# Use Cases for Capacity Planning

Time tracking data helps you understand how planned work compares with the effort your team can realistically support. When your team tracks spent time in YouTrack, you can use reports, timesheets, and estimation data to make capacity planning decisions.

The examples on this page show how time tracking data can support common goals like balancing sprint workload, checking release capacity, and improving future estimates. Each use case is most relevant for a specific role, but the approach can be adapted by anyone who needs a similar planning view. Adjust project names, issue filters, work types, and reporting periods to match your YouTrack configuration.

## Choose a Report

Choose the report based on the capacity question you need to answer.

| Question | Report to Use |
| --- | --- |
| How much time did people spend on selected issues? | [Time Report](time-report.html) |
| How was time distributed across days, weeks, users, or issues? | [Timesheet Report](timesheet-report.html) |
| How much estimated effort remains? | [Estimation Report](estimation-report.html) |
| How do dependencies and capacity limits affect the schedule? | [Gantt Chart](gantt-chart.html) |

## Balance Sprint Workload

This use case helps you compare recent spent time with the unresolved work planned for the current sprint or planning period. It is most useful for team leads who need to review assignments and keep the team's workload balanced.

### Use Case

Your goal is to understand how current assignments line up with the team's available capacity. You can use a Timesheet Report to compare spent time across the team and decide whether planned work needs to be redistributed.

Procedure: To review team capacity during a sprint:

1. From the main navigation menu, select ![](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/youtrack/2026.2/reports.svg) Reports.

2. Open a Timesheet Report that shows issues from the current sprint.

If you don't have a report for the sprint, create one and set the Period and Issue filter to match the sprint scope.

3. Switch to the view that shows spent time per user.

4. Compare each user's spent time with their unresolved assigned issues.

5. Open issues with high spent time, remaining estimation, or recent work items.

6. Reassign issues, split large issues into smaller issues, or schedule follow-up with assignees who are overloaded.

| What You Need | How YouTrack Helps |
| --- | --- |
| See where the team spent time recently. | Use a Time Report or Timesheet Report to group spent time by work author or work type. |
| Find assignments that need attention. | Review issues with high spent time, remaining estimation, or recent work items before reassigning or splitting the issues. |
| Balance planned issues with available capacity. | Compare current workload with recent spent time and use the results to move issues, narrow scope, or schedule follow-up. |

For detailed instructions, see [Time Report](time-report.html) and [Timesheet Report](timesheet-report.html).

## Check Release Capacity

This use case helps you compare remaining work with the capacity available for a release, milestone, or group of planned issues. It is most useful for project managers who need to confirm whether the current plan fits the release timeline.

### Use Case

Your goal is to understand whether the remaining unresolved issues still fit the planned date. You can use a Time Report to compare spent time with estimation data before adjusting scope, staffing, or the release date.

Procedure: To check capacity for a release:

1. From the main navigation menu, select ![](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/youtrack/2026.2/reports.svg) Reports.

2. Create or open a Time Report for the project or release.

3. Set the Issue filter to include unresolved issues planned for the release.

4. Show the columns for remaining and total spent time in the calculated report.

5. Review issues where spent time exceeds the original estimation or where the remaining estimation is higher than expected.

6. Decide whether to move lower-priority issues to a later release, add another developer to the release effort, or adjust the release date.

| What You Need | How YouTrack Helps |
| --- | --- |
| Compare estimated and actual effort. | Use a Time Report to show spent time together with remaining and total spent time columns. |
| Estimate whether planned issues still fit the schedule. | Use an Estimation Report to review remaining estimation for unresolved issues, or a Gantt Chart to evaluate schedule impact. |
| Decide what to adjust. | Use report results to discuss scope changes, staffing needs, schedule adjustments, or issues that should move to a later plan. |

For detailed instructions, see [Time Report](time-report.html), [Estimation Report](estimation-report.html), and [Gantt Chart](gantt-chart.html).

## Improve Planning Accuracy

This use case helps you use completed work to refine future planning assumptions. It is most useful for team leads and project managers who need to find repeated underestimation, unplanned time, or work types that consume more capacity than expected.

### Use Case

Your goal is to understand which planning assumptions should change before the next cycle. You can use a Time Report to compare completed issues and find work types that regularly consume more capacity than expected.

Procedure: To review capacity trends after a sprint:

1. From the main navigation menu, select ![](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/youtrack/2026.2/reports.svg) Reports.

2. Create or open a Time Report for the completed sprint or planning cycle.

3. Set the Issue filter to include issues that were resolved during the selected period.

4. Group the report by Work type, Parent issue, or custom work item attributes. If the report includes two or more projects, you can also group the report by Project.

5. Compare estimation and spent time data to find repeated underestimation or unplanned time.

6. Update estimation guidelines, adjust work item types, or reserve more capacity for the work types that regularly exceed estimates.

| What You Need | How YouTrack Helps |
| --- | --- |
| Review planning accuracy over time. | Compare estimation and spent time data across completed issues to see where planning assumptions need to change. |
| Find recurring capacity drains. | Group time report data by work type, parent issue, project, or custom work item attributes to identify repeated patterns. |
| Improve the next planning cycle. | Use the patterns you find to refine estimates, adjust work item types, or change how the team allocates time. |

For detailed instructions, see [Time Management Reports](time-management-reports.html), [Time Report](time-report.html), and [Estimation Report](estimation-report.html).