The Kendis Timeline View provides a comprehensive, visual, and date-oriented perspective of all features and their underlying user stories within the current Program Increment (PI). It functions as a powerful tracking tool, displaying feature progress, iteration-based scheduling, and key milestones in a highly organized Gantt-style chart .
This view is essential for Release Train Engineers (RTEs), Product Management, and program leadership to monitor execution, manage dependencies, and ensure features are on track for their target completion dates.
Key Benefits of the Timeline View
Benefit | Description | Contextual Detail |
Visual Roadmap | Provides an instant, clear visual representation of all features and their duration across the entire PI's iterations. | The feature bars' length and placement are dynamically calculated based on the earliest start and latest end dates of all associated user stories. |
Progress Roll-Up | The completion percentage on each feature bar is automatically calculated based on the status of its linked user stories (e.g., number of stories "Done"). | While currently the primary percentage is based on story status, a switch to view progress by story estimate is planned, similar to the Objectives view. |
Interactive Planning | Users can drag and drop user story bars directly on the timeline to reschedule work to another iteration/sprint. | This drag-and-drop action triggers a confirmation dialogue and instantly updates the assignment on both the Kendis board and in your connected ALM (Jira/Azure DevOps). |
Milestone Management | Allows for the creation of program-level milestones and time-bound phases (e.g., "Code Freeze," "Testing Complete") which appear as markers on the timeline. | Features can be explicitly linked to Milestones to group them and visually assess if any feature's schedule is projecting beyond the milestone date. |
Flexible Grouping | Offers multiple "Group By" options to organize the feature list (e.g., by Milestone, Status, Team, Planned/Unplanned, or even ALM-specific custom fields). | This allows stakeholders to instantly pivot the view to focus on backlog items, work for a specific team, or progress towards a particular milestone. |
Detailed Navigation and Functionality Guide
1. Accessing the Timeline View
The Timeline View is accessed from the Program Board screen.
Navigate to your active Program Increment (PI) Board.
Locate and click the "More" menu button in the top-right navigation bar of the board (one of the Menu buttons like Dependencies, Objectives, etc.).
In the dropdown menu, select the "Timeline View" icon (which looks like a small Gantt chart or vertical bars).
Note: If a System Prompt appears related to overlapping or missing Sprint dates, you must resolve these date inconsistencies in the PI settings before the Timeline can load correctly.
2. Understanding the Layout
The view is split into two primary areas.
Left Pane (List View): Shows the list of Features in the same priority order as the Program Board.
Each feature card displays its key, a status indicator (small colored dot), which reflects its current status (Orange for To Do, Blue for In Progress, and Green for Done), and the teams assigned to its stories.
Click the toggle arrow (⟨/⟩) next to the Feature title to expand it and view all associated User Stories underneath.
Right Pane (Timeline Chart): Shows the horizontal timeline, segmented by your PI's Iterations/Sprints.
Feature Bar: A colored bar that spans the duration of the feature. The length is calculated by the earliest start and latest end dates of all linked user stories. The bar color represents its status: Green = Done, Blue for In Progress, Orange for To Do.
User Story Bar: When the feature is expanded, you see smaller, colored bars which represent the status for each user story, placed under the iteration they are planned for. To easily distinguish them from the main Feature bar, story bars have a distinct striped pattern and display the ALM icon (Jira/ADO) on their corresponding card in the left list, identifying them as a story type.
3. Interacting with Features and Stories
3.1. Viewing Details
Feature Progress: Hover over the feature bar to see a pop-up with a summary, including the percentage completion (e.g., "78.57%"). This percentage is calculated based on the number of completed user stories.
Rollup Metric Control: You can control how this percentage is calculated using the Rollup Metric dropdown located in the top-right corner of the Timeline View (next to the date filters). This dropdown allows you to switch the displayed progress between Rollup (Status) (calculated by the count of completed stories) and Rollup (Estimate) (calculated by completed Story Points or Size).
Full Feature Details: Click on the feature's title in the list or the feature bar in the chart to open the Feature Summary Panel on the right.
To navigate to the source ALM (Jira/Azure DevOps), click the external link icon (typically a square with an arrow) in the summary panel header.
3.2. Rescheduling Work (Drag-and-Drop)
The Timeline View supports modifying the Sprint assignment for stories directly.
Locate Story: Expand a Feature (⟨/⟩) in the left pane to see its stories.
Drag: Click and drag the user story bar horizontally to a different iteration/sprint column on the chart.
Confirm: A confirmation dialogue will appear, detailing the change (new Sprint and team assignment).
Update: Click Confirm in the dialogue. The story is moved on the board, and the corresponding field (e.g., Sprint/Iteration) is updated in your connected ALM (Jira/Azure DevOps).
3.3 Dependency Visualization and Filtering
Dependencies are visually represented by lines connecting the Predecessor (the item that must be completed first) to the Successor (the item waiting for the Predecessor) or Creator and Receiver.
Dependency Filter Menu: Located in the top navigation bar (labeled "Dependency"), this dropdown allows users to filter the entire Timeline to focus only on items meeting certain criteria, such as:
Open / Resolved: Filters based on the dependency's status.
All Dependencies / Cards with No Dependencies: Toggles visibility based on the presence of links.
Cross Team Dependencies / Some Team Dependencies: Filters based on whether the link crosses team boundaries.
Overdue / Aligned / Reverse Dependencies: Filters based on the direction of the link.
Interactive Filtering (Show Dependent Items): To isolate a specific dependency path:
Double-Click on any dependency count. A pop-up menu will appear with three options: Create Dependency, Show Dependent Items, and Reset.
Select Show Dependent Items. The Timeline will immediately filter, removing all other items and showing only the linked item and its immediate dependent or predecessor item.
Reset View: To restore the full list of all features, double-click on any item again and select Reset.
4. Grouping, Sorting, and Filtering
The Timeline View offers extensive options for customizing your display, located above the left pane. Filters that are already created can be applied to the Timeline View, and when combined with the various grouping options, they create a powerful, multi-dimensional way to view the work that stakeholders care about.
4.1. Group By (Default and Custom Options)
Click the "No Group" dropdown (or the currently selected group) to change the primary organization of the feature list . The list contains several default options, followed by options populated by your ALM's fields.
No Group: Displays features only by their priority order as set on the board.
By Objectives: Groups features based on the Objectives they are linked to.
By Milestone: Groups features by the Milestones they are linked to. This allows users to view the progress of all linked features and stories directly under the Milestone header.
Visualization Cue: A vertical line on the timeline indicates the Milestone date. Features extending past this line are visually flagged as risks. The specific Milestone icon (a diamond shape, typically colored) is displayed on the timeline in the relevant iteration, and hovering over this icon displays the milestone's key details (Title and Date) .
By Status: Groups features based on their current progress (e.g., In Progress, To Do, Done).
By Planned/Unplanned: Groups features whose stories are scheduled into a Sprint (Planned) versus those whose stories remain in the backlog (Unplanned).
Tip: You can also plan unplanned stories by dragging them directly into an iteration column, which creates the item in the ALM and on the board.
By Card Type: Groups features based on the work item type assigned to them (e.g., Enabler, Support, etc.).
By Parent Epic: Groups features based on the higher-level Epic work item they are linked to in your ALM (if configured).
By Team (All Stories): Groups features under every team that owns one or more of its associated stories . When a feature is displayed under a team's heading, all of its underlying stories (even those owned by other teams) are visible when the feature is expanded. This view is ideal for seeing the complete scope of work associated with a Feature across all involved teams.
By Team (Planned Stories): Groups features under the teams that own its planned stories . When a feature is displayed under a team's heading, only the user stories owned by that specific team will be visible when the feature is expanded. This allows a team to focus solely on its direct contribution to the feature.
By Team (Cross-Team Separated): Groups features by teams that share ownership of the stories under the Features. This view separates features based on who owns the stories, including any team combinations that share work (e.g., "Team Venus / Team Earth"). When expanded, all associated stories (both planned and unplanned) for that feature are visible beneath it. This is highly useful for identifying work that requires close collaboration across multiple teams.
By Additional Fields (ALM Custom Fields): This section contains custom fields specific to your connected ALM. For Jira, these are referred to as Custom Fields. For Azure DevOps and in Kendis, these are referred to as Additional Fields (e.g., Area Path, Components, etc.).
4.2. Grouping by Additional Fields (ALM-Specific)
This grouping method uses fields configured in your connected ALM, accessed via the By Additional Fields or By ALM Specific Fields option. These fields must be enabled in the Board Settings → Additional Fields section to appear here.
ALM | Additional Field Examples | Purpose and Context |
Jira (Custom Fields) | Jira Project, Parent, Components, Fix Versions, Assignee | Groups features by selected Jira Custom Fields. This allows you to organize features by things like project source, associated components, target release versions, or the individual responsible for the feature. |
Azure DevOps (Additional Fields) | Area Path, Parent Epic, By Project, Tags, Value Area | Groups features by native or custom ADO fields. This is commonly used to group features by organizational unit (Area Path), the parent portfolio item (Parent Epic), Project, arbitrary metadata (Tags), or strategic category (Value Area). |
4.3. Sorting and Filtering
Search: Use the search bar to quickly find a specific feature by entering issue keys (e.g., FEA-10, US-200) or keywords. You can search for multiple items at once by separating the terms with spaces, which will then display only the filtered features and stories in the timeline.
Filter (Funnel/Wine Glass Icon): Click the funnel icon next to the search bar. This opens the Filter Panel, which contains the exact same filters available on the main Program Board (e.g., My Filters, Feature Status, Story Status, Card Types).
Default Sort: Click the "Default Sort" dropdown to change the order of the features (e.g., by Start Date, End Date, WSJF - High to Low).
4.4 Timeline Settings and Export
The Settings icon (gear icon) in the top-right corner of the Timeline View provides controls for fine-tuning the visual display and generating reports.
Highlight Area (Visibility Toggles): These checkboxes allow you to toggle on/off key visual elements on the chart:
Feature Area: Toggles a distinct visual boundary or background shade for the duration of the feature bar.
Iteration Area: Toggles shading or boundaries to clearly demarcate the columns representing each Sprint/Iteration.
Dependencies: Toggles the display of dependency lines on the timeline.
Milestone History Tags: Toggles the display of the faded/ghosted diamond shapes, providing a visual history of past changes to milestone dates.
Milestone on Features: Toggles a small icon on the feature bar itself, indicating that the feature is linked to a Milestone.
Export PDF: Provides a direct function to generate and download a PDF document of the current Timeline View.
5. Managing Milestones and Phases
Milestones and Phases are critical events that are added to the timeline, appearing at the top of the feature list on the left-hand side of the Timeline.
Click + Add: Click the "+ Add" button next to the Milestone header. A pop-up menu will appear with the options "Create Milestone/Phase" or "Add Existing" .
Selecting "Add Existing" allows you to pull in Milestones that have already been created in other collections within the Org Views.
Choose Milestone Type and Define Details: Select "Create Milestone/Phase to open the creation modal. You can select one of two types from the Type dropdown menu:
Milestone: For a single, specific date (e.g., a product launch or a project go-live date). On the timeline, these are visually represented by a diamond shape. This requires entering a single Milestone Date.
Phase: For a period of time with a defined start and end date (e.g., a Discovery Phase or a Beta Period). On the timeline, these are visually represented by a horizontal bar covering the specified timeframe. This requires entering both a Start Date and an End Date.
For both types, fill in the Title, Description, and Responsible fields. Crucially, select a Color for visual differentiation. The Status is customizable in Board Settings → Workflows. Click the green Save button at the top right of the modal when complete. Milestones and Phases created here will also be visible on the Program Board if their dates fall within the date range of the program board.
Tracking Milestone Date History: When you change the date of an existing Milestone, Kendis retains the previous date for historical analysis.
Confirmation: Upon saving the Milestone with a changed date, a dialogue will appear asking, "Do you want to keep the changed Milestone date in history tags?" .
Saving History: If you click Yes, a success notification will confirm, "Milestone date saved in history tags." .
Visualization: When viewing the Milestone on the Timeline, the previous Milestone date will be indicated by a faded or ghosted diamond shape positioned at the former date. This serves as a quick visual reference for how the schedule for that key event has shifted over time.
Link Features for Tracking: Once the milestone is saved, its details panel will open. Click on the Linked Items tab.
Click the + Link Items button. You can then search and select features from the current board or items from any collection to link to the milestone, providing better visibility and tracking of how work contributes to key dates.
6. Timeline Date Configuration
By default, Kendis populates the start and end dates of stories and features based on the scheduled Sprint dates.
View by Iteration vs. Date: Switch the view by clicking the "View by" options at the top:
View by Iteration: The default view, showing columns based on your planned Sprints.
View by Date: Changes the column headers to a continuous date range.
Start/End Date Behavior (Admin Setting): In Board Settings → Timeline Dates, a Super Admin can configure how dates behave when a story is moved.
Option 1 (Default): Moving a story changes both its Start and End Date to match the new Sprint's start/end dates.
Option 2 (Alternative): Moving a story changes only the End Date, which allows you to track stories that span more than one sprint or are taking longer to complete.