Timeline View

What is a Timeline View?

A timeline view organizes records into swim lanes on a time axis. Tasks are shown as bars within their assigned swim lane, making scheduling and capacity visible at a glance.

Use timelines when you need to plan work across resources over time — for example production schedules by line, maintenance work by facility, or technician tasks by worker. It is ideal for showing resource and capacity scheduling with swim lanes, unscheduled backlog, snap-to intervals, operating-schedule shading, tools, and validations.

Records in a timeline can be filtered to show only a subset of the schedule.

Interacting with the Timeline

Reading the Schedule

Each horizontal swim lane represents a resource (for example a production line, facility, or worker). Task bars show planned start and finish across the time axis. Navigate the schedule with:

Day / Week / Month previous and next controls
Now to jump back to the current time
Pan on empty areas of the timeline to move across time

Hover a task bar to see its name, start–end window, and any configured task fields. If a validation problem exists, the tooltip is prefixed with Problem: and the message.

Creating Tasks

Users with edit access can create tasks from the timeline:

Create button: Opens the data entry form for the timeline’s task table (caption can be customized with Override Table Name).
Timeline Tools: Activate a tool, then drag a time block across one or more swim lanes to run a script that can create or update records (including AI-assisted tools).

Scheduling and Editing Tasks

When the view’s Data Editing setting allows it:

Move a bar to change start/finish while keeping duration.
Resize using the left or right handles to change start or end.
Move across swim lanes to reassign the task to another resource.
Click a bar to open the record in its data entry form.

Drag and resize respect the view’s Snap To settings when configured (see Snap to Schedule below).

Unscheduled Tasks

When Show Unscheduled Tasks is enabled, a bottom panel lists backlog records that are not fully scheduled. A task is treated as unscheduled when any of the following is empty:

Swim lane assignment
Start date & time
End date & time

From the unscheduled panel you can:

Drag a row onto a swim lane to assign the resource and place start/end on the schedule.
Drag a scheduled bar into the panel to clear the swim lane and dates (unschedule the task).
Edit in Form from the row options when a default form exists.

This is the primary backlog workflow for production jobs waiting for a line, or maintenance tasks waiting for a technician or facility slot.

Filtering

Use the filter option to narrow which tasks appear on the timeline. See the filtering help section for details. Filters also apply to the unscheduled tasks panel. A default filter can be saved on the view via Edit View.

Color Coding

Task bars can be color coded using the view’s Color Field. Supported field types include:

Color fields
Enumeration fields that define row colors

Common manufacturing patterns:

Work Order Type — for example Production Job, Preventative Maintenance, Corrective Maintenance, Improvement Project, Changeover
Work Order Status — for example Planning, Active, Paused, Completed, Closed, Canceled

Optional Icon Field values (short text or calculation returning a Bootstrap icon name) render on the bar for quick visual cues. Validation scripts can temporarily override color and icon when a scheduling problem is detected.

Snap to Schedule

Snap settings control how precisely bars land when you drag, resize, drop from Unscheduled, or place a tool block.

Snap To Type — Minute, Hour, Day, or Week
Snap To Amount — Number of those units per snap boundary (for example Snap To Type = Minute and Amount = 15 snaps to 15-minute increments)

When both Snap To Type and Snap To Amount are set, drag and drop operations snap start/end to those boundaries. Use finer snaps for detailed production slots and coarser snaps for longer maintenance windows.

Note: Snap To controls placement granularity. It is separate from Use Operating Schedule, which shades unavailable time but does not by itself block drops onto blackout periods (use validations if you need hard enforcement).

Scheduling Times and Availability Rules

When the swim lane table supports operating schedules (for example Lines or Facilities in the manufacturing module), enable Use Operating Schedule on the timeline.

With this enabled, the timeline shades periods outside each swim lane’s operating availability, including:

Operating schedule windows (by day of week and start/end times)
Holiday / blackout schedules stacked at global, facility, and line levels

Unavailable time appears as blackout shading on the lane and header so planners can see capacity vs downtime at a glance. Pair this with validations if tasks must never be saved into non-operating windows.

Production Schedule and Maintenance Scheduling

The same Timeline engine supports multiple planning styles.

Production Scheduling

Tasks: Work Orders (or similar) with planned start / planned finish fields
Swim lanes: Production lines (or facilities)
Color coding: Work Order Type / Status so production jobs, changeovers, and maintenance stand out
Unscheduled panel: Backlog jobs without a line or dates, ready to drag onto the schedule
Tools: Drag-to-create changeovers or jobs across lines
Validations: Tooling conflicts, double-booking, or capacity rules
Operating schedule: Shade non-running line time

Maintenance and Worker Task Scheduling

Tasks: Preventative or Corrective Maintenance work orders, or other task tables
Swim lanes: Facilities, lines, technicians, or crews (any referenced resource table)
Color coding: Distinguish maintenance types and statuses from production work
Unscheduled panel: Work waiting for assignment
Availability: Operating schedules and holidays for facilities / lines

Because swim lanes are driven by a reference field, one workspace can host a production-by-line timeline and another can host a technician or facility maintenance timeline using the same interaction model.

Customizing a Timeline

The Edit View option is available from the view settings menu for users with the necessary role-based security.

Timeline View Settings

Name: Sets the name shown in the workspace tab.
Data Source: Table or Data Model that powers the view.
Table for Tasks: When using a data model, the table that represents individual task bars.
Swim Lane Field: The reference field on each task that determines which swim lane it belongs to.
Swim Lane Selection: Optionally limit which swim lane records appear. If none are selected, all active swim lane records are shown.
Start Date & Time Field / End Date & Time Field: Required datetime fields that position each bar.
Interval Type / Interval Amount: How the time axis is divided (Minute, Hour, Day, or Week, plus the number of units per division).
Snap To Type / Snap To Amount: Optional drag/drop snap granularity.
Show Unscheduled Tasks: Shows or hides the unscheduled backlog panel (on by default).
Default Filter: Filter applied when the view loads or refreshes.

Group By, Task Fields, and Swim Lane Fields

Use the tabs on the right side of Edit View to configure:

Group By: Reference fields on the swim lane table for hierarchical collapsible lane grouping.
Task Fields: Extra fields shown on bars, tooltips, and the unscheduled grid.
Swim Lane Fields: Fields displayed on each swim lane row.

Each list supports sort order and a Delete All option to reset.

Tools (including AI)

The Tools tab defines timeline tools that appear in the toolbar. Each tool includes:

Name, Icon, Sort
Placeholder Text / Placeholder Color for the ghost block while dragging
Default tool selection when multiple tools exist
Script — JavaScript with access to timelineTool, database, app, and ai

To use a tool: select it, drag a time range across one or more swim lanes, then release. The script receives the selected start/end and swim lane IDs and can create or update records (for example insert a changeover work order on the selected lines).

Right-click cancels an in-progress tool drag. View Actions (Button / Drop Down) can also run scripts with AI support for related schedule workflows.

Validations

The Validations tab holds a validation script that runs after the timeline loads and after schedule changes (drag, schedule, unschedule).

Validation scripts can:

Inspect the loaded tasks
Call validation.logError(...) with an optional message, color, and icon
Override bar color/icon and surface problems in tooltips

When problems exist, a View Problems control lists them for quick review. Typical uses include unique tooling constraints, overlapping jobs on the same line, or required fields missing on scheduled work.

Advanced Settings

Color Field: Field that sets task bar colors.
Icon Field: Optional icon on each bar.
Use Operating Schedule: Shade periods outside each swim lane’s operating availability (when the swim lane table supports schedules).
Override Table Name: Custom caption for create actions.
Parent View: Nest this timeline under another view in the workspace menu.
Data Editing: Editable, Read Only, or Security Controlled (see Role-Based Security).
Active / Archived: Whether the view is available in the workspace.

Permissions and Licensing

Editing the timeline layout and scheduling tasks requires the appropriate role-based security on the workspace / view and related tables. Timeline task tables also require the Scheduler license role. When Data Editing is Read Only (or the user lacks edit rights), drag, create, and tool placement are disabled.

Tips for Building Effective Timelines

Start with clear swim lanes (lines, facilities, or people) and reliable start/end datetime fields.
Turn on Show Unscheduled Tasks so planners can clear backlog by drag-and-drop.
Set Snap To to match how your plant actually slots work (for example 15-minute or 1-hour increments).
Use Color Field + Icon Field so production vs maintenance vs changeover is obvious at a glance.
Enable Use Operating Schedule when lanes have defined availability / holidays.
Add Tools for repeatable create actions and Validations for hard scheduling rules.
Use filters and default filters to keep each timeline focused on one planning audience.

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