A workflow is what Jira uses to model business processes. It is a flow of statuses (steps) that issues go through one by one, with paths between the statuses (transitions). All issues in Jira have a workflow applied, based on their issue type and project. Issues move through workflows from one status (for example, OPEN) to another (for example, CLOSED). Jira allows you to visualize and design workflows as a diagram, as shown in the following diagram:

The preceding diagram shows a simple workflow in Jira. The rectangles represent the statuses, and the arrow lines represent transitions that link statuses together. As you can see, this looks a lot like a normal flow chart depicting the flow of a process.

Also, notice that statuses have different colors. The color of a status is determined by the category it belongs to. There are three categories—to do (blue), in progress (yellow), and done (red). Categories help you to easily identify where along the workflow an issue is, by using color as an indicator.

Issues in Jira, starting from when they are created, go through a series of steps identified as issue statuses, such as IN PROGRESS and CLOSED. These movements are often triggered by user interactions. For example, when a user clicks on the Start Progress link, the issue is transitioned to the IN PROGRESS status, as shown in the following screenshot:

There is a definitive start of a workflow, which is when the issue is first created, but the end of a workflow can sometimes be ambiguous. For example, in the default workflow, issues can go from OPEN to CLOSED to REOPENED and back to CLOSED. By convention, when people talk about the end of a workflow, they are usually referring to a status named CLOSED or the status where issues are given a resolution. Once a resolution is given, the issue comes to a logical end. Several built-in features of Jira follow this convention; for example, issues with resolutions set will not be displayed on the Assigned to Me list on the home page.