Understand Dashboard Metrics
A complete list of all metrics in the dashboard.
Optimize Resource Allocation Balance Metrics provide a clear view of how engineering resources are distributed across teams and initiatives, helping you ensure that capacity is used efficiently and sustainably.
Enable Data-Driven Decisions By tracking utilization, cost, and work type allocation, leaders can make informed decisions about hiring, budgeting, and process improvements.
Spot Overload or Underutilization Identify teams or individuals at risk of burnout or those with excess capacity, so you can rebalance workloads proactively.
Apply Filters to the Dashboard
You can filter by date range, group mappings or specific hierarchy/vendors.
In your dashboard, click the date range dropdown.
Select a range.
Click the yellow icon to view the filters.
Turn on the "enable" toggle in one of these four sections to apply filter
Basic filters: Organization and project (group mappings)
Hierarchy filters: choose the users based on the hierarchy structure.
Vendors: choose the vendor name.
Geolocation: choose the location name.
Set Engineering Costs
Click the ⚙️ Settings icon in the top-right corner of the Investment Spectrum dashboard.
In the “Set Engineering Costs” popup enter:
Cost per Hour: Define the hourly rate in USD.
Engineering Cost per Month: Specify the monthly cost for all engineers, derived from hourly rate × working hours.
Save your changes.
How to Measure the metrics
Observe the metrics under the following Tabs:
Overall Utilization %: Shows the percentage of total developer capacity used in the selected period.
Planned vs Unplanned work: Compares effort on scheduled versus reactive tasks.
Capitalized/Non-Capitalized Cost: Dollar/hour amounts for capitalizable vs. non-capitalizable work.
Flow Metrics: Provides a comprehensive real-time snapshot of your engineering throughput and efficiency
Overall Utilization
Overall Utilization %
The percentage of your team’s total available capacity being used for productive work—covering both billable and non-billable tasks such as feature development, maintenance, debt reduction, and support.
High utilization reflects efficient use of resource time; too low may mean idleness, too high may indicate burnout risk
Total FTEs (Full-Time Equivalents) The total workforce capacity expressed in full-time units.Provides a normalized view of team size, helping with capacity planning and budget forecasting.
Total Cost Overall personnel cost, such as salary and benefits, associated with your total FTE pool. This is key for budgeting and ROI calculations.
Assignee Utilization Shows how different categories of work (e.g., New Features, Maintenance, Technical Debt, Support, Security, Other) consume FTE. Helps you understand where capacity is being spent and identify any over- or under-investments.
Monthly Category Trends A stacked bar chart showing how the distribution of work categories varies month to month.
Team Utilization by Project Per-team or per-project bar charts depicting the same category breakdown, showing how different groups allocate their time.
Resource Allocation by Projects This table shows how team members are distributed across different JIRA projects. Helps identify projects that may be overloaded or understaffed so resources can be balanced better. You can view:
How many people are working on each project
Which projects have more or fewer assigned resources
Resource Allocation by Employees This table shows how much work each employee is handling across JIRA projects. This helps managers understand individual workload, productivity, and capacity.
Employee Name: The name of the employee to whom JIRA issues are assigned
JIRA Projects: The list or count of JIRA projects the employee is working on
Total Issues Assigned: The total number of issues assigned to the employee across selected projects
Resource Allocation: The percentage of the employee’s workload based on assigned issues. Helps understand how busy the employee is relative to others.
Total Open Issues: The number of assigned issues that are still in progress or not yet resolved.
Total Closed Issues: The number of issues the employee has completed or closed.
Total Issue Types: Breakdown of issue categories (for example: Bug, Story, Task).
Resource Type: Indicates whether the resource is an Employee, Contractor, or Vendor.
SVP: Senior Vice President associated with the employee’s reporting hierarchy
VP: Vice President associated with the employee.
Director: Director under whom the employee or team reports.
Supervisor: Immediate supervisor or manager of the employee.
Vendor: Name of the vendor company if the work is performed by external resources.
Planned vs Unplanned Work
Planned Work % The percentage of total work that was planned ahead (e.g., part of sprints, milestones, or roadmaps). A higher percentage means better predictability and alignment with business goals.
Unplanned Work % The percentage of work that was not planned in advance (e.g., urgent issues, unplanned bugs, ad-hoc requests). Too much unplanned work can disrupt schedules and affect delivery quality.
Planned CTFC (Days) CTFC = Completed To Final Close. Average cycle time (in days) it takes to complete planned work items — from start to final closure. Tracks how efficiently planned work flows through your delivery process.
Unplanned CTFC (Days) Average cycle time (in days) to complete unplanned work items — from start to closure. A rising unplanned CTFC can signal that urgent tasks are becoming harder to manage.
Planning Effectiveness A bar chart showing the volume of Planned vs Unplanned work over time (monthly distribution). Helps identify if your planning is improving or if unplanned work is taking over.
Planned vs Unplanned Cycle Time A trend line showing the average cycle time for Planned vs Unplanned work. Reveals efficiency gaps: unplanned work typically should have a shorter cycle time; if not, it may indicate poor triaging.
Software Capitalization
Capitalization Rate The percentage of total software-related costs that have been capitalized (treated as long-term assets) instead of being expensed immediately. Shows how much of your software investment is being recognized as an asset.
Capitalized Cost The cumulative dollar amount that has been capitalized—i.e., costs associated with software development recognized as assets on the balance sheet.
Non‑Capitalized Cost The cumulative dollar amount of software-related expenses that were expensed immediately—typically maintenance, support, or preliminary development costs. Spikes can indicate reactive work or increased operational burden.
Capitalization Trends The trend graph comparing Capitalized Hours vs Non‑Capitalized Hours. Visualizes how your software investments shift over time. Declines in capitalized hours might suggest delayed development or stalled projects.
Cost Impact Analysis Monthly breakdown of Capitalized Cost, Non‑Capitalized Cost, and Total Cost. Helps assess how cost recognition choices impact financials—the blue line is your overall development spend, while green/red split reveals asset vs expense treatment.
Flow Metrics
Total Commits: Total number of commits to the codebase during the selected timeframe.
Total PRs Number of pull requests created during the selected timeframe. Tracks code delivery attempts. An increase may reflect more frequent merging, feature delivery, or maintenance.
Average Cycle Time Average duration from when a pull request or issue enters work (“In Progress” or PR opened) until it's merged/closed. Reveals efficiency and bottlenecks in development flow.
Productivity Distribution Highlights where effort is going and which categories take longer—e.g., new features may have higher cycle times than maintenance, suggesting complexity or review overhead.
Feature Delivery Cumulative count of open issues (red line) over time. Tracks backlog size and flow stability. A rising trend may imply slower resolution, growing scope, or insufficient capacity.
In-Progress Average number of active issues in the ‘In Progress’ state over the selected timeframe.
Cycle Time Trends Monthly median and average cycle times, alongside current In progress count. Median/average divergence may indicate outliers. Increases in cycle time often coincide with rising WIP or process bottlenecks.
Issue Details Table Key metrics per issue/PR: Allows detailed drill-down to unearth bottlenecks (e.g., high CTFC, stale PRs) and refine processes per work item.
ExampleLast 30 Days
Overall Utilization: 82%
Total FTEs: 24
Total Cost: $320,000
Planned Work: 78%
Unplanned Work: 22%
Sprint Completion: 74%
Capitalization Rate: 65%
Average Cycle Time: 4.2 days
Focus Metrics
The Focus Summary Metrics gives you a consolidated, visual overview showing exactly where your team is spending its time and resources across both production and product deployments.
Key metrics
Issue Key: Every work item such as a story, bug, or task, has a unique identifier.
Issue Summary: This is a short, descriptive title for each work item, giving immediate context on what the item entails and its purpose.
Issue Type: Items are labeled as Bug, Story, Task, or another relevant category, making it easy to sort and prioritize based on your team’s needs and workflows.
Effort: This metric shows the amount of work involved for each item. It might be represented in hours, effort units, or points—helping you understand how much energy the team is investing.
Focus Percentage: For every listed item, there’s a percentage indicating how much of the team’s overall focus is dedicated to that work item. Visual bars and percentages help you see at a glance which things are getting the most attention and where focus might be lacking.
Additional Capabilities:
Dynamic Filtering: Filter the results to show only certain date ranges or particular issue types, letting you customize your view for sprint reviews, planning, or longer-term reporting.
Export Functionality: With a single click, you can export the summary data as a CSV file—making it simple to conduct deeper analysis, build reports, or share findings offline or with leadership.
How Opsera Helps
Real-Time Updates Balance Metrics dashboards update automatically as new data is ingested from your integrated tools.
Flexible Filters Slice metrics by team, project, or time window to focus on what matters most.
Drill-Down Links Click any data point to jump to detailed views, such as specific teams, sprints, or cost breakdowns.
Actionable Insights Highlight areas of over- or underutilization, rising technical debt, or shifts in planned/unplanned work so you can intervene early.
Best Practices
Monitor Utilization Regularly Review utilization and workload balance at least monthly to catch trends before they become issues.
Balance Planned and Unplanned Work Aim for at least 80% planned work to maintain predictability and reduce burnout.
Track Capitalization Consistently Align financial reporting with engineering activity by monitoring capitalization rates and trends.
Encourage Accurate Time Tracking Ensure developers log work accurately to maintain reliable metrics.
Investigate Anomalies Sudden spikes in unplanned work or cost may signal process breakdowns or urgent issues.
FAQs
How often are balance metrics updated? Dashboards refresh as soon as new data is available from your connected tools, typically within minutes.
Can I filter by team or project? Yes—use dashboard filters to view metrics for specific teams, projects, or time periods.
What counts as “planned” vs. “unplanned” work? Planned work is scheduled in advance (e.g., sprint stories, roadmap items). Unplanned work includes urgent bugs, incidents, or ad hoc requests.
How is utilization calculated? Utilization is based on hours logged against available capacity for each FTE.
Can I export balance metrics? Yes—use the export button in the dashboard or schedule reports via the “Share” menu.
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