Timeline view is not possible to use

Question

Our "Timeline" view in Jira (Software project) is not usable. Our list of epics show (child tasks also when expanded) but there is nothing to interact with or visible for the actual timeline. There are no boxes that show any duration of time, that you can see or interact with.

I've been reading around the topic and it seems a little fragmented. For example in this video you can see on the left sidebar there is a "Roadmap" view:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nbJgvMf0hc

We do not have that... It just says "Timeline" instead.

There is no data in our "Task" or "Epic" type to add a start or end date. I took a look at the fields in the admin and it's locked with no option to enable it or indication of what the consequences of doing so would be.

Is the reason that this feature is not possible to use?

Walter Buggenhout · Answer

Hi @Dean Clatworthy,

Community notifications have been landing in my spam folder for quite some time, so just seeing your comment now:

Interestingly we are able to drag the bar to make it bigger, does this then adjust the project estimate or where is this data stored? e.g. if today is Jan 1st and I estimate a task a week and add due date Jan 7th. I can then go to timeline and drag the end bar to Jan 14th - will it update the estimate to 2 weeks or?

Dragging your timeline just updates the start date and due date fields. It does not impact your estimates.

This is just the way it goes in reality as well: the effort required is something different as its duration. If it takes you 24 hours to complete a job, as wel usually all work only 8 hours a day, these 24 hours will take us (at least) 3 days to complete.

If my answer was helpful, consider accepting it here so it becomes easier to find for other users having similar questions.

Dean Clatworthy · Answer

Hi @Walter Buggenhout . Thanks for the quick reply!

Yes we are on the "Standard" plan. There is no calendar icon next to an epic/task on the timeline view for me. When hovering or expanding.

I can confirm that child level scheduling for the timeline is enabled, but regarding this:

> From all you describe, I deduct that you are in a company managed project in Jira Software. To be able to set the due date on issues, you need to have the schedule issues permission in your project. That may be something worth looking into.

I checked this and these are the permissions I see when going to project settings (also I can confirm this is a company managed project)

Update: After a JIRA admin enabled "Due date" field for our default issue view for this project, we now have bars we can drag if we set that field.

Interestingly we are able to drag the bar to make it bigger, does this then adjust the project estimate or where is this data stored? e.g. if today is Jan 1st and I estimate a task a week and add due date Jan 7th. I can then go to timeline and drag the end bar to Jan 14th - will it update the estimate to 2 weeks or?

Walter Buggenhout · Answer

Hi @Dean Clatworthy and welcome to the Community!

I'll try to get you on the right track here, but let me try to remove some confusion first ...

The Timeline you see is really the planning feature. Jira - unfortunately - has multiple timelines, depending on the cloud plan you have and the type of project you are in. Since it seems you are on a standard plan, the timeline you are talking about is a basic plan that should work as long as the board your timeline is on shows data from 1 project only. That seems to be the case, as you can see issues displayed on them.

Next, the fact that the start date field is locked in custom fields is not a problem. That only means that it is a system field and that you cannot change its configuration. But that is perfectly fine.

The timeline use the start date and due date fields to display your schedule. Normally, when you click on the calendar next to an issue in timeline view, it should add a duration bar in the schedule. Doing so then automatically fills out those fields.

From all you describe, I deduct that you are in a company managed project in Jira Software. To be able to set the due date on issues, you need to have the schedule issues permission in your project. That may be something worth looking into.

And finally, to make sure you can also schedule child issues (of epics), you need to enable child level scheduling for your timeline. Locate timeline settings (you can do so via the kanban board view > configure board > timeline) and set the toggle for child level scheduling to on.

Hope this helps!