Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD) Gadget

On this page

https://youtu.be/TgIsImeK7mg

Overview

This gadget displays the cumulative flow diagram (CFD) for the issues in an agile board or filter. It is a stacked area chart that shows the number of tasks in each column of the board or in each status category over time. When you view the data for a particular day, you will know how many work items were present in each column at the end of that day. You can choose to display the chart by Issue Count, Story Points, Original Time Estimate, or any other numerical custom field.

The cumulative flow diagram is one of the most advanced analytics in Agile project management. Use this gadget to determine how stable your flow is and to understand where you need to focus on making your process more predictable. It gives you quantitative and qualitative insight into past and existing problems.

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Depending on how it was configured, the chart displays multiple series (or "bands"):

Done - The total number of done issues. Depending on the gadget settings, "done" means all the issues with status category "done" (the green-colored statuses from Jira) or the issues in the last column of the selected board.
In Progress - The total number of "In progress" issues. Depending on the gadget settings, "in progress" means all the issues with the status category "in progress" (the blue-colored statuses from Jira) or the issues in the middle column(s) of the selected board.
To Do - The total number of issues in "to do". Depending on the gadget settings, "To Do" means all the issues with the status category "To Do" (the gray-colored statuses from Jira) or the issues in the first column of the selected board.
Also, if so configured, the gadget can display bands that correspond to the columns of a selected agile board. In this case, the series names will be the same as the column names.

Configuration

The settings of this gadget are divided in 2 tabs:

  • Data tab - contains the required settings of the gadget, such as title or data source

  • More Settings tab - contains the optional settings, such as card colors

  • Colors tab

Data tab

On this tab you can configure the required settings of the gadget.

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Setting

Description

Setting

Description

Gadget Title

Choose what to display in the title bar of the gadget.

Data Source

Select the type of Data Source used by the gadget:

  • The agile Board of your team.

  • A Saved filter containing the issues that you want to track. Make sure that the specified filter is shared with the users who will also visualize this gadget.

  • A JQL query that returns the issues you want to be processed by the gadget.

Calculate by

Specify on which criteria the calculation is to be performed. You can choose between:

  • Issue Count - the default value; use this if you want the chart to be made by the number of issues.

  • Story Points - use this if you want the chart to be made by summing up the Story Points of the issues in each band. If the issues are from team-managed projects (aka next-gen projects), select Story Point Estimate instead.

  • Original Time Estimate - use this if you want the chart to be made by summing up the Original Time Estimate of the issues in each band; the values will be displayed in hours.

  • Other numerical custom field defined in your Jira instance.

Include the sub-tasks

Check this option if you want the sub-tasks from the selected board or filter to be included in the calculation.

Start Date

Specify the start-date of the time interval for which to display data.

End Date

Specify the end-date of the time interval for which to display data.

Intervals of

Indicates the length of the intervals displayed on the horizontal axis.

Chart bands are based on

Specify by which criteria the bands displayed in the chart are determined. You can choose between:
The issue status category - the default value. When using this option, the chart displays 3 bands:

  • Done - counts all the issues with the status category "done" (the green-colored statuses from Jira)

  • In progress - counts all the issues with the status category "in progress" (the blue-colored statuses from Jira)

  • New - counts all the issues with the status category "new" (the gray-colored statuses from Jira)

The columns of the selected board - when using this option, each column of the board has a corresponding band in the chart, displaying the number of issues in that column.
The issue statuses - when using this option, each workflow status that is mapped on the columns of the selected board has a corresponding band in the chart. If a filter is selected, the chart displays a band for each of the workflow statuses reached by the issues from the filter.
The category of the columns in the selected board - When using this option, the chart displays 3 bands:

  • Done - counts all the issues in the last column of the selected board.

  • In progress - counts all the issues in the middle column(s) of the selected board.

  • New - counts all the issues in the first column of the selected board.

More Settings tab

On this tab you can configure the optional settings of the gadget.

Setting

Description

Setting

Description

Show legend

Check this if you want the chart legend to be displayed.

Enable scroll zoom

Check this if you want to be able to zoom-in while scrolling with the mouse wheel over the chart.

Continue to display data after end date

Check this option if you want the chart to still display data even if the end date passed.

Hide weekends

Check this option if you want the chart not to show weekend days (Saturday and Sunday).

Display horizontal gridlines

Check this option if you want the chart to display gridlines for the vertical axis.

Refresh cached data at next display

This gadget uses data caching for faster display, which means that some data resulted after processing are saved and reused next time the gadget is loaded. If you check it, the cache of the gadget will be deleted and recreated at the next reload. This setting is not persistent.

Colors tab

Setting

Description

Setting

Description

Automatically assign colors

Check this if you want the chart to automatically assign colors for the series.

Custom colors

Select any custom color you want the series to be displayed on by either entering the color's hexadecimal code or picking a color.

By default, only the common series are listed, but you can use the Add (+) button to add additional series to the table.

You can also use the Copy and Import buttons to copy and import the color configuration to gadgets of the same type.

 

Related blog articles

The following blog articles provide more information on how to use this gadget.