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  1. Create Workflow Map using a Project Template

  2. Setup Issue Colors

  3. Enter JQL QueryDecide what JQL query to use

  4. Execute Query for Flow Metrics

1. Create Workflow Map using a Project Template

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Highlight important information in a panel like this one. To edit this panel's color or style, select one of the options in the menu.

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Only application administrators can create Workflow Maps.

Navigate to the following options in Jira's top menu:

Apps> Manage Your Apps>

Subsequently, access the following section in the Left Side Bar:

Delivery Flow Admin> Workflow Maps

Upon completion of these steps, you will be presented with a screen resembling the one below:

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Click on the New Map button. The New Workflow Map dialog will appear:

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Click on the Use existing project as a template selection box. The dropdown will list all projects in your Jira instance. All projects will appear with the project name and unique project key. Select the project that you wish to focus on. A Workflow Map Name is generated. Change if required and then click Create.

The newly created Workflow Map will now appear on the Workflow Maps Admin Page. This map has used the selected project to determine lanes and values in the workflow map. At this stage, you have the ability to edit the Workflow Map if it does not meet your exact requirements.

2. Setup Issue Colors

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Only application administrators can set Issue Colors.

This step is optional but recommended. Many graphs in Delivery Flow show data at an Issue Type level. By default, every Issue Type is represented by the color grey. Assigning colors to issue types helps with identification of issue types and also introduces consistency across your organisation as these are system settings.

Navigate to the Color Mapping Page from Jira's top menu:

Apps> Manage Your Apps>

Subsequently, access the following section in the Left Side Bar:

Delivery Flow Admin> Color Mapping

From here you can map colors to your issue types.

3. Decide what JQL Query to use

With Color and Workflow Map setup complete, all that is left to do to access your Flow Metrics is to enter and execute a JQL query that captures all the work you wish to measure. Your query however, requires a little thought. Typically you will need to consider the scope of the query. Do I want data for my team, a group of teams or the whole organisation. You also need to consider time. Some projects exist for a very long time. Just providing scope without providing a time limit may result in the retrieval of an excessive amount of irrelevant data. Here are some suggestions:

Focus on project used to create Workflow Map

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Project in (TEAM) AND updated >= startOfWeek(-12)

Hopefully, this is an obvious strategy. The Workflow Map we created in step 1 will be able to interpret the Jira workflow that these issues have travelled through, creating accurate metrics for all of the issues in the query. We used project TEAM in our example. Replace this value with the key of the project you selected. This Query also limits at the query to approximately 12 weeks worth of data.

Focus on project and specific issues

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Project in (TEAM) AND issuetype in (Story, Bug, Risk, Debt) AND updated >= startOfWeek(-12)

Ideally, we want to measure everything in the system but before we get to that, it may make sense to reduce the scope of your initial measurements. It's not unusual to initially focus of development activities only. Many projects contain issue types that represent work that exists outside development. The above query narrows the scope to the specific development issue types in this project. Amend the project and issue type values to what is most relevant in your environment.

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The options for your query are endless. Give some consideration to your requirement. In general, we are trying to ship products to our customers. Think about your product, the work and all the teams involved. The query that accurately encapsulates that is what you should be aiming for.