For managers overseeing multiple projects and customers needing detailed SLA reports, Jira offers a wealth of data. But extracting meaningful insights directly from Jira Service Management (JSM) and Jira Software projects can be challenging without the right tools. That’s where the Jira API comes in—allowing you to customize, visualize, and report on exactly what you need in a way that makes sense for your business.
In this article, we’ll explore how you can utilize the Jira API to create custom reports, track key metrics, and gain deeper insights into your service and project management data.
Why Use the Jira API for Reporting?
While Jira provides built-in reporting, these reports often lack flexibility and may not align with specific business needs. The Jira API allows you to:
- Extract specific data (e.g., SLA compliance, open vs. resolved tickets, project completion rates).
- Customize reports based on team performance, customer satisfaction, and issue resolution times.
- Visualize data in dashboards, charts, and other business intelligence (BI) tools or customized reporting and visualization tools tailored to your needs.
- Automate reporting to save time and ensure up-to-date insights.
Key Reports You Can Build with the Jira API
1. SLA Compliance Reports for Customers
Customers need visibility into service performance, especially for Service Level Agreements (SLAs). Using the Jira API, you can generate custom SLA reports that answer key questions:
- How many tickets met or breached SLAs?
- What’s the average response and resolution time?
- Which areas need improvement in service delivery?
Example Data Points:
- Issue Type: Bug, Task, Incident
- SLA Status: Met, Breached
- Time to First Response
- Time to Resolution
📌 Use case: A customer wants a monthly SLA report. Instead of manually gathering data, automate a report using the API and send it directly to them.
2. Performance Dashboards for Managers
Managers often need a high-level view of team productivity and bottlenecks. With the Jira API, you can pull real-time data and visualize trends over time.
Key Metrics:
- Number of open vs. resolved tickets per week
- Average time per issue type (e.g., Bug, Feature Request)
- Workload distribution per team member
- Escalation trends (which issues get stuck)
📊 Visualization Idea: Connect the API to a BI tool or a customized tool for reporting and visualization (such as Power BI, Looker, Google Data Studio, or a tailored reporting solution) to display live progress.
3. Project Progress Reports
For companies running multiple Jira projects, tracking progress across them can be difficult. The API allows you to fetch status updates across projects and provide a centralized report.
Insights:
- Project completion percentage
- Breakdown of tasks: Not Started, In Progress, Done
- Risky projects: delayed tasks, blockers, dependencies
📌 Use case: A manager overseeing software development needs a weekly report summarizing progress across all active projects.
4. Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) Reporting
Jira Service Management supports customer feedback surveys after issue resolution. The API lets you pull CSAT scores and analyze trends.
What You Can Report:
- Average CSAT score over time
- Breakdown of responses: Positive, Neutral, Negative
- Common patterns in low-rated tickets (e.g., delays, miscommunication)
📊 Actionable Insight: If CSAT drops below a certain threshold, trigger an alert to the support team to investigate.
How to Get Started with the Jira API for Reporting
- Understand Your Reporting Needs – Identify what data you need and how it should be structured.
- Access the Jira API – Jira Cloud and Jira Data Center provide REST API endpoints to fetch ticket, SLA, and project data.
- Pull Data with API Calls – Use tools like Python, Power Automate, or Zapier to fetch and structure your reports.
- Visualize & Automate – Connect the API to a BI tool or a customized reporting tool to create interactive dashboards or schedule automatic reports for stakeholders.
Final Thoughts
The Jira API empowers managers and customers with fully customized reports and dashboards that go beyond standard Jira capabilities. Whether you need SLA compliance tracking, team performance insights, or project progress reports, leveraging the Jira API ensures that you always have data-driven visibility into your operations.
If you’re interested in setting up automated reports but don’t know where to start, reach out to your IT team or a Jira consultant to explore integration possibilities.
✅ Take control of your Jira data today! 🚀
