Summary
Currently, Jira Cloud uses the Release Date field both as the target (planned) release date and the actual release date. When a version is released and the release button is pressed, the system overwrites the intended target date with the actual release date. This results in a permanent loss of planning data and prevents accurate tracking of schedule performance.

To better support project managers, programme managers, and engineering teams, we request the addition of a dedicated, permanent “Target Release Date” field (and optionally a “Target Start Date” field) within the release model.

Problem Statement
The dual purpose of the existing Release Date field creates the following issues:

• Once a version is released, the target release date is overwritten, removing historical planning data.
• It becomes impossible to measure schedule performance, slippage, early delivery, or adherence to target milestones.
• Reporting, forecasting, and governance activities are negatively impacted due to the loss of planned timelines.
• Teams lack a reliable way to compare planned vs actual release dates.

Requested Enhancement
Add the following fields to the Release Model:
1. Target Release Date (new field)

• Represents the planned release date.
• Should remain immutable after the version is released.
• Enables tracking of:
  schedule variance
  percentage progress towards planned release
  whether delivery occurred early, on time, or late
  overall reliability of release forecasting

2. Target Start Date (optional, but valuable)

• Represents the planned date when work on the version should begin.
• Allows tracking of whether execution started on time or was delayed.

Retain existing fields:
3. Start Date

• Indicates when work on the version actually began.

4. Release Date (existing behaviour retained)

• Should represent the actual release date only.

Benefits

• Restores and preserves critical planning data.
• Enables accurate reporting on:
  schedule variance
  delivery performance over time
  programme-level release forecasting
• Supports large-scale delivery organisations with governance or audit requirements.
• Provides more transparency for stakeholders and leadership teams.
• Eliminates accidental loss of planned timeline information when pressing “Release”.

I was unable to locate an exist request like this, if one already exist then please link this to that one.