In this article:
1. Introduction to the Planning View
1.1. Planning View Elements
2. Planning View Timeline
2.1. Initiative Links in the Planning View
2.2. Auto Scheduling
2.3. How Different Initiatives Get Displayed In the Planning View
3. Table Columns
3.1. Planned Start/End Dates
3.2. Deadlines and Blockers
4. Command Bar
4.1. Click to save changes
4.2. Autosave
4.3. Adjust
4.4. Settings
4.4.1. Sorting your initiatives
4.4.2. Critical path
4.4.3. Actual progress
4.5. View
4.6. Switch to portfolio view
4.7. Three-dot menu
5. Board Filter in Planning View Workflows
This article focuses on the planning view available for portfolio initiatives. To get started on the topic, please refer to our guide on initiatives and how to work with them.
1. Introduction to the Planning View
The goal of the planning view is to help you organize and visualize portfolio initiatives on an interactive timeline. This mode makes it easy to plan future work based on your capacity, review your projects, adjust the duration of your initiatives, and create predecessor/successor links between them.
The planning view is available for every portfolio initiative workflow and you have many options to customize it.
1.1. Planning View Elements
The planning view is organized in the following main sections:
- Command bar (1)
- Table columns (2)
- Timeline (similar to the Timeline Workflow) (3)
- Vertical green line marker (4)
2. Planning View Timeline
The planning view has an interactive timeline that lets you:
- Link initiatives as predecessors or successors — drag the handle on either side of an initiative and drop it to the handle of another initiative you want to link to. If the link is successfully created, the system will generate a pop-up notification.
- Adjust initiatives’ duration — drag the arrows on either side of an initiative to increase or decrease its duration.
- Move initiatives across the timeline — drag the initiative left or right to change its position on the timeline.
- Edit initiatives’ details — clicking on an initiative opens its standard card settings.
- Delete predecessor/successor links — double-clicking on a link (arrow) will open a window that lets you delete it.
- Align different timelines — the green line marker always shows the present day. By clicking on it, you will align the View levels (days, weeks, months, etc.) of all other open planning view timelines on the board.
2.1. Initiative Links in the Planning View
If you link initiatives as successors/predecessors, there shouldn't be gaps between them. The idea is that one should start right after the other to avoid project delays. For example, if you link initiative A to initiative B and then initiative B to initiative C, you can expect the following behavior:
- Moving or adjusting the duration of initiative A will update the position and duration of its linked initiatives (in this case B and C).
- Dragging initiative B in the past will return it to its original position (because it is already linked to initiative A which is its predecessor). The same applies to initiative C.
2.2. Auto Scheduling
There is Auto Scheduling built within the system. It basically makes it possible to schedule tasks automatically based on the existing links between them.
For example, let's say you have Project A linked as a predecessor to Project B. If you change the schedule of Project A, the system will automatically change the start date of Project B so it matches the updated end date of Project A. That is why if you change the duration of an initiative, it will influence the start and end dates of its linked initiatives on the timeline. Auto scheduling removes the need to manually update each linked initiative's duration.
Note: Keep in mind that the system does not account for non-working days when planning/adjusting the duration of your initiatives in the planning view.
2.3. How Different Initiatives Get Displayed In the Planning View
When configuring your planning view, you will notice that initiatives are displayed differently on the timeline depending on their planned start and end dates.
In a nutshell:
- Portfolio initiatives that don’t have a planned start and end date (1) are displayed in the leftmost column on the timeline that represents the present moment. Depending on the view settings, these initiatives will be displayed in the current day, week, month, quarter, tertile, or year. They are colored in light gray and have a dotted outline. They will be colored normally after you set their duration.
- Portfolio initiatives that only have a planned start date but no end date (2) — the system will assign a one-day duration (an artificial planned end date) and the initiative will be displayed on the day of the planned start date on the timeline.
- Portfolio initiatives that only have a planned end date but no start date (3) — the system will display a duration from the current date until the planned end date.
- Portfolio initiatives that have both a planned start and end date (4) are displayed normally — from the planned start to the planned end date.
3. Table Columns
By default, the planning view has five main columns — Title (the name of the initiative), Owner, Planned Start, Planned End, and Duration — which you can add or remove from the Settings icon depending on how you want to structure your data. You can also choose to add Actual Start and Actual End dates to the table columns from the Settings bar.
You can also create new initiatives from the “plus” icons and expand or collapse the swimlanes in the workflow. The “plus” sign in the table header will create a new initiative, and the “plus” signs next to each initiative will create a child initiative.
3.1. Planned Start/End Dates
If a planned start or end date has not been set, the system will highlight the missing date(s) in the table column. On hover, the tooltip will show more details.
3.2. Deadlines and Blockers
If there is a delay in the deadline of an initiative, there will be a red warning sign next to the initiative’s name in the table column. On hover, the system will display the initiative’s details and how much it has been delayed.
If an initiative is blocked, the entire row where the initiative is displayed on the timeline will be highlighted in red. On hover, the system will show the details of the initiative along with the reason it was blocked.
4. Command Bar
The command bar is located at the upper right corner of the workflow window and contains the following features:
4.1. Click to save changes
This is the equivalent of a manual “Save changes” button in case the Autosave mode is off. The “Click to save changes” icon appears only if the Autosave is turned off.
4.2. Autosave
When it is turned on, the system automatically saves every change you make.
4.3. Adjust
Similar to timeline initiatives, clicking on the Adjust icon will quickly revert your timeline to Auto view.
4.4. Settings
This is where you choose how to sort your initiatives (by swimlane, column, or initiative) and what information to show in the table columns for each initiative (title, owner, planned start/end date, actual start/end date, and duration).
Sorting your initiatives
- By Initiative
If you choose to sort your view by initiatives, the system will display them based on their position in each column, starting from the Backlog and moving to the Ready to archive. If your workflow has more than one swimlane, the results will be displayed lane by lane (starting from the top one), e.g. Lane 1 → all initiatives in the Backlog, all initiatives in Requested, etc. Lane 2 → all initiatives in the Backlog, all initiatives in Requested, etc.
- By Column
When initiatives are sorted by column, the system displays them depending on their position in each column starting from top to bottom (regardless of the swimlane they are in).
- By Swimlane
It follows the same order as when the hierarchy is sorted by initiative. The difference is that the swimlanes are visualized here.
Critical path
From the Settings, you can also turn on or off the critical path toggle. By default, it is off. Turning it on will outline a critical path for a sequence of initiatives that cannot be delayed. The initiatives' links will be colored in red (see image below).
Actual progress
You can also switch on/off the actual progress toggle. It indicates the duration of an initiative, calculated using only its actual start and end date. If enabled, the actual progress is visualized under the initiative, but only if an actual start/end date is specified.
4.5. View
Here you can set the time units you want for your timeline. The options are the same as with Timeline Workflows.
4.6. Switch to portfolio view
Go back to the normal portfolio initiative view.
4.7. Three-dot menu
Similar to Timeline Workflows, here you can pin and/or collapse the workflow, as well as see the workflow status and archive.
- Export — you can also export your workflow data to a PDF or PNG file.
5. Board Filter in Planning View Workflows
When using the board filter while you have a workflow in planning view mode, the filtered results will always show the correct number in the header regardless if you have a result in a collapsed (hidden) section. Clicking on a result from the board filter dropdown will either locate the card (if it is in an expanded field) or open its card details (if it is in a collapsed field).
Important: If you edit the start/end date of an initiative by dragging and resizing it while the board filter is on, you will receive a notification message if this initiative is linked to other initiatives that are not part of the applied filter. Changing the duration of an initiative will affect the start/end dates of its linked successors/predecessors.
You can also apply quick filters to planning view workflows the same way you would apply them to any other workflow on your boards.