Option for admins to enable/disable 'Number of Days' in Column feature in Scrum boards and Kanban boards
Platform Notice: Data Center Only - This article only applies to Atlassian products on the Data Center platform.
Note that this KB was created for the Data Center version of the product. Data Center KBs for non-Data-Center-specific features may also work for Server versions of the product, however they have not been tested. Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.
*Except Fisheye and Crucible
Summary
As part of Agile board configuration in Jira according to Configuring Board Columns users or admins can choose to enable 'Days in column' feature on Scrum Board and Kanban Boards. This is definitely an useful option for admins as this can contribute significantly to performance issues in larger instances having large number of issues as part of the board filters.
Solution
Environment
Jira Server, Data Center 8.X versions and above.
Feature Working Logic
This feature basically shows a series of dots on each card (up to the width of the card or a maximum of 32), representing the number of days that the issue has been in the column. This can help you see issues that are stagnating — this is particularly useful when your board is displayed as a wallboard.
Note that if you move an issue back to one of the columns that you moved it into previously, the indicator reflects a cumulative value of the number of days the issue stayed in that column.
For example, you move an issue to the 'In Progress' column and it stays there for 2 days. You then move the issue to the 'Code Review' column and it stays there for 1 day. During code review, you receive feedback, which requires more development work for the issue, so you move the issue back to the 'In Progress' column and it stays there for 1 day. In this example, the indicator reflects the cumulative value of 3 days for the issue in the 'In Progress' column.
ℹ️ Disabling this indicator can improve performance. If you have a large instance (i.e. 300,000+ issues, 100+ projects, 100+ boards, or 100+ open sprints), we recommend that you disable this.
References: Kanban boards are slow to load in Jira Software
How to Enable this option as part of the Board Configurations
This requires the users to have admin rights for the specific board in use. Admin privileges for the boards may be obtained as part of of jira-administrators, project-administrator groups or as part of board-administrator role.
Choose to configure the board: 'Board → Configuration → Columns → Days in Column (checkbox)'.
Once enabled, the board cards will show a series of dots on each card (up to the width of the card or a maximum of 32), representing the number of days that the issue has been in the column. Refer the screenshot shared for reference.
How to Disable this option as part of Global Configurations
This can be achieved by navigating to the site specific base url and in specific Jira Software Configurations: '<Jira_BaseURL>/secure/SoftwareConfig.jspa?decorator=admin'.
Look for 'Days in column' option and uncheck it. This should disable the option from the 'Board Configurations --> Column Management' and will make it disappear from the GUI for user.
Follow the same procedure if you want to re-enable the same for users as part of global configurations (screenshots shared for reference on changes).
Conclusions:
Based on the user base and size of the instance admins can choose to enable/disable this functionality for both Scrum/Kanban boards.
This is specifically to be considered as part of validation actions when the users report the performance issues on loading the boards or when the load times are generally trending in a higher direction.
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