Automatically schedule work with plans in Jira
10 min
Intermediate
By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to:
- Utilize the auto-scheduler for plans
- Predict how data changes will affect the schedule
Use plans to schedule your work
In plans, the auto-scheduler takes the configured scope and resources in a plan to recommend a schedule. You can modify the recommended schedule as needed or implement it exactly as it is.
To auto-schedule work:
- In the timeline view, click Schedule work based on estimates (represented by a calendar icon).
- Choose to overwrite all values in the Sprint, Release, and Team fields, or only empty values.
- Click Preview results.
- Review the results, then click Accept changes.
👇To use the auto-scheduler, simply click the schedule icon.
Information the auto-scheduler uses
When auto-scheduling work, Jira considers several factors to create the ideal schedule for your teams:
- How your teams estimate work, like story points, days, or hours
- Whether your teams work in sprint iterations or a continuous flow of daily tasks
- The sprints that work in your plan is assigned to
- The ranking of the work items in the backlog
- The dependencies between work items in the backlog
- The sequence of work items based on start dates and due dates
You can change which date fields your plan uses as start and end dates. To do so, in Plan settings, click Scheduling.
You’ll also need to configure several other settings to ensure the scheduler has all of the information you need.
👇Click the tabs below to explore what you should configure.
You can set the estimation unit to either days, hours, or story points. This unit should be the same as the estimation unit used in the boards or projects that your plan includes.
To set the estimation unit:
- In Plan settings, in the sidebar, click Scheduling.
- Under Estimation, select the estimation unit you want to use.
The auto-scheduler will schedule work items that don’t have a story point or time estimate to last the entirety of their assigned sprint or version.
How the auto-scheduler impacts data
The auto-scheduler won’t change anything until you accept the changes it proposes. Even then, it will only impact the data as it appears in the plan—not in the rest of Jira. To implement changes across Jira, you have to accept the changes in the plan using the Unsaved changes button.
When you auto-schedule, you can configure whether the schedule will overwrite field values in work items for the Sprint, Release, and Team fields. You can overwrite all values or only empty values only for each of these three fields.
👉 For example: A work item was assigned to Sprint 1 when it was first created in Jira. Based on values for all the other work, the auto-scheduler has determined that work item should move to Sprint 2. If you’ve given the auto-scheduler permission to overwrite existing sprint values, it will move the work item to Sprint 2. If you haven’t given the auto-scheduler overwrite permission, it has to leave the work item in Sprint 1.
You can add the Sprint, Release, and Team fields to your timeline view to better understand the proposed schedule. To do so, click the Fields section header, then search for and add these fields.
Let’s explore an example!
Rama used the auto-scheduler for his plan. The proposed schedule is great, but Rama wants to change a few things.
First, Rama accepts all of the changes proposed by the auto-scheduler into the plan. Since the schedule was mostly correct, it’s easier to modify the few changes in the plan, rather than discard the auto-schedule entirely.
Flags indicate what the auto-scheduler has changed, making it easy for Rama to identify what he needs to review.
👇Rama will click Accept changes to accept the auto-schedule into the plan.
Remember, even though Rama has accepted the changes to the plan, he hasn’t yet changed any data in Jira. Plans don’t impact your Jira data unless you click Unsaved changes and then save the selected changes to Jira.
👇The Unsaved changes button enables you to review every individual change and determine whether it actually is implemented in Jira.
Rama makes a few adjustments to dates and durations in the schedule:
- The auto-scheduler placed work item TA-18 in a later sprint. Rama just found out that the contractor working on this work item isn’t renewing their contract, and he needs them to finish this work item before they leave. Rama drags the work item higher, ranking it above others in the plan. He auto-schedules again and the work item is moved to an earlier sprint.
- The auto-scheduler placed work item TA-7 on the schedule to start on March 1, but they need it to start on February 10. Rama drags the bar representing that work item to start on February 10.
Now, Rama wants to implement these changes in Jira, so he clicks Unsaved changes, selects his changes, and clicks Save changes.
👇Clicking Save changes actually implements your schedule changes on work items.
How was this lesson?
next lesson
Define dependencies between work with plans in Jira
- What are dependencies?
- Map multiple dependencies to a work item
- Create a dependency
- View the Dependencies report