Jira App recommendation: Report Builder: Timesheets and Data Analysis

Economical reporting in Jira

As an Atlassian Platinum Marketplace Partner, we trust in Jira's functionality. The software is ideal for error and problem tracking, product design, and project management to maintain an overview in everyday work. Flexible teamwork, independent of time and place, transparent task assignment, and precise feedback functions: Jira leaves nothing to be desired.

Almost.

Although the Agile tool offers some already implemented reporting features, the default settings cannot meet all specific requirements of every company. Therefore, there are some add-ons available on the Atlassian Marketplace that extend the Jira reporting functions.

We have chosen to test “Report Builder: Timesheets and Data Analysis” from Actonic. One thing to point out before we start with our review: Just the recently published Report Builder Universal Report proves that this extension really provides ingenious solutions for every company!

What is Report Builder: Timesheets and Data Analysis?

Report Builder is an extension developed and constantly improved by our partner Actonic. It allows you to create customizable and powerful timesheets and reports in no time. Its Drag-and-drop capability will enable you to quickly and easily record times for your tasks, which you can also edit directly in the app. You can even use HTML or JavaScript to create custom reports with complete flexibility.

Have you ever wondered how many billable hours your team booked for a particular project? Do you want to compare last month's productivity to the previous one? How do you manage your team's capacity? For all these questions, Report Builder helps answer. And if you want to add unique options and calculations to your reports, Actonic is always available to help you customize your reports.

The best features

• Works absolutely the same way for any Jira setup (cloud, data center, server & Jira core/software/service management)
• 100% web-based solution that does not store any data outside of your Jira instance
• Optimal resource and process overview
• Individual timesheets including different views
• Simple and clear team management and project management
• All reports can be exported to Excel, CSV or PDF

This is how Report Builder is structured

The app consists of three different modules.

1. My Timesheets

Here you will find the basis to create your own reports. Each team member can manage working time per issue and track their own performance. You can filter the timesheets by parameters such as user, project or issue.

In the calendar view, you can display months or even weeks and edit them.

On the right side of the screenshot, you can see a selection of issues that you can simply drag and drop into your timesheet to track your time. As a second way, you can also simply click on the corresponding day and time and use the blue plus to create a new time frame.

2. Teams

To make your reports even richer, you can create teams with Report Builder and link them to Jira projects. For example, in the screenshot below, you can see how to create a "Marketing Team" team, the lead demo admin, and an example description.

Teams are an excellent way to create highly detailed reports and to plan project times economically. Once you have created a team, you can easily add multiple users at the same time.

3. Reports

The most powerful and interesting module is that of reports. The gallery alone shows a wide range of possibilities.

The so-called Quick Reports are outlined in yellow. They are ready-to-use report templates and are meant for efficient and easy report creation with just a few clicks. In addition, you can make adjustments by using filters.

Quick Reports cannot be changed in their layout or code; there are Scripted Reports for this purpose. They allow you to customize your reports using HTML and JavaScript. For this, a custom calculation algorithm, parameters, and design libraries are used. Finally, the requirements for reports differ from company to company. Therefore, coding your own report can significantly simplify the customization of your analyses.

One report for all cases: Report Builder Universal Report

Actonic has created a brand-new report called Report Builder Universal Report. This report is the “Swiss army knife” of reports and fits every conceivable use case for any company.

The highlight: Even without in-depth programming knowledge, you can configure the built-in reports and present even the most complex scenarios in a visually appealing way.

Progress tracking, review of projects in defined periods, timeline, pivot or pie chart reports can be edited individually and with little effort.

View your customized report directly or export it as CSV, XLS or PDF.

The advantages of this report

• Perform complex calculations for different scenarios
• Quick and engaging visualization of dynamic changes
• Access to real-time data for decision-making
• Customization of standard reports in Jira

Also, check out a tutorial about the Universal Report to get started even better!

Features of Report Builder:

Conclusion

Report Builder from Actonic has completely convinced us. It is an all-round solution for Jira reports, whereby simple handling and individual adjustments speak for themselves. The Quick and Scripted Reports developed so far had already made the extension an enrichment. With the new Universal Report, however, the app can now really map every conceivable scenario.

So no more wasting time on filling in countless fields for time tracking or visualizing reports manually. With the new report, even users who have no programming skills can create specific reports.

Report Builder not only makes your work life easier, but also takes personal pressure out of your daily routine. That is because the created reports are free from human editing errors. It remains for us to say: Thank you, Actonic, for this innovation!

About Actonic

Actonic is an Atlassian Gold Solution Partner and considers IT to be the solution to everyday problems. Therefore, they offer consulting as well as support and training in the Atlassian tool stack and are continuously working on smart extensions that make Atlassian tools even more efficient.