Every number in Analyze can show its evidence. The Explain this number panel lists the work items and cycles behind a figure, so you can check it before you share it or act on it.
Open the panel #
On any metric tab of Analyze (Flow metrics in Analyze), do one of these:
- Select a tile’s value, such as the p85 of Cycle time.
- Select a bar or a dot in the chart.
- In the Equivalent table, open a row’s menu and choose an “Explain” item, such as Explain the first deliveries value.
- On Throughput, select Explain first deliveries over the whole range for the total.
The panel’s title names the series, the metric and the point, such as “First deliveries · Throughput · the whole range”.
What the panel shows #
- What it measures: the metric in words, and its Unit, such as “elapsed time”, “business hours”, “work items” or “share of the total”.
- Revisions and as-of: the flow version and calendar version the figure was computed under, such as “Flow version 3, calendar version 1”, and Data as of with the time zone.
- Warnings: each label on the figure, with what it means. Flow metrics in Analyze lists them.
- Classification on this tab: how the tab’s work items were placed in classes of service.
- Contributors: every work item and cycle behind the number that you can see, with its Value and Data quality. A long list ends on Show more.
- Intervals behind one contributor: the time spans of the first contributor, each with its start, end, duration and quality. A span that has not ended reads “still open”.
- Exclusions: what left the sample, and why, such as “2 of 40 completed cycles left the cycle time sample: Status changes recorded out of time order”. It reads “Nothing was excluded from this sample.” when nothing was.
Read the data quality #
Each contributor carries one label:
- Fully observed: the app saw every step of the cycle.
- Commitment instant unknown: the cycle started before the history the app keeps.
- Part of this cycle is outside retained history: the history was cut, so the value can be short.
- A status in this cycle is not mapped: a status had no state class.
- A block was never cleared: a blocked span is still open.
- Already delivered once and First delivery unknown: the cycle is rework, or nothing proves it was the first delivery.
- Closed as not delivered: the board leaves out the resolution it closed with.
- No status history: Jira returned no status changes for the work item.
- Not measurable here, Never crossed the commitment boundary and Committed but not yet delivered: the cycle has no value on this tab.
- Outside this board’s counting level and Of a type Jira places at no level: the board’s counting level leaves it out.
- Deleted in Jira, Archived in Jira, Access lost and Not confirmed: the work item is no longer available to this board.
On Blocked time and Flow efficiency, a contributor can say “Whether a blocking link’s other end was finished is not known”. Then the blocked time is at least what was measured, and the flow efficiency at most.
For example #
On Checkout’s Cycle time tab, select the value of the p85 tile. The panel says it measures commitment to delivery in elapsed time, under the flow and calendar versions in force. Contributors lists every delivered cycle you can see, each with its cycle time, so you can find the ones that took longest. Exclusions shows the cycles that had no measurable time and why. If the tile carries Experimental, few cycles stand behind it: say so when you share the figure.
If something looks off #
- “This explanation is out of date”: the board was recalculated, the work items changed, or the page was open too long. Select Read the figures again, then open the number again.
- “What you can read now differs from what this explanation was computed over, so none of it is shown.”: your access changed. Select Read the figures again, then open the number again.
- “This point is from an older calculation.”: select Read the figures again, then open the point again.
