Jira Software generates four Scrum reports natively: Sprint Report, Burndown Chart, Velocity Chart, and Cumulative Flow Diagram. All four are under the Reports tab on any Scrum board. The burndown chart tracks remaining sprint work daily. The velocity chart tracks story points completed per sprint across time. Neither can be broken down by individual user natively — that requires a reporting add-on.
Scrum teams using Jira have four built-in reports — but how each one works, when to use it, and what it cannot tell you is less obvious than it should be. This guide covers all four native Jira Scrum reports in depth, explains the key agile reporting gaps, and shows what Scrum Masters typically extend with add-ons.
Related: Types of Reports in Jira: for Agile, Scrum, and Project Management — the full overview of every report type in Jira.
Jira Software automatically generates four reports for Scrum projects. These are the only agile reports Jira creates natively — all four require a Scrum board in a Jira Software project to appear.
| Report | What it shows | When to use it | Active sprint needed? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sprint Report | Completed vs. incomplete issues; scope changes mid-sprint | Sprint review, retrospective | No — shows completed sprints |
| Burndown Chart | Remaining work vs. ideal progress line, updated daily | Daily standup, mid-sprint risk check | Yes — requires active sprint |
| Velocity Chart | Story points completed per sprint across multiple sprints | Sprint planning, capacity forecasting | No — shows historical data |
| Cumulative Flow Diagram | Issue count by workflow status over time | Bottleneck identification | No |
How to access all four: Jira project → left sidebar → Reports. If you do not see Reports in the sidebar, you are on a Kanban board or a Jira Work Management project — these reports are Scrum-only.
The burndown chart is the most frequently used Scrum report during an active sprint. In Jira, it is called the Burndown Chart and is available under Reports on any Scrum board.
A burndown chart in Scrum tracks how much work remains in a sprint, plotted against time. The X-axis shows each day of the sprint. The Y-axis shows remaining work — in story points, hours, or issue count depending on your board configuration. An ideal line runs from the sprint’s total work on day one to zero on the last day, showing the pace needed to finish on time. The actual burndown line shows real progress.
The chart displays the currently active sprint. If no sprint is active, the chart will not show data. You can switch between completed sprints using the sprint dropdown at the top of the report.
| What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Actual line below ideal | Team is ahead of schedule | No action needed — monitor |
| Actual line above ideal | Team is behind — at risk of not finishing | Investigate blockers in standup |
| Flat line for 2+ days | No work is being completed or logged | Check for blockers, unresolved dependencies, or missing status updates |
| Upward spike | Scope was added mid-sprint | Discuss scope change impact with Product Owner |
| Sudden drop at end | Issues bulk-closed at sprint end rather than progressively | Review whether work was actually done progressively or just marked done at the end |
A burndown chart tracks remaining work — it starts high and trends to zero. A burnup chart tracks completed work — it starts at zero and trends upward toward the total scope line. Burnup charts have one advantage: when scope changes mid-sprint, the total scope line moves visibly, making scope creep explicit. Burndown charts absorb scope changes into the Y-axis without making them as visually obvious.
Jira’s native chart is a burndown chart. For a burnup view or a release burndown across multiple sprints, you need a reporting add-on.
For a full guide to interpreting burndown patterns, configuring the chart, and reading patterns correctly, see: Sprint Burndown Chart in Jira: How to Make It Clear and Useful for Your Team
A Scrum velocity chart shows how many story points — or other estimation units — the team completed in each sprint, displayed as a bar chart across consecutive sprints. It is used to calculate average velocity: the baseline for how much work the team can realistically commit to in future sprints. In Jira, the Velocity Chart is available under Reports on any Scrum board.
Each bar in Jira’s Velocity Chart represents one sprint and shows two values:
The gap between commitment and completed shows how accurately the team estimated. A consistent gap — always committing more than is completed — is a planning problem, not a delivery problem.
To calculate average velocity: add up the completed story points from the last 3–5 sprints and divide by the number of sprints. Use this number to set the upper boundary of the next sprint’s commitment.
The Sprint Report is generated automatically for every completed sprint on a Scrum board. It is the most useful report for retrospectives because it provides a factual, timestamped record of what happened — not an interpretation.
How to access it: Project → Reports → Sprint Report. Use the sprint dropdown to view any completed sprint.
Scrum Masters typically use the Sprint Report in two ways. First, as retrospective preparation — the scope changes section shows exactly when and what was added mid-sprint, giving the team concrete data to discuss rather than relying on memory. Second, for trend analysis — comparing completion rates across five to ten sprints reveals whether the team’s planning accuracy is improving over time.
What it does not provide: a breakdown of who completed what, time logged, or story point distribution by assignee. For those views, a reporting add-on is needed.
Beyond the four native reports, Scrum teams in Jira commonly build dashboards that combine multiple report widgets into a single view. A Scrum dashboard surfaces the most important metrics in one place rather than requiring the team to navigate to each report separately.
How to create a Scrum dashboard in Jira: Go to Dashboards → Create dashboard → Add gadgets. Choose the gadgets listed above from the gadget library. For a detailed walkthrough, see: How to Create a Custom Dashboard in Jira.
Native Jira dashboard gadgets are limited to single-project scope and do not support cross-team views, real-time filtering across all widgets simultaneously, or prebuilt agile layouts. Report Hub extends this with Hub Filters — a single filter that updates all report widgets on a dashboard at once when you change the sprint, assignee, or project.
The Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD) shows issue count across workflow statuses as colored bands over time. It is primarily useful for identifying systemic bottlenecks rather than sprint-by-sprint progress.
Key pattern to look for: a widening band in a middle status — such as In Review or Waiting for QA — signals that issues are entering that stage faster than they are leaving. This is a workflow bottleneck, not necessarily a people problem.
The CFD is most useful once a team has been running for at least two to three months with a stable workflow. For newer teams, there is usually not enough history for the chart to show meaningful patterns.
| Reporting need | Native Jira | Report Hub |
|---|---|---|
| Sprint burndown chart | Yes | Yes |
| Release / backlog burndown | No | Yes |
| Burndown by individual assignee | No | Yes |
| Cross-team burndown | No | Yes |
| Scrum velocity chart (team) | Yes | Yes |
| Velocity by individual / assignee | No | Yes |
| Sprint report per assignee | No | Yes |
| Cross-project agile reports | No | Yes |
| Time tracking within sprint context | Basic only | Yes, full timesheet |
| Kanban velocity chart | No | Yes |
Jira Software generates four reports for Scrum projects: Sprint Report, Velocity Chart, Burndown Chart, and Cumulative Flow Diagram. All four are available under the Reports tab on any Scrum board in Jira Software. They are not available on Kanban boards or Jira Work Management projects.
A burndown chart in Scrum is a daily-updated graph showing remaining sprint work plotted against time. The X-axis shows sprint days, the Y-axis shows remaining story points or hours, and an ideal line shows expected linear progress. The actual line is compared to the ideal to assess whether the team is on track to complete all committed work by sprint end.
A Scrum velocity chart shows story points completed per sprint across multiple consecutive sprints. It is used to calculate average velocity — the baseline for sprint planning. To use it: find your average completed points over the last 3–5 sprints and use that number as the upper limit for the next sprint’s commitment. In Jira, access it via Project → Reports → Velocity Chart.
A burndown chart monitors progress during a single active sprint — it answers “are we on track to finish this sprint?” A velocity chart measures how much was completed across multiple past sprints — it answers “how much should we plan for next sprint?” Burndown is an intra-sprint monitoring tool. Velocity is a sprint planning tool.
Jira’s native agile reports include the Sprint Report, Velocity Chart, Burndown Chart, and Cumulative Flow Diagram for Scrum boards. For extended agile reporting — including per-user velocity, individual burndown, cross-team reports, and release-level burndown — teams use reporting add-ons such as Report Hub.
Go to your Jira Software project → click Reports in the left sidebar → select Burndown Chart. The chart requires an active sprint to display. If no sprint is running, the chart will not show data. Switch between completed sprints using the sprint dropdown at the top. The Burndown Chart is only available on Scrum boards.
A Scrum Master in Jira typically uses the Burndown Chart daily during standups, the Sprint Report for retrospectives, the Velocity Chart during sprint planning, and the Cumulative Flow Diagram for monthly bottleneck analysis. For per-user metrics and cross-team reporting, a reporting add-on is needed beyond native Jira.
Scrum reports only appear on Scrum boards in Jira Software projects. Kanban boards and Jira Work Management projects do not have Sprint Report, Burndown Chart, or Velocity Chart. The Burndown Chart also requires an active sprint — it will not display if no sprint is currently running.
Jira generates four Scrum reports natively — Sprint Report, Burndown Chart, Velocity Chart, and Cumulative Flow Diagram. The burndown chart is your daily sprint health check. The velocity chart drives sprint planning. The sprint report is the factual retrospective record. The CFD surfaces systemic bottlenecks.
Where native Jira stops: individual-level metrics, cross-team views, release burndown, and backlog burndown all require a dedicated reporting add-on.
For the complete overview of all Jira report types across Scrum, Kanban, and project management, see: Types of Reports in Jira: for Agile, Scrum, and Project Management.
For sprint reporting in depth including time tracking within sprints, see: Jira Sprint Reporting: How to Track, Analyze, and Use Sprint Reports in Jira.
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