---
title: "Throughput Histogram"
canonical: "https://support.55degrees.se/space/SP/4367908868/Throughput%20Histogram"
format: markdown
---
[Jira Cloud & Data Center] [azure devops] [standalone]

### Throughput

> ℹ️ **Throughput is the number of work items finished in per time unit (day/week/month).**

The Throughput Histogram, shows the distribution of your **daily throughput**. In other words how many times you achieved a certain daily throughput.

![Screenshot 2026-06-09 at 11.10.40.png](media://2629909b-e2b5-44af-95a8-5dd384d771ee)

### Uses

- **Understanding delivery consistency** - helps you grasp your overall delivery pace and set realistic expectations for the future.
- **Checking if estimates match reality** - by filtering the chart by your team's estimation values (like story points or t-shirt sizes), you can check if "smaller" or lower-effort tasks actually result in a higher daily throughput.

### Reading the Chart

Each bar on the chart shows **how often a given daily throughput has been achieved**. The shape and placement of the bar tells you two things:

1. **The frequency**: the height of the bar tells you how many times that particular daily throughput has been achieved, within the defined time period.
2. **The Daily Throughput**: the placement tells you which throughput each bar represents.

Hover over any bar to see the frequency of any given throughput.

***Example***

In the screenshot below, we see that in most days, we deliver 0 items.

But there were 13 days that we delivered 1 finished item. As the throughput is less frequent, our expectation of it happening again should also reduce. These outcomes are less likely than the ones that happen often.

![Screenshot 2026-06-09 at 10.59.41.png](media://a47717e8-f21c-4feb-92ba-9381a01f74d4)

---

### Chart Controls

> Macro (refined-tabs)
> 
> > Macro (refined-tab)
> 
> Percentiles are vertical lines, that show the **confidence level** of achieving a certain throughput **or more**. 
> 
> In the example image below, there’s a very high confidence (95%) that the team will finish **at least 1 item** per day, but there’s a much lower confidence (50%) that they will finish **at least 3 items** per day.
> 
> ![Percentiles-tp-histo.png](media://42c9ad7e-f6bc-457b-89ca-acacf6714e74)
> 
> > Macro (refined-tab)
> 
> The orange line on the chart, tracks the running total of your historical frequency, representing the percentage of days that had that specific throughput amount **or less**. As throughput increases to the right, the cumulative total naturally builds toward 100%.
> 
> You can see the cumulative % of any given throughput when hovering the respective bar or orange dot.
> 
> The cumulative percentile scale is found in the vertical axis on the right side of the chart.
> 
> ![Cumulative-tp-histo.png](media://41a028c7-95ba-4d31-a41e-a49c9cd32d0a)
> 
> You can choose whether or not you want to display this, by clicking the 'Cumulative %' label below the chart.
> 
> > Macro (refined-tab)
> 
> You can filter down the items represented on this chart by choosing one or more available filters. 
> 
> If you want to clear your filters so that all items are represented again, you click the ‘Clear all’ button.
> 
> ![Screenshot 2026-06-10 at 10.09.15.png](media://9375065c-ab7a-4a4e-81c6-2a2af1d12614)
> 
> > Macro (refined-tab)
> 
> This All Charts Control designates which Workflow Stages are considered [not started],  [in progress] and [finished]. Work items within each Workflow Stage will adhere to that sorting and count toward the calculations of Cycle Time, Throughput, WIP and Age. 
> 
> ![Screenshot 2026-05-21 at 10.56.54.png](media://3fa8de0e-0b3b-4c43-9c6a-a6e2618372fe)
> 
> The Workflow Stages are colour-coded so you can easily tell where the workflow starts and ends. Unchecking from the top down creates a later start, unchecking from the bottom up makes an earlier finish. Unchecking in the middle will merge your Workflow Stage with the one above - it will *not* remove or delete time spent in that Workflow Stage. 
> 
> ![Screenshot 2026-05-21 at 10.56.04.png](media://126507bf-058b-4315-8c67-2ae9568590a6)
> 
> On the Throughput Histogram, as well as the Run chart, you will see work items that have been [finished], thus are in one of the workflow stages marked in green.
> 
> > Macro (refined-tab)
> 
> To show the Data Control, click the symbol in the top right-hand corner of the chart, and it will appear below the chart.
> 
> With this control, you can further **narrow down the data included in the chart.** When doing so, the percentiles will be **re-calculated**.
> 
> All you have to do is click and drag over the desired time period and/or cycle time range, or use the date selector in the top-right corner of the Data Control.
> 
> > ℹ️ **Want to zoom in on the chart?**
> > ℹ️ 
> > ℹ️ You can zoom in on the histogram itself, without triggering a re-calculation of percentiles.
> > ℹ️ 
> > ℹ️ If you use the Data control to zoom in, it will re-calculate those automatically.
> 
> ![Screenshot 2026-06-10 at 11.03.29.png](media://1db85de8-b925-4bf9-80c6-8b4530927bfd)
> 
> > Macro (refined-tab)
> 
> When these are enabled, you will see the Frequency and/or Throughput highlighted on the respective axes when hovering anywhere on the chart.
> 
> ![Screenshot 2026-06-10 at 11.07.04.png](media://d087a61c-caee-40f4-b718-d195c80238b1)