Project Timeline

Our built in Gantt chart for our Projects module provides clear visualization of the scope of your projects. In the timeline, you can set your task dependencies and illustrate which tasks depend on others. 

Project Overview

The Overview list on the projects page shows your open projects that have your upcoming or past incomplete timeline tasks. Keep track of your tasks by clicking the toggle that is located at the top of the project list to change your view. 

The overview list can be exported into a .csv file to review and share your tasks with people that are not in the app.

Creating a Task

There are multiple types of tasks to guide your timeline to fit your needs and each Task Type functions differently. To create a task in the timeline, click the + button at the top of the Gantt chart. Fill in the required information for your tasks and click 'Save' to create your tasks.

Tasks:

Tasks are the building blocks of the Project Timeline. These are the default creation option when creating a timeline task and are used to fill in the bulk of the timeline. We will get into everything that can be done with a task throughout this document.

Project Tasks: 

A Project Task will show on the timeline for the duration of all subtasks that are made for the Project. This can be used to provide a simpler view of a the general sections of a project. You can unexpand your projects to see the overall length of all subtasks within the Project task. 

Milestone:

Milestones are a task that can be set for a singular date to signify an important moment/date in the project. Milestones are represented on the timeline with a diamond. Connect your tasks to a Milestone to keep the date updated with our Auto-Scheduler.

Subtasks:

Each task type can have a subtask that nests the task underneath the task above. To create a subtask, click on the + button that is on the timeline task line, instead of at the top of the list. You can nest as many subtasks as you need, and even make subtasks of subtasks.

Keep track of the progress of your tasks. You can set the Progress percentage on the tasks by dragging the white arrow at the bottom of the task, manually typing it in on the progress column, or inputting the percentage in the edit screen. Once a task is above 0%, the task on the chart will update to visually represent that it has been started up until completion.

Auto-Scheduler and Constraints

At the top right of your project timeline, you will see an option called 'Auto Schedule'. Clicking on that will add 2 new columns to your tasks for the constraints that control the auto-scheduler. These constraints set rules for the tasks that affect how moving tasks affects other tasks, based on dates and dependencies. Below are the rules and meanings for each constraint. 

The constraints can be set via inline editing on the task line, or by opening up the edit screen for the individual task.

In the cases above, a dependent task has links to other tasks on the timeline, connecting them to other tasks. Moving a dependent task on the timeline will affect the other linked tasks and their connectors.

You can re-select the 'Auto Schedule' option again at top of the chart to deactivate the constraints and allow you to freeform edit when and where your individual dependent tasks go. 

Linking tasks

You can link tasks on the timeline together to create a dependency from one task to another. At the beginning and end of each task is a white circle, drag the white circle from one task to another to create the link.

It is important to note, the direction that a task is dragged will affect how the dependency works. Dragging from task 1 to task 2, will affect the constraint behavior differently than dragging from task 2 to task 1. The link tells the task that task 2 now depends on when task 1 ends.

You can delete a link by double clicking on the link.

Editing Tasks

You can edit a task in multiple ways, it is all up to preference on which way works best for you. You can edit the task with our in-line editor. Double click into the information you want to change on the left half of the Gantt chart to make the changes.

When in-line editing, you can hit the 'Tab' key to go to the next field. Your changes will be saved instantly upon leaving the field. This will let update the bar on the chart as you make your changes. If you have a start date set, and a finish date, changing one of the fields will automatically update the Duration. 

You can also edit tasks by double clicking on the WBS column for the line you would like to change, or on the bar on the Gantt chart itself. This opens a screen that is similar to the Add line screen.

Once you make your changes, hit 'Save' and your Gantt chart will update with your newly input information.

Critical Path

At the top of the timeline next to the Auto Schedule button is a button for 'Critical Path'. The critical path method (CPM), or critical path analysis (CPA), is an algorithm for scheduling a set of project activities. It is commonly used in conjunction with the program evaluation and review technique (PERT). A critical path is determined by identifying the longest stretch of dependent activities and measuring the time required to complete them from start to finish.

The critical path is represented by the red bars on the Gantt chart below.

Timeline Templates

A lot of projects will follow a similar path with the types of tasks that are required. To save yourself time, we have implemented Timeline Templates. These templates can be created in the settings section of the company profile. In the Projects dropdown at the top of the screen, there is an option for 'Timeline Templates".

When formatting the layout of a timeline template, you can set the task dates to be 01/01/2000. This will make the date dynamic to the creation of the project. Linked tasks will update their dates in accordance to their relationship specified above.

When accessing a Project Timeline for the first time, you will have the option to 'Start Empty' or to select a template that has already been created in your Project settings.

The timeline template can be added or applied to a project timeline at any point in a projects existence. If a timeline already has tasks on it, applying a template will delete all existing tasks and projects on the current timeline.

Tasks on the Project Timeline will not appear in the task widget on the right side of the screen and will not appear in the task lists. The tasks in a project timeline and a task in the task tab/list are fully separate entities within the app.