Timeline Bars

This field supplies the name for each Timeline bar. In many cases this will be the field used for the lowest level of the Parent Category – as in this case, we will use Top Parent Task. 

Timeline Bar Start Date, Timeline Bar Finish Date 

The Timeline Bar Start and Finish dates are used by the Timeline visual to define the Timeline bar display.

From the sample data we will use Project Phase Start Date and Earliest Project Phase Finish Date:

Milestones

Much like the Timeline Bar field, Milestone is used to identify and name the milestones.

Milestones Date

Milestone Dates identify the date to display each milestone.  In this case we have those dates in the same column with the Gantt bar start dates, but it could be a separate column.

Legend

Legend is used to categorize both the Timeline Bars and Milestones and enables the ability to set Timeline Bar color by category, and Milestone color and shape by category. It is required that the category data for both Timeline bars and Milestones are in one single column. From our sample data we will use the Project Phase field.

Milestone or Task

This is a logical True/False field that delineates between Tasks and Milestones in the data.  This must show TRUE if the row is a milestone, or FALSE if the row is a timeline bar.  This field is generally required if the Legend field is being used to categorize milestones and timeline bars.  In some cases the visual may function correctly without this field.

Hierarchy

Hierarchy defines the rows in the Gantt Timeline visual. Multiple fields can be used to display a hierarchy. Our example uses a single level hierarchy based on Project Name

Timeline Bars Text 

The Timeline Bars Text field enables the display of text in the Timeline Bar. For this example, we will use Top Parent Task so that the name of the phase can be displayed.

Data Label

Data labels can be displayed on milestones, timeline bars or both. In the example we will use labels for the milestones.

Baseline Bar Start and Finish Dates

The Baseline Bars Start and Finish dates are used to display baseline bars below the timeline bars. 

% Complete

Percent completion will display a progress bar inside a timeline bar. From our sample data we will use the Task Percent Completed field.

Sort By

Sort By allows for custom sorting of your data. In the example we will not use a custom sort, so we leave that empty.

Timeline Bar and Milestone Tooltips

The Tooltips field wells allow you to add one or more fields to be displayed for either Timeline Bars or Milestones. For this example, we will leave them empty.