TimelinePlanner User Guide

Last Updated: September 30, 2025

What is TimelinePlanner?

TimelinePlanner is an intuitive drag-and-drop timeline management tool that transforms your Jira tickets into visual calendar-based boards. With TimelinePlanner, you can easily plan and schedule your team's work across team member lanes, making resource allocation and sprint planning effortless and visual.

Main Features

📅 Visual Timeline Board

The core of TimelinePlanner is its interactive timeline board that displays all team members and their assigned work in a calendar view:

  • Calendar Timeline View: See your entire team's schedule at a glance
  • Team Member Lanes: Each team member has their own horizontal lane
  • Drag-and-Drop: Easily move tasks between team members and dates
  • Visual Duration: See how long each task takes with intuitive bars
  • Multiple Views: Switch between day, week, month, and quarter views
TimelinePlanner Board View

The main timeline board showing team member lanes with drag-and-drop task scheduling

🎫 Jira Integration

Seamlessly sync with your existing Jira projects and workflows:

  • Auto Import: Automatically pull in tickets from your Jira projects
  • Real-time Sync: Changes sync instantly between TimelinePlanner and Jira
  • Status Updates: See ticket status, priority, and type at a glance
  • Two-way Updates: Changes made in TimelinePlanner update in Jira
  • Filter by Project: Focus on specific Jira projects or boards
Jira Integration

Seamless Jira integration with real-time ticket syncing and status updates

👥 Team Capacity Planning

Smart capacity management helps you avoid overallocation and underutilization:

  • Capacity Indicators: Visual warnings when team members are overloaded
  • Workload Balance: See team capacity distribution across the timeline
  • Available Hours: Track remaining capacity per team member
  • Utilization Reports: Monitor team efficiency and workload
  • Conflict Detection: Automatic alerts for scheduling conflicts
Team Capacity View

Team capacity indicators showing workload distribution and availability

How to Use TimelinePlanner

Getting Started

  1. Access TimelinePlanner: Find it in your JIRA apps menu or visit the standalone version
  2. Connect Jira: Link your Jira projects in the Settings tab
  3. Add Team Members: Set up your team in Settings to create lanes
  4. Import Tickets: Pull in your Jira backlog or current sprint tickets
  5. Start Planning: Drag tickets onto the timeline to schedule work

Setting Up Your Team

Before you can schedule work, you need to add team members to create timeline lanes.

  1. Open Settings: Click the "Settings" tab (⚙️) in the navigation
  2. Team Management: Navigate to the "Team Members" section
  3. Add Members: Search for Jira users to add to your timeline
  4. Set Capacity: Configure working hours and availability for each member
  5. Assign Colors: Optional color coding for easy visual identification
  6. Lane Order: Drag to reorder team member lanes on the board

⚠️ Important: Team members must be added to TimelinePlanner before you can:

  • Assign tickets to them on the timeline
  • View their capacity and workload
  • Track their scheduled work
  • Generate team reports and analytics
TimelinePlanner Settings

Settings page showing team member management with capacity configuration

Scheduling Work on the Timeline

  1. View Unscheduled Tickets: Find the backlog panel on the left side
  2. Select a Ticket: Click and drag a ticket from the backlog
  3. Drop on Timeline: Place it in a team member's lane on the desired date
  4. Adjust Duration: Drag the edges to change the task's time span
  5. Move Between Members: Drag vertically to reassign to different team members
  6. Reschedule: Drag horizontally to change dates
  7. Quick Info: Hover over tickets to see full details
  8. Edit Details: Click a ticket to open the detail panel

Understanding the Timeline Board

  • Color Coding: Tickets are colored by priority, status, or project
  • Lane Height: Auto-adjusts to fit multiple concurrent tasks
  • Time Scale: Zoom in/out to see different date ranges
  • Today Indicator: Vertical line shows the current date
  • Capacity Bar: Color-coded bar shows team member workload (green = available, yellow = near capacity, red = overloaded)
  • Quick Filters: Filter by project, assignee, status, or labels

Managing Conflicts and Capacity

  • Overload Warnings: Red highlights indicate when someone has too much work
  • Overlap Detection: Visual indicators when tasks overlap
  • Capacity Panel: Right sidebar shows detailed capacity metrics
  • Rebalance Suggestions: AI-powered recommendations for better distribution
  • Historical Data: View past velocity to improve future planning

Tips for Teams

Initial Setup

  • Admin Configuration: Project administrators should configure Jira integration and add all team members first
  • Import Strategy: Start with a single sprint or project to learn the tool
  • Capacity Calibration: Set realistic working hours considering meetings and overhead
  • Color Scheme: Establish a consistent color coding system for your team

Sprint Planning

  • Start with Backlog: Import all sprint tickets before scheduling
  • Check Capacity First: Review team availability before assigning work
  • Balance Workload: Aim for even distribution across team members
  • Buffer Time: Leave some capacity for unexpected work
  • Dependencies: Schedule dependent tasks with appropriate gaps

Best Practices

  • Daily Updates: Keep the timeline current with actual progress
  • Team Visibility: Share the timeline view in daily standups
  • Realistic Estimates: Use historical data to improve time estimates
  • Regular Reviews: Check capacity trends weekly to identify issues early
  • Communication: Discuss major schedule changes with affected team members

JIRA Integration Details

TimelinePlanner's deep Jira integration provides powerful workflow automation:

  • Bidirectional Sync: Changes in either system reflect in the other
  • Custom Fields: Support for Jira custom fields and attributes
  • Workflow States: Respects your Jira workflow configurations
  • Sprint Integration: Works with Jira sprints and backlogs
  • Permissions: Honors Jira user permissions and project access
  • Webhooks: Real-time updates using Jira webhooks

Getting Help

Need assistance with TimelinePlanner? Here's how to get support:

  • Email Support: support@d-flux.net
  • Response Time: We typically respond within 24-48 hours
  • Feature Requests: We love hearing ideas for improvements!

Last Updated: September 30, 2025
Version: 1.0

For the latest updates and additional resources, contact our support team.