Viewing Timelines

Timelines are available for programs, campaigns, event plans, and events. Timelines provide calendar views of scheduled, active, and completed marketing tactics in a Gantt chart format. The chart is divided into weeks and months. Start field and End field values determine the placement of the timeline bars. Timelines help you determine whether scheduling is appropriate and on track for planned marketing efforts. Timeline bars are color-coded to help you identify the status of programs and campaigns. You can place the cursor over a timeline bar to display more details. The following table shows the timeline types that appear in the link bar of the Marketing Calendar screen.

Marketing Calendar Timeline Types

Timeline Type	Description
Tactics	Shows active, completed, and planned marketing tactics, including campaigns, events, event plans, and programs. You can click the name of any tactic displayed in one of the timelines to be navigated to the details for that tactic. The path displays the appropriate screen (campaign, event, event plan, or program) according to the tactic type.
Programs	Shows active, completed, and planned programs. To display the child campaigns and related events, double-click the folder icon next to a program in the chart.
Campaigns	Shows active, completed, and planned campaigns.
Media Calendar	Shows active, completed, and planned media treatments.
Events	Shows active, completed, and planned event plans and events.

The following procedure describes how to view timelines.

To view timelines

1. Navigate to the Marketing Calendar screen.

2. In the Marketing Calendar link bar, click a timelines type, such as Tactics, Programs, Campaigns, Media Calendar, or Events.

3. Select the start date for which you want to view timelines.

   By default, timelines are shown for a period starting on the current day. However, you can select a different start day, using the calendar icon at the start of the screen.

4. Select the end of the period for which you want to view timelines by clicking one of the buttons shown in the following table.

   Select this button	To view timelines for this time period
   D/H	To display timelines for the start day.
   W/D	To display timelines for each day of the week after the start date.
   M/D	To display timelines for each day of the month after the start date.
   M/DW	To display timelines for each week in the month after the start date.

   A timeline is displayed for each item scheduled for the selected period. The Status of the timeline item can be one of the following: Active, Canceled, Completed, Planned, Sheduled. The following table shows the corresponding color indicator for each timeline Status.

   Timeline Status	Color Indicator
   Active	Green
   Canceled	Red
   Completed	Blue
   Planned	Yellow
   Scheduled	Orange

   To display additional information for the item in the side pane, for example, start and end dates, use the scroll bars.