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. Milestones
4.1. Overview
4.2. Additional Settings
5. Command Bar
5.1. Click to save changes
5.2. Autosave
5.3. Adjust
5.4. Settings
5.4.1. Sorting your initiatives
5.4.2. Show links by
5.4.3. Critical path
5.4.4. Show additional dates
5.5. View
5.6. Switch to portfolio view
5.7. Three-dot menu
6. 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. It is a Gantt chart that 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. This is the default linking mode for new initiatives workflows.
- as relatives — drag the handle of an initiative and drop it to another initiative you want to link as relative. This mode is only available if you select it from the “Show links by” dropdown in the planning view settings. It's not possible to show both the predecessor/successor and relative links at the same time. Read more in pt. 5.4.
- 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 where you can update its description, owner, priority, etc.
- 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.
- Create new milestones and associate them with initiatives (check pt. 4 to learn more).
Important: Some of these actions may not be available for initiatives with inherited planned dates. Learn more about syncing planned dates here.
2.1. Initiative Links in the Planning View
You can link initiatives as successors or predecessors. There can be gaps between linked initiatives except when there is an overlap between a predecessor and successor initiative. In that case, the successor will be pushed for after the planned end date of the predecessor (see short video below).
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.
Note: If you have predecessor and successor initiatives with overlapping planned dates, opening the planning view will automatically reposition them on the timeline. The planned start and end dates of the successor will be adjusted to follow the predecessor's planned dates, maintaining the finish-to-start logic in the system. The duration of the successor initiative will remain the same; only the planned dates will change to align right after the predecessor's planned dates. This adjustment is visible on the timeline and in the initiative's tooltip. However, if autosave is not enabled, these changes will not appear in the initiative's details (in the Timeline fields inside the initiative) unless manually saved. This discrepancy is expected if autosave is off and changes are not manually saved. Read more about Autosave in pt 5.1. and 5.2.
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. The system will assign an artificial one-day duration, with today as a start date and tomorrow as an end date. 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.
- Portfolio initiatives that don't have a planned start and end date, but have a deadline (5) — the system will display a duration from the current date until the deadline 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 add the Actual Start and Actual End dates, as well as the initiative's priority 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 or milestone, and the “plus” signs next to each initiative will create a child initiative.
Notes:
- Clicking on either table column heading (e.g. Owner, Planned start) will sort initiatives by that item in an ascending or descending order.
- Clicking the duration column values allows you to manually edit an initiative's duration. The change is automatically reflected on the timeline.
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. Milestones
Important: We released Milestones in version 10.9. They are still in Beta, so improvements and additional functionalities are underway. Below is an overview of their current capabilities. For a more in-depth look into milestones and how to manage them, please refer to our dedicated guide on milestones in Businessmap.
4.1. Overview
Milestones represent significant progress points in a project's lifecycle where key events or goals are achieved. In Businessmap, you can use milestones to mark important events in your initiatives.
To create a milestone, click on the plus icon in the upper right corner of the table columns, and select Create new milestone.
This will open a configuration window where you can set up your milestone:
- pick a color (1) for the milestone icon
- choose a suitable icon (2)
- give your milestone a name (3)
- select the date (4) of the milestone
- add a description (5) — this setting is optional
- select the boards (6) where you want your milestone to be present
- configure the availability level (7) of your milestone — choose between Auto, Global, or On-demand
The milestone you created will appear next to the date cell it is scheduled for on the timeline (if your zoom level is set to Days). For all other zoom levels, milestones are visualized within the time unit and on the day they are scheduled for. For example, if your zoom level is set to months and you have a milestone scheduled for May 15th, it will be visualized in the middle of May. Alternatively, if you have a milestone on June 1st, it will be displayed in the beginning of June.
You will also notice that if there is more than one milestone scheduled for the same date, the system will visualize an icon with the number of milestones set for this date (see image below). On hover, you will see details about each milestone.
To associate a milestone with an initiative, drag the milestone icon to the initiative you want. If there is more than one milestone for that day/period, the system will let you choose which milestone you want to apply. A pop-up will appear if the milestone was successfully added and a milestones icon will appear on the initiative to indicate there is a milestone associated with it.
The milestones icon will display the number of milestones associated with the respective initiative. On hover, you can see more details about the associated milestones.
4.2. Additional Settings
A left or right-click on a milestone will open several menu options where you can:
- edit the configuration
- remove the milestone from the board
5. Command Bar
The command bar is located at the upper right corner of the workflow window and contains the following features:
5.1. 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.
5.2. Autosave
When it is turned on, the system automatically saves every change you make. If it's turned off, you need to manually save the changes you make while in the planning view by clicking the “Click to save changes” icon that appears.
5.3. Adjust
Similar to timeline initiatives, clicking on the Adjust icon will quickly revert your timeline to Auto view.
5.4. Settings
This is where you choose how to sort your initiatives (by swimlane, column, initiative, or parent), what information to show in the table columns for each initiative (title, owner, planned start/end date, actual start/end date, duration, priority, and deadline), and which links to display (predecessor/successor or relative).
From this panel, you can also configure what date fields to display in the planning view.
5.4.1. 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.
- By Parent
You can also order your initiatives by their parent. This will create the following sections:
-
- Initiatives that have a parent in another workflow or board (1) — initiatives will be grouped by the title of their parent from another workflow or board. For example, if initiatives A and B have a parent titled “Projects” on another board, ordering by parent will show a section titled “Projects” with initiatives A and B below it in the planning view (see image below).
- Initiatives without a parent (2) — initiatives that don't have a parent in a different workflow or board.
- Initiatives with multiple parents (3) — initiatives that have two or more parents (regardless of their location).
5.4.2. Show links by
Choose to display the initiatives links you want to see in the planning view — either predecessor/successor or relative links. When in the predecessor/successor mode, linking two initiatives happens in a “start to finish” or “finish to start” manner. In the relative links mode, you can link initiatives as relatives only in a “start to start” manner, connecting the start of one initiative to the start of another.
5.4.3. 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).
5.4.4. Show additional dates
Enabling this setting will visualize all date fields (if present) described below:
- Actual progress
The actual progress indicates the duration of an initiative, calculated using only its actual start and end date. The actual progress is visualized under the initiative, but only if an actual start/end date is specified.
- Original planned duration
This is a marker (displayed as an icon) that shows the planned start and end dates of the initiative before the auto scheduling adjustment. The marker will only appear if there is a difference between the original planned duration and the planned duration after the initiative has been linked as a successor to another initiative (check pt. 2.1. Initiative Links in the Planning View).
- Date fields
From the dropdown, you can also choose to display the initiative's deadline and/or custom fields of type date that have been added to the initiative. These date fields will appear as icons in the respective time units under the initiative, with more information available on hover. If you want to display the field's name, checkmark the “Show date field labels” checkbox.
5.5. View
Here you can set the time units you want for your timeline. The options are the same as with Timeline Workflows.
5.6. Switch to portfolio view
Go back to the normal portfolio initiative view.
5.7. 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.
6. 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.
You can see a visual overview of how to use the planning view in the video below: