FAQs

What is Burndown & Burnup Charts?

Burndown & Burnup Charts is a Jira dashboard app that helps teams track completed work, remaining work, scope changes, and delivery progress across individual sprints and broader releases.

The app provides configurable burndown and burnup charts for Scrum teams, projects, releases, epics, initiatives, and cross-team delivery programs.

Which gadgets are included in the app?

The app includes two configurable Jira dashboard gadgets:

• Sprint Burndown Burnup Chart Gadget: Tracks completed work, remaining work, and scope changes throughout a selected Scrum sprint.

• Release Burndown Burnup Chart Gadget: Tracks the progress of a longer-term release or delivery initiative and provides ETA, scope, and completion forecasts.

What is the difference between the Sprint and Release Burndown Burnup Charts?

The Sprint Burndown Burnup Chart tracks a specific sprint selected from a Scrum board. Use it to monitor short-term progress toward the sprint goal.

The Release Burndown Burnup Chart tracks a broader scope over a configurable date range. Its scope can represent a project release, one or more epics, portfolio-level work items, or a cross-project initiative.

The Release gadget also provides delivery forecasts and release milestones, which are not available in the Sprint gadget.

What is the difference between a burndown chart and a burnup chart?

A burndown chart shows how the amount of remaining work decreases over time. The goal is for the Remaining line to reach zero by the planned completion date.

A burnup chart shows how the amount of completed work increases over time. When displayed together with the Scope line, it makes scope changes easier to identify.

Both views use the same underlying data but emphasize different aspects of delivery progress.

Can I display burndown and burnup in the same chart?

Yes. You can select the series displayed by each gadget and configure it as:

• A burndown chart

• A burnup chart

• A combined burndown and burnup chart

To create a classic burndown chart, display the Ideal Burndown and Remaining series. To create a classic burnup chart, display the Ideal Burnup and Burned series.

Who is the app designed for?

The app is useful for Scrum teams, Scrum Masters, Agile Coaches, Product Owners, Project Managers, Release Managers, Delivery Managers, Engineering Leads, RTEs, PMOs, and other stakeholders responsible for monitoring delivery progress.

It can support Scrum, Agile, SAFe®, cross-project delivery, and custom Jira workflows.

Is a free trial available?

Yes. You can start a free 30-day trial from the app’s listing on the Atlassian Marketplace.

Do I need Jira administrator permissions to use the gadgets?

A Jira administrator is generally required to install the app.

After installation, users with permission to create or edit Jira dashboards can add and configure the gadgets. Users must also have permission to view the work items, boards, projects, and filters used as data sources.

Do I need to know JQL?

No. The Sprint Burndown Burnup Chart can be configured by selecting a Scrum board and sprint.

The Release Burndown Burnup Chart can use saved filters, epics, portfolio-level work items, or Fix Versions without requiring you to write JQL.

JQL is also available when you need more precise control over the release scope.

Can I track work across multiple projects or teams?

Yes.

The Release Burndown Burnup Chart can use a saved filter or JQL query containing work items from multiple projects or teams. It can therefore provide an aggregated view of a cross-team release or broader delivery initiative.

The Sprint Burndown Burnup Chart uses a Scrum board and sprint. A Scrum board can contain work from multiple projects or teams when its underlying filter includes that broader scope. In this case, the chart represents the combined sprint scope included on that board.

To analyze teams separately, configure a separate board, filter, or gadget for each team.

Can I track epics, initiatives, or themes?

Yes. The Release Burndown Burnup Chart can use one or more epics or portfolio-level work items as its data source.

This allows you to track the progress of an epic, initiative, theme, or another delivery hierarchy supported by your Jira configuration.

Do I need to use Jira Fix Versions?

No. Tracking scope by Fix Versions is optional.

Enable this option when your release is defined using one or more values from Jira’s Fix Versions field. The gadget will include only the work items whose Fix Versions match the configured values.

If your release scope is already represented by a saved filter, JQL query, epic, or portfolio-level work item, you can use that data source without enabling Fix Version tracking.

What does the Scope line show?

The Scope line represents the total amount of work included in the sprint or release at each point in time.

If the line rises, work was added or estimates increased. If it falls, work was removed or estimates decreased.

Displaying Scope together with Burned and Remaining helps you distinguish changes in delivery progress from changes in the amount of planned work.

Which series can I display?

Both gadgets can display:

• Ideal Burndown

• Ideal Burnup

• Remaining

• Burned

• Scope

The Release Burndown Burnup Chart can also display:

• Forecast Scope

• Forecast Burndown

• Forecast Remaining

• Forecast Burned

You can select only the series needed for your dashboard.

What do the ideal burndown and burnup lines represent?

The Ideal Burndown line shows how remaining work should decrease if progress follows an ideal, consistent delivery rate.

The Ideal Burnup line shows how completed work should increase under the same assumption.

The ideal lines can be calculated using the initial scope or current scope. For release reporting, you can also enter a fixed scope value.

Can I customize what counts as Done?

Yes. You can configure the gadgets so that their definition of completed work matches your workflow.

Depending on the gadget, a work item can be considered Done when:

• It is mapped to the last column of the selected board

• Its status belongs to Jira’s Done status category

• It is in one of the selected workflow statuses

Can I include subtasks?

Yes.

The Sprint Burndown Burnup Chart can exclude subtasks, include them together with their parent work items, or process only subtasks.

The Release Burndown Burnup Chart can include subtasks and their estimates in the calculation.

Include subtasks only when they represent work that should contribute separately to the chart values.

Can the Sprint gadget automatically display the latest sprint?

Yes. You can configure the Sprint Burndown Burnup Chart to display:

• A specific sprint

• The latest sprint automatically

• The previous sprint automatically

The automatic options prevent you from having to select a new sprint manually whenever the team starts or completes a sprint.

Can the app forecast the release completion date?

Yes. The Release Burndown Burnup Chart can estimate when the remaining work is likely to be completed.

The forecast can be based on:

• The average velocity of all completed intervals

• The average velocity of a selected number of recent intervals

• A fixed velocity entered manually

The chart can display the resulting estimated completion date and forecast lines for remaining and completed work.

Can the app forecast changes to the release scope?

Yes. The Release Burndown Burnup Chart can forecast how the scope may evolve based on:

• The average scope changes from all completed intervals

• The average scope changes from a selected number of recent intervals

• A fixed scope-change ratio entered manually

You can also include the scope forecast when calculating the estimated release completion date.

Can I view the work items behind the chart values?

The Sprint Burndown Burnup Chart can display a data table containing the completed and incomplete work items from the sprint.

Both gadgets can also display key values at the top of the chart. When possible, those values include links that open the corresponding work items in Jira.

Are these gadgets also available in Great Gadgets?

Yes. The Sprint Burndown Burnup Chart and Release Burndown Burnup Chart are also included in Great Gadgets for Jira, StonikByte’s complete Jira dashboard reporting suite.

Which app should I choose?

Choose Burndown & Burnup Charts when you need a focused solution for tracking sprint and release progress, completed and remaining work, scope changes, milestones, and release forecasts.

Choose Great Gadgets for Jira when you also need velocity and throughput charts, WIP charts, cycle time and lead time reports, cumulative flow diagrams, time-in-status reports, pivot tables and charts, custom KPIs, work breakdown structures, worklog reports, and other dashboard capabilities in a single app.

Do I need the standalone app if I already have Great Gadgets?

No. If Great Gadgets is already installed and licensed, you can use the Sprint Burndown Burnup Chart and Release Burndown Burnup Chart gadgets included in that app.

Is Great Gadgets licensed separately?

Yes. Burndown & Burnup Charts and Great Gadgets for Jira are separate Atlassian Marketplace apps, each with its own installation and license.