Get started

Burnrate starts reading your worklogs as soon as it is installed. Jira admins can do everything below; to let others in, see step 4.

1. Open Burnrate

Jira Apps menu → Burnrate. While past worklogs are loading, a message says so and the figures grow until the first sync has finished. The last 12 months are loaded by default.

2. Set rates

Open the Rates tab. 1. Edit default rate: enter a cost per hour (what an hour costs you) and, optionally, a billing rate (what you charge). The first rate applies to all past time. 2. Optional: Add role, for example Developer or Designer, and give it rates. Then open a person with Edit and set their role. 3. Optional: give a person their own rate. It overrides their role and the default rate.

A new rate starts on the date you pick; earlier time keeps the rate that applied then. Costs are recalculated in the background within a minute or two.

3. Create a budget

Budgets tab → New budget. 1. Choose what it covers: projects, epics (including their work items and sub-tasks), fix versions, or a JQL query. 2. Enter an amount, hours, or both. Leave both empty to track cost without a limit. 3. Choose the period: one-off (between optional start and end dates), every month or every quarter. 4. Optional: billing (rate card billing rates or a fixed hourly rate) and the warning level (80% by default).

Open the budget to see spend, pace, forecast, charts and the breakdown by person, epic, work item and month.

4. Decide who can see costs

Jira Settings → System → Global permissions. Grant: - Burnrate: manage rates and budgets to people who edit rates and budgets and may see costs per person. - Burnrate: view budgets and reports to people who should see budgets, reports and the Cost panel, with costs. They do not see the rate card, cost per person or billing amounts.

Both are granted to Jira admins when the app is installed.

5. Settings

Jira Settings → Apps → Burnrate: currency, how much history to load, labels for non-billable work, sync status and the Tempo Timesheets connection.