> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://help.agencydesk.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://help.agencydesk.io/jobs/timeline.md). # Timeline A Gantt-style view of a single Job where Tasks, Milestones, and financial events sit on one shared calendar. The place where Milestones are created, moved, and completed in full context of the work ar The **Timeline** tab plots a Job's work across a calendar. Every active Task appears as a bar inside its Group, so a costing built as a list reads as a schedule. Pinned beneath the date header are two dedicated rails: a **Milestones rail** and a **Financial rail**. Because Agencydesk was built exclusively for agencies, the Timeline is drawn from the same Tasks your team is booked on and your client is billed for. Moving a bar moves the actual Task dates, which the Resource Planner and everyone's My Desk then follow. Seeing deadlines, deliverables, and the money moving through a Job on one screen is what makes the Timeline the view project managers keep open while a Job is live. Open it from inside any Job, then the **Timeline** tab. {% hint style="info" %} The Timeline is where Milestones are managed. The Milestones report is where they are monitored across every Job, and every row there links back to this page. {% endhint %} ## Reading the Timeline Across the top sits the date header, with the month above and each day beneath it showing its weekday letter and date. Weekends are shaded so the working week is easy to pick out, and a vertical line marks today, so you can read at a glance what is behind, in flight, or still ahead. Beneath the two rails, each **Group** from the Job Costing forms a labelled band, with its Tasks laid out as bars across the days they are scheduled for. Each Task bar carries: * The **assigned users**, as profile pictures at the left of the bar. Several stack together where more than one person is on the Task. * The **Task name**. * A **check icon** at the right where the Task is complete. ### Task bar colours * **Blue** — an active Task, still in production. * **Grey with a check icon** — a completed Task. Completed Tasks recede visually so attention stays on live work. ### Draft Tasks do not appear A **Draft** Task has no start or due date yet, so there is nothing to plot. Dates arrive the moment a Task is activated, inherited automatically from the Job's own start and end dates. {% hint style="info" %} This is the same reason a Job requires both dates at creation. Activating twenty Tasks off an approved Estimate gives every one of them a workable date range immediately, so the Timeline is populated the moment the client says yes rather than after someone sets dates line by line. {% endhint %} ## Changing dates by dragging Task bars are editable directly on the Timeline. * **Drag the whole bar** left or right to shift the Task, keeping its duration the same. * **Drag either end** of the bar to change just the start date or just the due date, making the Task longer or shorter. Changes write straight back to the Task, so the new dates apply everywhere the Task appears. {% hint style="info" %} **Great for** replanning after a client delay. When feedback lands a week late, drag the remaining Tasks across rather than opening each one and retyping dates, then check the Resource Planner to see who the shift has now overloaded. {% endhint %} {% hint style="info" %} Task dependencies are not currently part of the Timeline. Moving one Task does not move the Tasks that follow it, so each is adjusted on its own. {% endhint %} ## The Milestones rail Pinned beneath the date header is the **Milestones rail**, a dedicated track carrying every Milestone on the Job on the day it falls. Each one renders as a **pill** showing its name and, where connected, a small avatar for the linked work. Where several Milestones land on the same day they stack rather than overlap, so a busy day stays readable. A Milestone marks a date that matters on the Job: a client presentation, a print deadline, a go-live, an asset handover. What makes it more than a note is its connection to real work, which is what drives its progress and keeps its status current. ### Milestone status Each Milestone carries a status that Agencydesk keeps current on its own: * **Upcoming** (blue) — the date is still ahead, with near-term Milestones emphasised. * **Overdue** (red) — applied automatically the moment the date passes without completion. * **Done** (green) — completed, and visually settled so it stays out of the way. The status follows the connected work on its own, but you are not locked to it. From the pill you can mark a Milestone **Complete** by hand, or toggle a completed one back to open, whenever the automatic reading and reality differ. ### Where Milestones are created A Milestone can be created in four places, and where you start decides its connection: * **From a Task Group** — "Create Milestone from Group", connected to that Group. * **From a Task** — "Create Milestone from Task", connected to that Task. * **From a Cost** — "Create Milestone from Cost", connected to that Cost. * **From the Timeline** — "Create Milestone", where you choose the connection yourself: a Task, a Cost, a Group, or a Standalone Milestone with no deliverable behind it. The Timeline is the only one of the four that offers a Standalone Milestone, because it is the only one you reach without starting from a specific piece of work. ### Adding a Milestone on the rail Hover any day on the Milestones rail and a **+ Add** appears. Click it to open the panel with that date already filled in, then give the Milestone a **name** and a **connection**. Milestones can also be added with the **+ Add Milestone** button on the Timeline strip that sits above the content of the other Job tabs. ### Connecting a Milestone The connection is what gives a Milestone meaning and drives its progress. Choose one of: * **Task** — a single deliverable. Progress reads tracked time against estimated time, capped at 100%. * **Task Group** — a whole workstream. Progress is the count of completed Tasks in the group, so two of five done reads as 40%. * **Cost** — a procurement item. Progress follows Purchase Order fulfilment. When the Cost has a PO with a delivery date set, that date pre-fills the Milestone date for you, otherwise you set it by hand. * **Standalone** — a fixed date with no deliverable behind it. It still belongs to the Job, but shows a status rather than progress and will not roll up or route to anyone. {% hint style="info" %} Connecting a Milestone to a Task or Group surfaces it on the assigned team members' My Desk, so the people doing the work see the deadline they are accountable for. {% endhint %} ### Editing and completing Click any Milestone pill to open it. From there you can rename it, change its date with the stepper, change what it connects to, mark it **Complete** or toggle it back to open, or **Delete** it. You can also drag a Milestone along the rail to reschedule it to another day. {% hint style="info" %} Because completion and progress flow from the connected work, a Task Group or Cost reaching 100% moves its Milestone toward done on its own. The Timeline reflects what has actually happened rather than waiting for someone to update it. {% endhint %} {% hint style="info" %} **Great for** the dates a client actually holds you to. A campaign might have thirty Tasks but only three dates that matter: creative presentation, final approval, and live. Marking those makes the Timeline readable to an Account Executive at a glance, and gives everyone on the Job the same set of deadlines. {% endhint %} ## The Financial rail Below the Milestones rail sits the **Financial rail**, which fills itself. Whenever a financial document is created on the Job, a marker appears here on its date on its own: a Purchase Order raised, an Invoice issued, a Cost Estimate approved. Each carries an icon and a label, and you do not place or edit these by hand, they follow the documents. As on the Milestones rail, events on the same day stack instead of overlapping, so a day carrying both a PO and an Invoice reads clearly. The rail is a record of what happened financially against the Job, in step with the delivery work above it. An Invoice on the rail, read against how much of the work sits behind it, is the reference point when a client queries what a particular invoice covered. {% hint style="info" %} **Great for** progress billing on a long build. Seeing the last Invoice sitting behind three quarters of the remaining work is the prompt to raise the next one. {% endhint %} ## The Timeline strip on other tabs A condensed version of the Timeline appears above the content of several other Job tabs, so the schedule stays visible while you work elsewhere. The strip shows the Job's date range, the **next Milestone**, and a **+ Add Milestone** button. A light blue shaded portion indicates how much of the Job's timeline has already elapsed. Collapse or expand the strip using the **chevron** to the right of **+ Add Milestone**. {% hint style="info" %} The elapsed shading is worth reading alongside **Time Recon** in the Job header. A Job three quarters through its date range with only a third of its estimated time tracked is either ahead of schedule or about to become a problem, and the two figures side by side tell you which. {% endhint %} ## From the Timeline to the report The Timeline is one Job in depth. When you need the view across every Job, what is overdue, due today, or coming this week, filtered by Account Manager, Client, Category, or Department, use the Milestones report. It is built on the same Milestones you manage here, and clicking any row there brings you straight back to this Timeline. --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. 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