The head of customer service wants to identity potential bottlenecks in the support workflow of her teams in the last three months. Which report provides this information?

The Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD) is the most appropriate report for identifying bottlenecks. This chart visualizes the number of issues in each status of a workflow over a specified time period. A bottleneck is identified when the band representing a particular status widens over time. This widening indicates that issues are entering that status faster than they are leaving it, causing a pile-up. By examining the CFD for the last three months, the head of customer service can pinpoint the exact stage in the workflow where work is getting congested, allowing for targeted process improvements.

A. The Created vs. Resolved Issues Report shows the overall backlog trend but does not provide insight into which specific workflow status is causing delays.
B. The Time Since Issues Report displays the number of issues based on a specific date field (e.g., created, updated), which is not suitable for analyzing workflow blockages.
D. The Resolution Time Report shows the average time to resolve issues. While a high average may indicate a problem, it doesn't identify the specific bottleneck location.
E. The Average Age Report shows how long issues have been unresolved. Like the Resolution Time Report, it highlights a symptom but not the specific stage causing the delay.

1. Atlassian Jira Data Center Documentation, "Cumulative flow diagram": "The Cumulative Flow Diagram is an area chart that shows the various statuses of your project's issues over time... It's useful for identifying potential bottlenecks in your team's workflow. If the band for a particular column is widening, it's likely that issues are piling up in that state."

Source: Atlassian. (n.d.). Cumulative flow diagram. Jira Software Data Center and Server 9.12 documentation. Retrieved from https://confluence.atlassian.com/jirasoftwareserver/cumulative-flow-diagram-938845437.html

2. Atlassian Jira Data Center Documentation, "Created vs. Resolved Issues Report": "The Created vs. Resolved Issues Report shows the number of issues created versus the number of issues resolved over a given period of time. This helps you understand whether your team is keeping up with the incoming work."

Source: Atlassian. (n.d.). Created vs. Resolved Issues Report. Jira Software Data Center and Server 9.12 documentation. Retrieved from https://confluence.atlassian.com/jirasoftwareserver/created-vs-resolved-issues-report-938845435.html

3. Atlassian Jira Data Center Documentation, "Resolution Time Report": "The Resolution Time Report shows the average time taken to resolve issues. This helps you identify trends and determine whether your team is improving its resolution time."

Source: Atlassian. (n.d.). Resolution Time Report. Jira Software Data Center and Server 9.12 documentation. Retrieved from https://confluence.atlassian.com/jirasoftwareserver/resolution-time-report-938845441.html