EasyTime Glossary

These are the terms we use in our Getting Started with EasyTime guide, our FAQ and our list of Features.

Minimal Unit of Time: 

This controls the length of time of an individually created work log. For example, if "15 Minutes" is selected, a comment on an issue will create a 15-minute work log. For more details, see: Record time in predefined increments.

Default Value: 15 Minutes

Align time records to the closest time slot:

If the box is checked, work logs will be created starting at times aligned to a grid of time slots, with the length equal to the chosen minimal unit of time. For example, if "align time records" is checked and the minimal unit of time is 15 minutes, work logs could be created at 9:00 AM, 9:15 AM, 9:30 AM etc. For more details, see: work logs aligned to time grid.

Default Value: False

Ignore Configuration:

Any issues that match this JQL query will not have any time logged by EasyTime against them. For more details, see: Customisable exclusion filter

Default Value: empty

Examples:

Track only project "SD" and "TEST":

project NOT IN (TEST,SD)

Exclude project TEST or any issue that is already done:

project = TEST or statusCategory = Done 

Only track issues that are in progress:

statusCategory not in ("In Progress")

Tracked Groups:

You can select the Jira groups that you would like to have tracked. When you start typing the name of a group, possible options will be displayed. If a user is in multiple tracked groups, that is fine, their work logs will be created by EasyTime as per usual.

We recommend starting out tracking a few small groups to ensure EasyTime is configured to your requirements correctly. For more details, see: Only track allowlisted groups.

Default Value: empty

External Comment work log:

The default message for the work log to be created when a comment is shared with a customer. For more details, see: Configurable messages and Tracked events

Default Value: "External comment event logged by EasyTime Automation"

Comment work log:

The default message for the work log to be created when a user from a tracked group comments on a tracked issue. For more details, see: Configurable messages and Tracked events

Default Value: "Comment event logged by EasyTime Automation"

Internal Comment work log:

The default message for the work log to be created when an internal comment is added to an issue. For more details, see: Configurable messages and Tracked events

Default Value: "Internal comment event logged by EasyTime Automation"

View Work log:

The default message for the work log to be created when a user from a tracked group views a tracked issue.  For more details, see: Configurable messages and Tracked events

Default Value: "View event logged by EasyTime Automation"

Resolve / Close Work log

The default message for the work log to be created when a user from a tracked group resolves a tracked issue.  For more details, see: Configurable messages and Tracked events

Default Value: "Resolution logged by EasyTime Automation"

Event Priorities

Event priorities control what events are deemed more important than the others.

For example, if a user from a tracked group views a tracked issue, that triggers a View event and creates a work log with the corresponding message.

If the user then switches to another issue and leaves a comment, this triggers a higher-priority event. If both events occurred in the same time slot, the lower priority work log will be deleted, i.e. the higher priority one will override the lower priority one.

If the second event is only a view, then the second work log will not be created.

You can control which events are considered more important by changing the order or event types in this list.

For example, to make "comments" a higher priority than issue resolutions, you could use the following configuration:

For more details, see: Priority of events.

Default Value: "work log Created Manually", "Issue Resolved or Closed", "Comment Shared with Customer", "Internal comment in JSD", "Comment on Issue", "View Tracking Event"

Merging Configuration

Merging work logs means that two consecutive events on the same tracked issue will create a single work log in Jira. If both events are of the same priority - they will always be merged.

By default, a work log for a subsequent higher priority event is merged with the preceding work log for a lower priority event e.g. if the user views the issue for 15 minutes, then leaves a comment. The merged work log will have the message that corresponds to the comment event.

If you would like the subsequent work logs for lower priority events to merge with preceding work logs for higher priority events, you can select "Merge lower priority items".

If you would like to always create separate work logs when the priority is different, you can uncheck both "Merge Higher Priority Items" and "Merge lower priority items".

We strongly recommend keeping "View Tracking Event" at the bottom of the list and "work logs Created Manually" at the top to avoid unexpected behaviour.

For more details see: Merge higher priority work logs and overwrite the message and Merge lower priority work logs to extend higher priority ones.

Default values:

Merge Higher Priority: Checked

Merge Lower Priority: Not checked

Silent Merge

If the time interval between the end of the last work log and the current work log is less than this limit, the two work logs will be automatically merged into a single work log. This applies to all event types, including comments and issue resolutions

For example:

• A user views an issue - this creates a 15-minute work log
• The user works on the issue for 25 minutes (e.g. outside Jira)
• User returns to Jira to view the issue again

A single continuous work log will be automatically created on the issue if the silent merge limit is more than 10 minutes. (The time between the end of the last work log and the start of the new work log)

For more details, see: Merge sequential work logs silently

Default value: 15 minutes

Noisy Merge

If the time interval between the end of the last work log and the start of the new work log is less than the prompt to merge limit, the user will be presented the option to extend the previous work log or to create a new work log.

Note: EasyTime only prompts on issue view events, not comments or resolutions

For example:

• A user views an issue - this creates a 15-minute work log
• The user works on the issue for 1 hour (e.g. outside Jira)
• User returns to Jira to view the issue again

If the silent merge setting is less than 45 minutes and the prompt to merge is greater than 45 minutes, the user will be asked if they want to extend the existing work log or create a new one.

For more details, see: Prompt to merge distant work logs

Default Value: 2 hours.

More information

Find EasyTime on Atlassian Marketplace, install via UPM, do the minimal configuration as per our Getting Started with EasyTime guide, review our FAQ  and the full list of EasyTime Features. Enjoy consistent and accurate timesheets in real-time.