1. Introduction to the Timeline Workflow
2. How to create Initiatives in the Timeline Workflow
3. How to break down and work with Timeline Initiatives
4. How to enable the Timeline Workflow
5. How to manage the Timeline Workflow settings
6. The Timeline Initiative properties
1. Introduction to the Timeline Workflow
The Timeline Workflow is an innovative planning approach that allows you to visualize your present and future Initiatives in a linear calendar view. You have to enable the Timeline workflow to make it present at the top of your Board layout. In this way, you can visualize all planned Initiatives in a roadmap style layout that you can set to display by Days/Months/Weeks/Quarters/Years on an uninterrupted timeline.
The Timeline is supposed to work only with Initiatives and not individual tasks. Each Initiative has a start and end date that are easily viewable in the calendar and illustrates the project schedule.
The Timeline workflow allows you to swipe horizontally to go forward and backward in time.
Use the mouse and swipe right to go to past dates and events.
Swipe left if you want to create or see Initiatives in the future.
2. How to create Initiatives in the Timeline Workflow?
To create an Initiative, you have to right-click or double click on the track area that corresponds to a current or future date. This is the planned start date of your Initiative. Type the Initiative name to create the item. Note that the system does not allow you to create Initiatives in the past.
Move the mouse over the left or right edge and click to drag slide (left or right) to adjust the planned and end date to the calendar date at the top of the Timeline workflow. This functionality allows users to make slider adjustments until matching their preferences in accordance with the project plan.
- If you want to create another Initiative that is planned to be executed concurrently, you have to use a separate track for its visualization.
- If you plan to execute the Initiatives sequentially one after another, you can visualize all them in a single Track. In this case, the system won't let you start working on the next initiative unless the current one has been completed.
3. How to break down and work with Timeline Initiatives?
Once the Timeline Initiative has been created, users can easily break it down into smaller work items to define the scope of the project for the team. The deliverables are linked to the Timeline Initiative as child cards and get created on the Cards Workflow.
There are various ways to break down the Timeline initiative. One of them is to drag & drop the Initiative to the Cards Workflow, just like in the short video below. The Timeline initiative will automatically start when a child card is started and finish once all of the child cards are completed.
When a card linked to the Initiative goes to "In progress" before the planned start date, the actual start of the Initiative will automatically adjust on-screen.
Similarly, if your team members are late with completing a card linked to an Initiative within the planned end date, the system will highlight that Initiative on the Timeline Workflow lane.
The days of delay tooltip appears on hover.
4. How to enable the Timeline Workflow?
You can add the Timeline Workflow to every Board in your account. To enable the Timeline workflow, select the "Edit Workflow" icon at the top of each Board.
There are two options, centered to the edit mode page:
- Create new Initiatives Workflow
- Create a new Timeline Workflow (Select this option)
5. How to manage the Timeline workflow settings?
The default Timeline workflow displays a single track to create initiatives in.
However, the feature supports unlimited parallel work, which is particularly useful for the planning and execution of concurrent initiatives. If you do not set a WIP limit, once you create your first Initiative, a new track will appear in the Timeline Workflow.
The Timeline Workflows are built with WIP Limits in mind, so you can set a limit on the number of tracks. Thanks to this ability, teams can set a maximum number of concurrent projects or initiatives that can be in progress at the same time.
How to set a WIP limit on the Timeline workflow tracks?
Select the Timeline settings icon (1) and define the number of parallel tracks within the Timeline workflow (2) In this settings panel, you can insert the name of the Timeline as it appears on the board.
As a result, you will get 3 parallel tracks that allow you to visualize concurrent Initiatives.
Do not forget to save the Timeline configuration, using the Save button on the top right corner of the screen.
Select Back to Board icon to see your new board layout.
The Timeline is the top workflow of your Board layout (img.1). The vertically green line marker always defines the current day.
Img.1
*Open the image in a new tab for a better view.
The Timeline view can be set to display the time as in: Auto, Days, Weeks, Months, Quarters and Years.
Users can control that from the Zoom option (1) at the top right corner (img.2) or using the shortcut CTRL + mouse scroll.
Note: The Auto option expands the Timeline view in a way that covers all of the planned Initiatives.
(2) To quickly jump to today’s date -> click Today.
Img.2
6. The Timeline Initiative properties
The Timeline Initiatives are bound to the calendar by a set of newly introduced properties that define the planned start and end dates against the actual ones.
When you open the Timeline Initiatives, you will notice the addition of the Timeline fields (img.3)
- Planned Start Date vs Actual Start Date
- Planned End Date vs Actual End Date
The system automatically records the dates to precisely reflect the reality.
Note: These fields are not editable.
Img.3
Hover over any of the Timeline initiatives and the linear calendar on the top of the workflow will instantly display its start and end day. The dates will be outlined in blue for better visualization. 
This feature will be at the core of the next several releases. Please try it out and send us your feedback. We will appreciate your help to make this feature even better.