1.

Project Timeline
<Project Name>
Project Timeline <Project Name>

Version History and Sign-off

Version Reason for Change Date Name
0.1 Initial draft <dd-mm-yyyy> <Name>
1.0 Review and approval <dd-mm-yyyy> <Name>

Authorisation
The following individuals have reviewed and approved this document:

Approver’s Name Job Title Approved on (Date) Signature

<Name> <Title> <dd-mm-yyyy>
<Name> <Title> <dd-mm-yyyy>

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Table of Contents
1. Project Timeline...................................................................................................................4
2. Appendix..............................................................................................................................5

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Project Timeline <Project Name>

1. Project Timeline

The timeline provides a powerful way of representing project duration and the high-level tasks involved. It is easier for everyone to understand when the
project is going to start and finish if it is in a timeline view.

2017
Team
August September October November

GUI Finalize the configuration Receive customer Feedback Roll out the config plan Execute the plan

QA Plan the testing activities Receive customer Feedback Execute the plan

GUI-Aug: GUI-Sep: GUI-Oct:

Plan Execute Present

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2. Appendix

What is a project timeline? 

A Project Timeline is a visual display of major tasks and milestones listed in chronological order, with
dates listed alongside them. The successful completion of all the tasks and milestones results in the
completion of the project. The bars are then broken down into shorter detailed tasks in the project’s work
plan. The timeline typically groups similar tasks together and can also present dependencies between
the various tasks/milestones.

Once a timeline is approved, it can also present the planned versus the actual progress of all the
tasks/milestones. Most timelines employ a linear scale, meaning that if one bar twice as long as another,
then it is planned to take twice as long to complete. The scale depends on the duration of the
project and is usually weeks or months. A Gantt chart is an example of a project timeline. 8 Project
Timeline Template & Samples - Download Free 

What is the importance of having a project timeline?

A timeline assists the project manager in presenting the high-level plan of a project to the stakeholders,
team members, vendors, clients, etc. It is a simple tool that can easily present to all involved if they are
ahead / on / behind schedule.

It is very easy to visualize gaps, lapses, overlaps of tasks, and durations. When presenting the status of
a project, the timeline is an excellent method to show the P vs. A (Plan vs. Actual).

What should a project timeline contain?

A project timeline should be kept simple, and follow the guidelines below – 

 Colour code similar tasks.

 Display the timescale at the top.

 Present all the contingencies to any of the tasks.

 Present the dependencies between any two tasks.

 A task should be presented as a bar and a milestone as a rhombus.

The timeline itself should contain the following contents – All the major tasks of the project. The tasks
which compromise the critical path may be presented in a different way (for example, a different color),
but this is optional. The tasks of each team/group should all be the same color and be grouped together.

The following milestones should also be covered - Contractual, Deliverables, Gates (Go / No-go), and
3rd party deliverable.

What are the steps involved in creating a timeline?

To capture a timeline, the following steps should be followed –

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1. WBS: Since 100% of the required work is captured in the WBS, this is a good place to start
when outlining a timeline. Each section of the WBS (Engineering, Testing, Interface, etc.) needs
to become a group of tasks in the timeline. 

2. Contractual obligations: To ensure that all of the obligations are met, they need to be inserted
into their respective groups' timeline. Their predecessors should be clearly marked to plainly
see how postponing a certain task will affect the contractual obligations. 

3. Brainstorming: Once the first two steps are completed and an initial draft is ready, it should be
presented to the team (team members, stakeholders, clients, vendors). Their input is a
precious, precious feasible plan which is acceptable by all parties. 

4. Stakeholders / Client Approval: Once the three steps above are completed, receiving approval
of the plan is the final step. After the approval is received, rolling out the plan to everyone is an
important step. The plan should be communicated in several different methods (E-mails,
meetings, large printouts, etc.).

How to maintain a project timeline?

After communicating the plan, the next step is to maintain it. This will result in a P vs. A (Plan vs. Actual)
report, which will present a high-level picture of how the project is doing. There are 2 main options for
maintaining the timeline –

 Maintain a detailed Plan

 Each task in the timeline is broken down into detailed tasks, and their complete % is updated
periodically. 

 Each task contributes its part to the overall completion %, and this overall % is presented in the
timeline. 

 The planned % is typically linear, i.e., if a task is planned to take 4 weeks and 1 week has
passed, then 25% should have been completed. If the actual % isn’t 25%, then there may be a
problem (even if it higher, it could indicate that the team has overlooked some tasks). 

 The timeline is then updated with the actual %, and the result is a P vs. A report. This report
should be presented in all status meetings and serve as the platform for raising issues, risks,
and opportunities. 

 The main advantage is that the result presents all the effort which was put into the task. 

 The disadvantage is that it requires quite a bit of effort to keep the detailed plan updated. 

 Maintain KPI’s

 Each task in the timeline has a KPI which measures how many deliverables were approved. 

 For example: If the task is writing 20 documents, then the KPI will measure how many
documents were written and approved out of the 20. If 5 were approved, then the KPI will be
25%. 

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 This percentage is actual and will be presented in the report. The main advantage is that it is
simple to maintain and measure. 

 The disadvantage is that if 20 of the documents are almost completed, the KPI will show 0%
since none of them were approved.

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