Calculated Fields
Asked by Barry Neilson:

Hello all,

I am revisiting calculated fields. In using excel as a PM, I make extensive use of calculated formulas, etc. I've had a crack at Jira Automation - and let's be honest - Jira automations isn't great. Not really.

Why a complicated macro is required to perform a basic calculation between two fields is mystifying - not to mention the mounting costs just to run macros.

I am using an excel close app that's pretty good, but it doesn't (yet) offer this feature. I'm wondering if there is an app that someone can recommend that might provide this functionality. without the cost-per-macro-run model.

Cheers


Answers:
author: Danut M _StonikByte_
body: Hi [@Barry Neilson](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5564427),

Indeed, Jira is quite limited with this kind of math calculations and formulas. And exporting data to Excel is not always a handy job...

If you consider using an app, our [Great Gadgets](https://marketplace.atlassian.com/search?query=stonikbyte%20great%20gadgets%20agile) app offers some gadgets that might be very helpful for you.

**Advanced Issue Filter Formula gadget** - lets you calculate count, sum or average on the numeric field of the issues in up-to 6 filters and to combine them in custom math formulas like \[Field A\] + \[Field B\]. It is ideal for displaying filter count, sum-up field, calculate percentages or metrics based on custom math formulas.

![image.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/347652iF08EAD6B3F7257F6/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "image.png")

**Pivot Table \& Pivot Chart gadget** - allows you to create and display pivot table \& pivot charts with drag \& drop, just like in Excel. It is able to display multi-dimensional stats based on counts, sums, averages or percentages.

![image.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/347653i82876DD444B67EE7/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "image.png")

If you need any help with these gadgets, feel free to contact us at support@stonikbyte.com.

Danut.

comments: author: Barry Neilson
body: Thank you for this detail. It seems like a very comprehensive suite of gadgets.

Unfortunately, after trialing it, I found no easy method to calculate the difference between two dates. i.e. (\[Calculated Number of Days\] = \[End Date\] - \[Start Date\]). In addition, I found no way to select date fields. Dates are numeric (at least they are in Excel)

I need to calculate this at a minimum since every other calculation is based on this difference. including actual end dates and the variance between the plan end and actual end.

In any case, there are some useful and valuable tools here that I can take advantage of, so thank you for the tip.


author: Nikola Perisic
body: Hi [@Barry Neilson](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5564427)

I respect your opinion on the Jira automation. Have you tried using it and didn't work for you? Calculated fields is something that the automation covers. You would need to have three custom fields though (as a minimum to do the calculation). It can be done with the Edit issue fields action where you specify value of a custom field where the X's are the ID's of each custom field.

```
{{issue.customfield_xxxxx}}
```

comments: author: Barry Neilson
body: Thanks for your response. I used the Automation feature and was thoroughly surprised when, after spending hours building them in my test Jira, they suddenly stopped working.

I then discovered much to my astonishment, that macros were a limited use feature.

\[Field A\] + \[Field B\] = Uh oh, sorry but you've exceeded your macro limit for this month.

Seriously... the string of expletives issued from my mouth upon this revelation would have shocked the hardest coal miner.

I noted that an add-in I got promised this feature in their offering, although who knows the time of their development lifecycle. hence the reason for my request.

Thanks again.


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