How do I show initiatives on my timeline?

[dawnhughan]

We have initiatives that contain multiple epics. I'd like to show epics and initiatives on the timeline view. Is that possible and, if so, how do I set that up?

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello @dawnhughan 

Welcome to the Atlassian community.

There are two "timeline" features in Jira Cloud; the basic Timeline and the Plans Timeline.

The basic Timeline is available as a tab when you are viewing an board; i.e.

That basic timeline is capable of showing only Epics and their child work items - the default hierarchy for work items in Jira.

To see a customized and extended hierarchy you have to use the Plans feature that is available with the Premium and Enterprise subscriptions. This shows up as a menu option.

You can base plans off of Projects, Boards, and/or custom Filters. Plans includes a Timeline display that will support showing the work items in the extended/customized hierarchy.

To learn more about Plans refer to

https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/guides/advanced-roadmaps/overview#what-is-advanced-planning

[Priyanka Khare]

@dawnhughan 

Yes, you can show both Initiatives and Epics on a timeline.

Options:

1. Advanced Roadmaps (Jira Premium/Data Center):
   • Link Epics to Initiatives using the Parent Link field.
   • Configure the hierarchy to show Initiative → Epic → Story on the timeline.
2. BigPicture (Cloud/Data Center):
   • Create Initiatives as a custom issue type.
   • Use BigPicture’s Gantt/Timeline view to display both Initiatives and Epics on the timeline.

Recommendation: Use Advanced Roadmaps (if on Premium/Data Center), or BigPicture for more flexibility and features.

[Prachi Bolar]

Hello,

Welcome to Community :) 

I understand you are using a Jira premium plan and we that you have created initiatives 

These initiatives have epics under it and you would like show them under the project timeline also.

Presently, it's not possible to show initiatives n the project timeline, you would be able to manage them via the jira plans as Trudy has mentioned above

Thank you,

Prachi

[Michael Yaroshefsky - Visor for Jira]

@dawnhughan welcome to the Atlassian Community!

As Trudy says displaying epics and initiatives is not possible in the basic Jira Timeline.

You can either upgrade to a Jira Premium/Enterprise plan or - if Jira Plans is not right for you - then you can use an app like ours (Visor).

Both Jira Plans and Visor enable you to create roadmaps with initiatives and other custom hierarchies. Plus you can visualize multiple projects on the same timeline/roadmap.

Here's our Visor Atlassian Marketplace listing if you want to try our app: 

https://marketplace.atlassian.com/apps/1226209/visor-spreadsheet-gantt-chart-for-jira-with-excel-export?tab=overview&hosting=cloud 

It has a bi-directional Jira integration, with a 14-day no commitment and no-cost free trial. 

Hope that helps.