Configure system fields in Jira
15 min
Advanced
By the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to:
- Describe what Jira admins can configure for system fields
- Configure statuses, priorities, and resolutions
What are system fields?
System fields are default fields in Jira. Both company-managed and team-managed projects use them. You can’t delete system fields, and you likely wouldn’t want to. They uniquely identify work, name work items for users, communicate work status across Jira, enable time tracking and collaboration, and more.
System fields include:
- Work type
- Project
- Work item key
- Summary
- Description
- Reporter
- Assignee
- Status
- Resolution
- PriorityÂ
- Original estimate
- Remaining estimate
- Security level
- Comments
If you've enabled project features, like sprints or estimation, you’ll see additional system fields related to these features.
System fields have different types, like short text, numbers, multi-select lists, and more. The type determines how users can add a value for that field.
👉 For example: Users can search and select from a list of users for the Assignee field. They can’t manually type in a name; they must select a user from the list.
Many system fields are optional by default. Users don’t have to enter a value in them unless you set them as required in a field configuration.
Users must always enter a value in the Summary fields. The Work type and Project fields will have a default value, but users can change it. Jira automatically assigns a value to Work item key, Updated, and Creator, and users can’t edit them.
System fields impacted by permissions
For most fields, users only need Create and Edit permissions to use them. However, certain system fields require certain permissions to use them:
- Due date: Users need the Schedule Work Items permission.
- Fix versions: Users need the Resolve Work Items permission.
- Security level: Users need the Set Work Item Security permission.
- Assignee: Users need the Assign Work Item and Browse Users and Groups permissions.
- Reporter: Users need the Modify Reporter and Browse Users and Groups permissions.
- Voters and Watchers: Users need the View Voters and Watchers permission to see the values in this field.
- Time tracking fields: Users need the Work on Work Items permission.
System fields used in search
You can use system fields in Jira search. Some system fields that don’t appear in conventional field areas on work items are particularly useful:
- You can search for text in the Comments field.
- You can search based on the work item link type (workItemLinkType).
- You can search based on the Updated field.
- You can search based on the work ratio (workratio), which Jira calculates from the time tracking fields.
👉 For example: The JQL query workratio>100 will return all underestimated work, and workratio <100 will return all overestimated work.
Configure system fields
Jira admins can hide system fields in field configurations, screens, and layouts for work items if they aren’t relevant to a project’s work. But, be careful when you remove system fields from a user's views as they’re often important.
👉 For example: If you remove the Summary field from a Create screen, users won’t be able to enter a summary value and, therefore won’t be able to create a work item.
You can only edit most system fields in a limited way, like changing their name, but not their description. However, Jira admins can configure specific values for some system fields, like Priority, Resolution, Status, Work type, Work item links, and Security level.
When you configure values for system fields, make sure to name them clearly. Users across your site will use them, so it should be obvious when to use different values. Otherwise, your data can get cluttered.
Configure values for the Priority field
The Priority field defines a work item's importance in relation to other work. You can use the Priority field in board swimlanes, card colors, the backlog, filters, dashboards, and more.
👉 For example: Users can mark work as the Highest priority so they know to work on them as soon as possible.
Jira has default priority values (Highest, High, Medium, Low, and Lowest), but Jira admins can configure them. You can edit, reorder, add, and delete priorities. You can also change their icons and colors and set a default. We recommend you choose a low- or medium-level default priority so that higher priority work is more noticeable.
All projects share a single set of priorities, including team and company-managed projects.Â
To configure values for the Priority field:
- In the upper-right corner of Jira, select Settings (represented by a gear icon).
- Under Jira admin settings, select Work items.
- In the sidebar, under Priorities, select Priorities.
- To add a new priority, select Add priority.
- Enter a name, description, icon, and color, then click Add priority.
- Next to any priority, you can edit or delete it by clicking the icons.
- If you hover over a priority with your cursor, you can reorder the priorities by clicking and dragging and dropping the priority.
If you rename a priority, you’ll have to update it in filters and automation rules. If you delete a priority, you have to select another priority for work items that currently use the deleted priority.
Priority is similar to Rank, though some teams use them differently. Rank is simply the order work is in on the board or in the backlog. Priority is a field with configurable values.
👇 Watch this video to learn how to configure priorities.
Configure values for the Resolution field
The Resolution field defines how work is completed. You can use it in search, dashboards, and more.
👉 For example: A user no longer needs to do a work item as it was deprioritized. The user changes the status to Done, then selects a resolution of “Won’t Do.”
The Resolution field shouldn’t appear on screens, like Create and View, but instead on the screen for a workflow’s transition to Done. When users set a work item's status to Done, a window should appear with an option to set a resolution.
👇 This is where users set a resolution.
The value of the Resolution field when a work item isn’t yet done is Unresolved.
Jira has default resolutions (Done, Won't Do, Duplicate, and Cannot Reproduce), but Jira admins can configure them. You can add, rename, and delete resolutions. You can also reorder resolutions so that the most commonly used resolutions are higher in the list for users.
All company-managed projects share a single set of resolutions. Team-managed projects don’t have resolutions.
To configure values for the Resolution field:
- In the upper-right corner of Jira, select Settings (represented by a gear icon).
- Under Jira admin settings, select Work items.
- In the sidebar, under Work item attributes, select Resolutions.
- At the bottom of the page, add a new resolution by entering a name and description, then selecting Add.
- Next to any resolution, in the Actions column, you can edit, delete, or set a resolution as default.
- Next to any resolution, in the Order column, you can click the arrows to move a resolution up or down. This changes the order of the resolutions for users in the drop-down menu.
If you rename a resolution, you’ll have to update it in filters and automation rules. If you delete a resolution, you have to select another resolution for work that currently uses the deleted resolution.
👇 Watch this video to learn how to configure resolutions.
Configure values for the Status field
The Status field represents the position of the work itme within a workflow. It’s a key field in Jira and every work item must have a status.
👉 For example: A user changes a work item's status from To Do to In Progress when they start working on it.
Unlike priorities and resolutions, the values for the Status field are not the same in every company-managed project. The same set of statuses is available to all company-managed projects, but the projects will only use the statuses defined in their workflow configuration.
For team-managed projects, project admins create statuses that are unique to their project. They can create up to 100 statuses per project.
There are default statuses for company-managed projects, but Jira admins can configure them. You can add, rename, and delete statuses. If you rename a status, you’ll have to update it in filters and automation rules. If you want to delete a status, you must remove it from all workflows first.
Each status has a status category that determines the status’s color. The status categories are To Do, In Progress, and Done. You can’t add more status categories or edit the existing ones. When you create a status, you’ll assign it to one of these categories.
To configure values for the Status field:
- In the upper-right corner of Jira, select Settings (represented by a gear icon).
- Under Jira admin settings, select Work items.
- In the sidebar, under Work item attributes, select Statuses.
- At the top of the page, select Add status.
- Select a name, description, status category, and icon.
- Click Add.
- Next to any status, in the Actions column, you can edit or delete statuses. You'll only see the option to delete a status if no workflow uses it.
- Next to any status, in the Order column, you can click the arrows to move a status up or down. This changes the order of the statuses in dashboard gadgets, but otherwise has no impact.
Jira admins can also add statuses while editing workflows and board configurations. These statuses will appear on the Jira administration Statuses page.
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next lesson
Create and configure custom fields in Jira
- What are custom fields?
- Create a custom field for company-managed projects
- Create a custom field for team-managed projects
- Let’s explore an example!