Applies to: Jira Cloud

Last updated: 2026-04-27

This page explains Jira issue health score metrics used by Work Items Health Check for Jira Cloud. It covers how grades are calculated from weighted metrics like cycle time, lead time, flow efficiency, blocked time, due date risk, sprint health, linked issues, and reassignment stability.

1 Overview
2 How Grading Works
- 2.1 Grade Scale
- 2.2 Overall Grade Calculation
3 Health Score Metrics
- 3.1 Cycle Time Metric
- 3.2 Lead Time Metric
- 3.3 Flow Efficiency Metric
- 3.4 Returns Metric
- 3.5 Time in Blocked Status Metric
- 3.6 Due Date Check Metric
  - 3.6.1 Grade A — On Track
  - 3.6.2 Grade B — At Risk
  - 3.6.3 Grade C — Overdue (Minor)
  - 3.6.4 Grade D — Critical
- 3.7 Work Log Overdue Metric
  - 3.7.1 Grade A — On Track
  - 3.7.2 Grade B — Nearing Limit
  - 3.7.3 Grade C — Over Budget
  - 3.7.4 Grade D — Severely Over Budget
- 3.8 Sprint Health Metric
  - 3.8.1 Grade A — Healthy
  - 3.8.2 Grade B — Caution
  - 3.8.3 Grade C — At Risk
  - 3.8.4 Grade D — Critical
- 3.9 Linked Issues Metric
- 3.10 Reassignment Check Metric
4 Overall Weight Reference

Use this page to:
- Understand how the overall issue health grade (A–D) is calculated
- See definitions, formulas, and thresholds for each health metric
- Learn how metric weights influence the overall grade
- Interpret N/A (not applicable) metrics correctly across teams
Key takeaways:
- The overall grade is a weighted average of applicable metrics
- Metrics marked N/A are excluded from the calculation
- Due Date Check and Sprint Health have the highest default weight (5 each)
- Time-based metrics highlight bottlenecks and delivery risks

Overview

Issue Health Score provides a comprehensive, at-a-glance assessment of every work item in your Jira project. Each issue receives an overall grade (A through D) derived from a set of weighted parameters that evaluate flow efficiency, time tracking, dates and milestones, sprint discipline, and more.

The goal is to surface risks early, highlight bottlenecks, and give teams a shared language for discussing issue quality without manual triage.

How Grading Works

Grade Scale

Every parameter produces one of four grades:

Grade	Numeric Value	Meaning

Grade	Numeric Value	Meaning
A	1	Healthy — no action needed
B	2	Caution — monitor closely
C	3	At risk — intervention recommended
D	5	Critical — immediate action required

Overall Grade Calculation

The overall grade is the weighted average of all applicable parameter scores, converted back to a letter grade.

Formula:

Overall Score = Σ (Parameter Score × Weight) / Σ (Weights)

The resulting number is rounded to the nearest whole number and mapped back to a grade.

Example:

Parameter	Grade	Score	Weight

Parameter	Grade	Score	Weight
Cycle Time	A	1	2
Lead Time	B	2	2
Due Date	C	3	5
Sprint Health	D	1	5

(1×2 + 2×2 + 3×5 + 1×5) / (2 + 2 + 5 + 5) = 26 / 14 = 1.86 → Rounded to 2 → Grade B

Note: If a parameter is not applicable to an issue (e.g. no due date is set), it is excluded from both the numerator and the denominator.

Health Score Metrics

Cycle Time Metric

Name	Value

Name	Value
Weight	2
Definition	Total time spent in In Progress statuses (`statusCategory = "In Progress"`).
Metric displayed	Cycle time duration

Grades:

Grade	Condition

Grade	Condition
A	Less than 24 hours
B	24–48 hours
C	48–120 hours
D	120+ hours

Lead Time Metric

Name	Value

Name	Value
Weight	2
Definition	Time from issue creation to the current date (if still open) or to the last transition into a Done status (`statusCategory = "Done"`).
Metric displayed	Lead time duration

Grades:

Grade	Condition

Grade	Condition
A	Less than 1 week
B	1–2 weeks
C	2–4 weeks
D	4+ weeks

Flow Efficiency Metric

Name	Value

Name	Value
Weight	2
Definition	Ratio of productive in-progress time to total lead time, excluding impediment time.
Formula	`(Time in Yellow − Impediment Time in Yellow) / Lead Time × 100%`
Metric displayed	Flow efficiency percentage

Grades:

Grade	Condition

Grade	Condition
A	90%+
B	80–90%
C	60–80%
D	Below 60%

Returns Metric

Name	Value

Name	Value
Weight	2
Definition	Number of times an issue has been moved back to a previously visited status.
Metric displayed	Number of returns per status (only statuses with returns > 0 are shown)

Grades:

Grade	Condition

Grade	Condition
A	0 returns
B	Less than 2
C	2–5
D	5+

Time in Blocked Status Metric

Name	Value

Name	Value
Weight	2
Definition	Total duration the impediment flag was set or the issue was in a "Blocked" status. Administrators can configure which statuses count as blocked.
Metric displayed	Time in blocked status with the comment/reason for each blocking period

Grades:

Grade	Condition

Grade	Condition
A	Less than 24 hours
B	24–36 hours
C	36–48 hours
D	48+ hours

Due Date Check Metric

Name	Value

Name	Value
Weight	5
Definition	Evaluates the relationship between the current date, the due date, and the issue's status category. If no due date is set, this parameter is excluded from the score.
Metric displayed	Days until/past due date

Status categories used:

🔵 Blue = To Do (statusCategory = "To Do")
🟡 Yellow = In Progress (statusCategory = "In Progress")
🟢 Green = Done (statusCategory = "Done")

Grade A — On Track

Sub-grade	Status	Condition	Hint

Sub-grade	Status	Condition	Hint
A.1	🟢 Green	Due date ≤ date of last transition to Green	Completed before due date.
A.2	🟡 Yellow / Other	Due date − today > 1 day	In progress with sufficient time remaining.
A.3	🔵 Blue	Due date − today > 2 days	Not started but due date is comfortably ahead.
A.4	🟡 Yellow / Other	Due date − today = 1 day	In progress — due tomorrow, still on track.
A.5	🔵 Blue	Due date − today = 2 days	Not started — due in 2 days, still acceptable.

Grade B — At Risk

Sub-grade	Status	Condition	Hint

Sub-grade	Status	Condition	Hint
B.1	🟡 Yellow	Due date = today	In progress but due today — delivery at risk.
B.2	🔵 Blue	Due date − today = 1 day	Not started and due tomorrow.

Grade C — Overdue (Minor)

Sub-grade	Status	Condition	Hint

Sub-grade	Status	Condition	Hint
C.1	🔵 Blue	Due date = today	Not started and due today — delivery very unlikely.
C.2	🟡 Yellow / Other	Due date = today − 1 day	In progress but overdue by one day.
C.3	🔵 Blue	Due date = today − 1 day	Not started and overdue by one day.
C.4	🟢 Green	Due date = last Green transition + 1 day	Completed but overdue by one day.

Grade D — Critical

Sub-grade	Status	Condition	Hint

Sub-grade	Status	Condition	Hint
D.1	≠ 🟢 Green	Due date ≤ today − 2 days	Overdue by 2+ days — immediate action required.
D.2	🟢 Green	Due date = last Green transition + 2 days or more	Completed but overdue by 2+ days.

Work Log Overdue Metric

Name	Value

Name	Value
Weight	2
Definition	Compares time spent (plus remaining estimate) against the original estimate.
Formula	`Burn Rate = Time Spent / Original Estimate × 100%`
Metric displayed	`(Time Spent + Remaining Estimate) / Original Estimate × 100%`

Grade A — On Track

Sub-grade	Condition	Hint

Sub-grade	Condition	Hint
A.1	(Time Spent + Remaining) ≤ Original Estimate AND Burn Rate < 95%	Within budget, healthy burn rate.
A.2	Time Spent = 0 AND Original Estimate > 0	No time logged yet — item is planned.
A.3	Status = Done AND Remaining Estimate = 0	Complete — delivery outcome determines grade.

Grade B — Nearing Limit

Sub-grade	Condition	Hint

Sub-grade	Condition	Hint
B	(Time Spent + Remaining) ≤ Original Estimate AND Burn Rate ≥ 95%	Most of the estimate consumed — risk of overrun.

Boundary note: Lower bound is inclusive (≥ 0.95). With consistent data the ratio cannot exceed 1.0 while the budget condition holds.

Grade C — Over Budget

Sub-grade	Condition	Hint

Sub-grade	Condition	Hint
C	(Time Spent + Remaining) > Original Estimate AND Burn Rate ≥ 100% AND Burn Rate < 120%	Over budget by up to 20%.

Boundary note: Lower bound inclusive (≥ 1.0), upper bound strict (< 1.2).

Grade D — Severely Over Budget

Sub-grade	Condition

Sub-grade	Condition