Estimate Accuracy = [Original Estimate / (Spent Time + Remaining Open)] * 100%

IF Spent Time + Remaining Open < Original Estimate
THEN Estimate Accuracy = [(Spent Time + Remaining Open) / Original Estimate] * 100%

Time Budget is calculated by dividing the sum of Time Spent and Remaining Time by the Original Estimate. This indicator measures whether work is staying within the planned budget.
A value above 100% indicates that the estimate has been exceeded. For example, a Time Budget of 110% means the original estimate has been exceeded by 10%.

Time Budget = [(Spent Time + Remaining Time) / Original Estimate] * 100%

The screenshot above shows examples of how Work Ratio is calculated for closed work items, both when there is no remaining time and when remaining time still exists.

1. In the first example, the Work Ratio is 100% because the sub-tasks are closed and no Remaining Time remains.

2. In the second example, the Work Ratio is also 100% because the sub-tasks are closed. Although some Remaining Time still exists, it is categorized as Remaining Unspent Time, as shown in the tooltip. It is not considered unfinished work.

The Work Ratio, as well as its rollup value for a work item, epic, or space, may decrease when the Remaining Time is increased.

For example, suppose you start working on a task that was originally estimated to require 10 hours. After spending 5 hours on the task, you determine that additional work is needed and increase the Remaining Time. As a result, the combined total of Time Spent and Remaining Time increases from 10 hours to 15 hours.

Before the Remaining Time was increased, the Work Ratio was 50%, calculated as 5 hours spent divided by 10 total hours (Time Spent plus Remaining Time).

After the Remaining Time was increased, the Work Ratio decreased to 33%, calculated as 5 hours spent divided by 15 total hours.

The Work Ratio may remain unchanged when Time Spent and Remaining Time increase proportionally.

For example, a bug originally estimated at 2 hours exceeds its estimate. As additional work is logged, the Remaining Time is increased accordingly.

Initially, 4 hours are logged and the Remaining Time is set to 4 hours. The resulting Work Ratio is 50%, calculated as 4 hours of Time Spent divided by 8 total hours (Time Spent plus Remaining Time).

Later, another 4 hours are logged, bringing the cumulative Time Spent to 8 hours. The Remaining Time is also increased to 8 hours. The Work Ratio remains 50%, calculated as 8 hours of Time Spent divided by 16 total hours.

The following are two examples showing cases of an increase and decrease in ∑Work Ratio, along with their causes.

Increase in ∑Work Ratio

The ∑Work Ratio rollup field, which includes child items in its calculation, can increase when scope is reduced, such as when child items are removed.

For example, the ∑Work Ratio for Story #1 is 46% (59 hours of Time Spent out of 128 hours total, where 128 hours equals 59 hours spent plus 69 hours remaining across all three sub-tasks).

When Sub-task #2 is removed or descoped from Story #1, the ∑Work Ratio increases to 64% (59 hours of Time Spent out of 92 hours total, where 92 hours equals 59 hours spent plus 33 hours remaining across the two remaining sub-tasks).

Decrease in ∑Work Ratio

However, the ∑Work Ratio can also decrease when a child item is removed.

For example, the ∑Work Ratio for Story #2 is 75% (12 hours of Time Spent out of 16 hours total, where 16 hours equals 12 hours spent plus 4 hours remaining across three sub-tasks).

When Sub-task #2 is removed or descoped from Story #2, the ∑Work Ratio decreases to 56% (4.5 hours of Time Spent out of 8 hours total, where 8 hours equals 4.5 hours spent plus 3.5 hours remaining across the two remaining sub-tasks).

In the example above, Project Bravo contains 10 work items, but only 3 work items are shown in Release 1.1 and 2 work items are shown in Release 1.0. The remaining work items are hidden because a row-filtering setting is enabled in the report sidebar.

This setting affects only the rows displayed in the Pivot tab. It does not affect the calculations used for the Work Ratio. As a result, the ∑Work Ratio for Project Bravo remains 48%, regardless of whether the hidden rows are displayed.

To show the hidden rows, follow these steps:

1. Click Configure in the report header.

2. Select Current tab from the dropdown menu.

3. In the Rows section, disable Hide rows with empty values (all slices).

After disabling this setting, rows with None, Empty, or Unassigned values become visible.

4. In the example shown below, the previously hidden None row becomes visible and contains 5 work items that are not assigned to a release.