Release Burnup

Track long-term project progress and forecast completion dates for multi-sprint initiatives.

Release Burnup helps you manage long-term projects and initiatives that span multiple sprints or teams. Unlike burndown charts that show remaining work, the burnup visualization shows accumulated completed work over time alongside scope changes, helping you forecast realistic completion dates for complex projects.

Accessing the report

Navigate to Reports in the left sidebar and select Release Burnup. Select a release from the dropdown at the top — you can choose from active, recently completed, or future releases. Filter by Labels or use Hide predicted end date to focus on actual progress without forecasting.

Reading the burnup chart

Blue filled area (completed) shows story points completed over time. Light blue area (estimated) represents estimated work added to the release but not yet completed. Dark blue line (total) shows the total scope including both completed and remaining work — this line moves up when scope is added and down when scope is removed. Orange dashed line (desired) shows your target completion trajectory based on the desired end date.

A vertical Today line marks the current date so you can assess whether you're on track relative to your desired completion date.

Understanding the progress metrics

Release Burnup shows 3 metric cards: total story points completion (including both estimated and unestimated work), estimated story points completion (estimated work only), and total issues and pull requests completion by count. These dual metrics help you understand whether story point complexity aligns with simple task completion.

Interpreting release health

When your completed work (blue area) tracks closely with the desired trajectory (orange dashed line), your release is progressing well. When it's significantly below the desired line, your release may miss its target date.

When the total scope line increases over time, work is being added to the release. Large scope increases can push out completion dates even if team velocity remains constant. The predicted end date on the right side of the chart updates based on current velocity and remaining scope — compare it with your desired end date to assess timeline feasibility.

Customizing the report

Use the Labels filter to focus on specific categories of work within your release. Toggle Hide predicted end date when you want to present current status to stakeholders without showing projections. Click Edit Release to modify release scope or adjust target dates based on burnup insights.

FAQ

Q: What's the difference between Release Burnup and Sprint Burndown?
A: Release Burnup tracks long-term project progress across multiple sprints and shows accumulated completed work plus scope changes. Sprint Burndown focuses on remaining work within a single sprint timeframe.

Q: Why does my release show different completion percentages for story points versus issues?
A: This typically indicates that completed work has different complexity than planned. If story point completion is lower, you may have completed easier tasks first, leaving more complex work remaining.

Q: How accurate is the predicted end date?
A: Prediction accuracy depends on consistent team velocity and stable scope. Early in a release or with frequent scope changes, predictions are less reliable. Accuracy improves as more work is completed and scope stabilizes.

Q: Should I add work to a release that's already in progress?
A: Consider the impact on timeline and team capacity. The burnup chart shows how scope additions affect predicted completion dates. Sometimes it's better to plan additional work for the next release rather than extending the current one.

Q: What should I do when the predicted end date significantly exceeds my desired date?
A: Evaluate 3 options: reduce scope by moving non-essential work to future releases, add resources if possible, or adjust the target date. Use the burnup data to make informed trade-off decisions with stakeholders.