You can log work as you are used from JIRA. ictime enhances the existing log work screen and adds some convenience features for logging work faster and more efficiently, like resuming an existing work log or accessing the last work log from the "My Last Work Log" panel on the issue screen or the "Recent Work Log" list in the ictime navigation. This chapter describes how to create, edit, resume and delete work logs on the view issue screen. Please also refer to Managing Work Logs (Issue Screen).

You can also create, edit, resume and delete work logs directly from your timesheet without having to navigate to an issue in JIRA (see My Timesheet), or you can create new work logs directly from the JIRA navigation bar (see Log Work (JIRA Navigation)).

Log Work Options from Issue Screen

In general, you find the option to create a new work log in all places where JIRA provides it:

More Actions/Log Work
JIRA Time Tracking Panel
My Last Work Log Panel (added by ictime).

You can simply use the "Log Work" option in the "More Actions" dropdown.

Or click on the

icon on one of the web panels on the right of the screen:

Apart from the view issue screen, the log work option might also appear on other screens during workflow transitions. By default, this is the case e.g. for the "resolve issue" screen. See Custom Log Work Field for more information.

In addition, you can open this screen from the JIRA issue navigator (Actions/Log Work).

Log Work Screen

When creating new work logs, a separate window is opened. ictime adds some additional fields to the JIRA log work screen.

It depends on your ictime configuration which fields are available (see table below and Global Add-on Configuration).

The following table describes all fields, including the ones that are present in the JIRA default log work screen:

Field	Description	Configurable	Remarks
Date Started	Date, shows today's date for new work logs.		You can change the date into the past or future, too.
Time	Log work/time as a time span/period "from-to" (start-end time). Use the icon to enter your current system time for "from" and "to".	Available yes/no, see Global Add-on Configuration. Force time tracking without overlapping work logs, see Global Add-on Configuration.	You log e.g. from 12:34 to 14:56, and ictime calculates the result for you (displayed as read-only field behind the time fields). The result of from/to has to be > 0 as JIRA does not allow saving work logs with a result of 0. If you use the clock icons to insert the current time in from/to, they will automatically create an offset of 1 minute so that your entry won't be 0. If you (only) use this way to log work, you can force users to log work without having overlapping start/end times (see Global Add-on Configuration). Depending on your configurationen, users will just get a warning or won't be able to log work if start and/or end time of one work log overlaps with the start/end time of an existing work log of the same user. Possible time format is taken from your individual JIRA time and date configuration (see Time & Date Settings); that means that we support all time & date formats you can define in JIRA. However, the defined format is the only format you can use to enter time/date (we can't support multiple different formats at a time).
Time Spent	Log work/time as a result. This is the default way you log work in JIRA.	Available yes/no, see Global Add-on Configuration.	e.g. as 12 or 12h, according to your JIRA time tracking configuration. You can find this configuraion under: Administration - System - Issue Features - Time Tracking (time estimates & default unit for time tracking)
Corrected Result	You can enter a time value that is different from the "time spent" value or the calculated result of logging work with a start and end time.	Available yes/no, see Global Add-on Configuration.	Used to charge more or less time than the time that had been spent. In the financial summary of a report, the corrected result will be taken instead of "time spent" or the calculated result of logging work with a start and end time (see Reports: Summary & Analysis). Rounding rules (see Project Rounding Rule) are ignored in this case, the time value is taken exactly like entered by the user.
Remaining Estimate	Various (JIRA) options to set or calculate the remaining estimate, if a work estimate has been done for the issue.		See Work Estimates, Remaining Estimate.
No Charge	Mark a work log as not be be charged and enter an optional comment/reason.	Available yes/no, see Global Add-on Configuration.	In the financial summary of a report, the work log would be only considered in the "No Charge" section of the report (see Reports: Summary & Analysis). An administrative user can change this setting when editing work logs, e.g. during the process of preparing an invoice in the Reporting section. See Reports: Work Log Details.
Activity	Choose an activity type to categorise your work.	Available yes /no, see Configure Activity Types.	This is only available and mandatory if you have not globally deactivated activity types (see Configure Activity Types).
Work Description	Description of your work.		Mandatory.

It is up to you whether you log work as a result ("time spent") or a time span. You can use both methods for the same issue and can also change this for a work log when editing or resuming a work log. If you switch from "span/period" to "result" and save, of course you will loose start and end time for this work log. If you switch from result to span/period, of course you will need to set a suitable start and end time.

It is up to you if you prefer logging time spans/periods or time results. Logging work as time span has the following advantages:

If it is about being exact, and about strictly avoiding that people start to make notes on time spent on paper or in files and register the (rough) result later on in JIRA, the proper way is to register time "from" and "to".
This also includes the option to register exactly, but to apply a rounding rule for invoicing purposes (you won't charge 6 minutes for support, but probably 15 or 30 minutes as minimum - but it is still nice that you can see that only 6 minutes had been required to solve the issue).
Finally logging work as time span gives you the oportunity to force time tracking without overlapping work logs (see Global Add-on Configuration).

Resume, Edit & Delete Work Logs

Access Your Work Logs (View Issue Screen)

On the issue screen, all your work logs appear at different places:

Activity / JIRA Work Log Tab

Activity / My Work Log Tab

This tab is added by ictime.

"My Last Work Log" Panel

Only your last work log appears here. in the

Resume Work Log

Resuming a work log means to create a new work log with exactly the data of the existing one, but pre-populating date field and time fields (if applicable) according to the current date and time. This is basically like "copying" an existing work log.

This feature is useful if you e.g. are making a break and after your break, resume your work. This is why we call it "resume" and not simply "copy". You save time as data is already pre-populated. Do not get confused with the opreation of editing an existing work log, resuming really creates a new work log.

On issue level, the feature is available either

in the "My Work Log" tab
or in the "My Last Work Log" panel.

Click the icon

to resume the respective work log. The interface is basically the same like for creating a new work log (see above), but not opened in a separate window. Date and time fields are pre-populated according to the current date (and time, if you have logged work as time span). You can modify all fields.

If you can resume a work log depends on

the ictime project status (you can't create new work logs any longer if the project status is "inactive" or "closed")
and the JIRA issue status (you can't create new work logs for closed issues).

Edit Work Log

On issue level, the feature is available either in the

JIRA "Work Log" tab,
the "My Work Log" tab
or in the "My Last Work Log" panel.

The interface is basically the same like for creating a new work log, but not opened in a separate window.

You can modify all fields.

If you can edit a work log depends on

the ictime project status (you can't edit work logs any longer if the project status is inactive or closed),
the work log status (you can't edit work logs that have already been charged)
the approval status (you can't edit work logs that have already been approved)
and the JIRA issue status (you can't edit work logs for closed issues).

In all these cases, you usually should not see the "Edit" icon/option.

For the following scenario, you will be able to start editing a work log, but might get an error message:

In case team & price list checks are activated in JIRA (see Global Add-on Configuration and Project Teams), your change requires a valid price list (for the user who has created this work log). This only applies when you try to change the date for the work log and the date is not within the range of any valid price list.

For the follwoing scenario, you will be able to edit a work log, but will get a warning message:

If the team assignment status for the work log you want to edit is not consistent (for the user who has created this work log). Should this user have been a member of a team and has left and/or changed the team afterwards (see Project Teams), you will be able to edit work logs this user has created before he/she has left/changed the team, but your changes will be saved using the current user settings, this way overwriting the original settings used when creating the work log.

This is the message you get when editing a work log affected by a team change (see Project Teams):

Delete Work Log

On issue level, the feature is available either in the

JIRA "Work Log" tab,
the "My Work Log" tab
or in the "My Last Work Log" panel.

When deleting a work log, you need to decide how to adjust the remaining estimate. Please consider the different options provided by JIRA, see Work Estimates, Remaining Estimate.

If you can delete a work log depends on

the ictime project status (you can't delete work logs any longer if the project status is inactive or closed),
the work log status (you can't delete work logs that have already been charged)
the approval status (you can't delete work logs that have already been approved)
the JIRA issue status (you can't delete work logs for closed issues).

Known Issue: Time Not Calculated When Using Start/End Time

If you are entering a start and end time for a work log ("from/to") and the result is not calculated, this can have two reasons.

First possible reason is that - like in the screenshot above - you have (accidentially) entered an end time which is before the start time. In this case, of course there is not result. You will get an error when trying to save.

The second, more complex reason - that might result in the same error message, but without getting obvious why the message is displayed - is that you have a specific non-consistent date & time setting configured in JIRA. This will happen if you have configured time settings in JIRA (Administration/System/Look and Feel/Date-Time Formats) as 12 hour clock, but without defining the AM/PM parameter.

That means that you have defined "Time Format" as "hh:mm" or "h:mm". This is 12 hour clock without AM/Pm information and unfortunately, JIRA accepts this time format, even if it can't work. In this specific case, ictime won't be able to calculate correctly only for the case your work log starts before 12:00 and ends after 12:00 (the end time, without AM/PM information is correctly interpreted as starting from 0 again, so 12:03 would be 00:03 from a technical point of view, and this means that your end time is before the start time).
Correct setting in JIRA would be "h:mm a" or "hh:mm a" (this is 12 hour clock plus AM/PM information) or just as 24 hour format (H:mm or HH:mm).

For more information on date & time settings in JIRA, please refer to Time & Date Settings.

ictime | time tracking 3.x

Log Work (Issue Screen)