With the cross-projects timeline in Teamleader Focus you can say goodbye to the Excel struggle of trying to obtain a visual timeline overview of all your projects. Instead, we assist you and your team in creating a pragmatic and high-level project planning. Read all about the cross-projects timeline here!



Why

The cross-projects timeline in Teamleader Focus allows you to effortlessly check across multiple projects when projects are planned to start, when they’re due, what’s over budget, etc. A few of the many advantages are:


  • You can continuously see how occupied the business is

  • You can distinguish which projects aren't going according to plan and need attention

  • Easily assess if you can or need to take on more work

  • Display all projects from the start date until the end date

  • Immediately check and filter on the status & health of each project

Where

You find the cross-projects timeline by navigating to the overview of your Projects and clicking on the icon switch in the top right-hand corner. Via this button you can easily switch between the list view and the timeline view.



The last selected view is saved here. This means that if you leave the cross-projects timeline to navigate to a company for example, the cross-projects timeline will still be in place when returning to your Projects. Sames goes for the list view of your projects.

Timeline specifics 

  • Opening the timeline loads all of your projects and you’ll be able to scroll down to access all* of them

    *Note: The maximum number of projects that is displayed is 350. If you have more than 350 projects (both active or inactive) then a banner will appear asking you to filter the results (e.g. filter on active projects)

  • The name of the month is displayed at the top of the timeline

    • Navigate from one month to the next by hovering over the timeline with the hand icon and dragging the timeline from left to right

  • Workdays and weekends are displayed in a different colour (white vs grey)

  • The projects are sorted starting at the top with the earliest project start date on the first track of the timeline

  • When you hover over a project more information is shown

    • The health of the project

    • The start and end date of the project

    • Progress bars on the tracked time, the amount of work that is completed and the spent budget

  • Drill down into more detail by clicking on the Details of a project

  • Click on a project to further expand it to display its phases

    • Hovering over a phase displays:

      • The health of the phase

      • The start date and the end date of the phase

        • The first phase of a project will automatically get a start date equal to the start date of the project. The other phases will get the due date of the previous phase +1 day as a start date.
          E.g. If Phase 1 ends on Friday then the start date of Phase 2 will be Saturday.

        • You can always manually change the start date afterwards

    • Clicking on a phase opens the side panel with more information and a link to the work breakdown

    • Note: Some projects are too small (meaning the period between the start and end date is too short) to allow for expanding phases. The ‘Details’ button won’t be visible and clicking on a project will open the side panel.

Search bar, filtering, health & statuses

The search bar, the filter on project health, the different project statuses and the filter on participants allow you to find certain projects faster.

In the top left-hand corner of your cross-projects timeline you’ll find the search bar. Search within your projects on the name of a customer for example and filter on only the projects of this specific customer.

Project health and colours

To the right of the search bar you find the button Health. The health of your project and your phases is indicated via colour-coding and has a strong link to the provided budget, the budget spent and the forecast of your project: 


  • Unknown (white)
    • Add an estimated time or budget to this running project to see whether it's on or off track.
  • On track (green)
    • A budget and/or time estimations (via tasks) have been provided for the project;
    • AND based on the already spent budget and the forecasted budget, the budget will not be exceeded.
  • At risk (orange) 
    • Only when a budget was provided;
    • AND when the project is currently under budget, but based on the forecast it will go over the provided budget.
  • Off track (red)
    • The budget spent is already higher than the provided budget.
    • OR total time tracked > total time estimated
  • The colour-coding explained above also applies to the phases of your project. It could very well be the case that some of your phases are on track while others are at risk or overdue.

Status

You can also search your projects based on their status:

  • Active projects

    • Planned: 

      • The project is planned and has a start date that is later than today.

    • Running: 

      • The project is running (start date ≥ today < end date);

    • Overdue:

      • The end date of the project precedes today’s date.

  • Inactive projects

    • Done 

    • On hold 
      Note: once a project has been put on hold, you'll no longer receive notifications about the project and its phases.

    • Cancelled 


Filtering on participants

Next to the statuses you find the participant filter. This makes it possible to only display the projects of certain colleague(s). 


Note: The timeline also takes user rights into account. Users that don't have access to certain projects can’t see them in the cross-projects timeline either.

You can filter on all of the above filters at the same time.  So you could take a look at all projects that are at risk for a certain customer and a certain colleague for example.


Hide projects from your timeline

It's also possible to hide certain projects from your timeline if you don't want them to be included in the view. There are three ways to do this:

  • Simply navigate to your project > click on the three dots next to the Details of your project > choose Hide on timeline. Hidden projects can be shown again by choosing 'Show on timeline'. 
  • Click on the project in your timeline and choose Details. Here you click on Hide on timeline. Via the arrow it's also possible to Close a project. 


  • From your project list overview you can hide projects in bulk. This is only possible if you are an admin though. Select or create a segment and click on Actions > Hide projects on timeline

Notes:

  • Once you hide a project, it will be hidden for everyone
  • Hidden projects can always be accessed via the list overview of your projects, you won't lose any information


General notes

  • Days and dates aren’t displayed in the timeline to reduce clutter

  • Holidays or closing days are not taken into account

  • It’s not possible to change the timeframe of the timeline

  • You can’t drag & drop in the timeline

Difference with project planning (BOOST)

When you’re on a BOOST licence in Teamleader Focus, you’ll also find an extra ‘Planning’ tab in your projects. The project planning is built for even more detailed resource planning. It also only focuses on currently active projects instead of all projects. 


The project planning allows you to schedule your co-workers' agenda and helps you deliver projects on time. Read the following article to find out how to use the project planning module.