Development Timeline Template

Access to our self-service timeline templates is governed by permissions, ensuring security and control over your project timelines. To gain access, users need authorization granted by our dedicated SiteZeus Support team.

If you're eager to explore this new feature, we encourage you to connect with your client administrator to request access. Alternatively, if you hold the role of client administrator, don't hesitate to reach out to SiteZeus Support for prompt assistance.

Once activated for your site, the transition to self-service timeline templates seamlessly incorporates your existing SiteZeus Classic timelines. Any new timelines or edits you publish will automatically populate in SiteZeus Classic, ready for assignment to Lead, Site, or Project, including Renovations and Reopens.

We're excited to embark on this journey with you, empowering you with more control and flexibility over your project timelines. Should you have any questions or require assistance along the way, our SiteZeus Support team is here to help.

🎉Getting Started - Initiate a Timeline

You'll find the self-service timeline template area conveniently located under Administration > Master Timelines. This section, where you previously made smaller timeline adjustments, now seamlessly redirects to the new SiteZeusNEXT platform and the self-service timeline template area.

• Click the big ➕ to add a new timeline.

• In the window that appears, give your timeline a name. The system will prevent you from being able to create timelines with identical names.

• In the 'Type' dropdown field, select the Timeline Type from the available options.

  • Sales only has one type of timeline, whereas you can select 'Development', 'Renovation', or 'Reopen' for unit-related timelines.

  • Remember that 'Renovation' and 'ReOpen' Timelines both originate from an already open Location. Use a 'Renovation' Timeline where the Location will remain open and the unit will not be reflected on Dashboard Widgets as a project. Use a 'ReOpen' Timeline when the Location closes, and you'll be prompted to open the Location back up upon completion of the timeline.

  • Sales timelines are only available for use within the 'Sell' module, and Development timelines are only available within the 'Build' module. Check with your SiteZeus Support Representative if you are unsure which modules are on your current plan.

🚀Lay the Foundation - Adding Groups

• In Timeline Templates, Groups refer to the collection of one or more tasks that roll-up into a singular title for easy reporting.

  • Sales Timelines only have one type of Group, called Stages.

  • Development Timelines have two types of Groups. Tasks roll up into Milestones, and one or more Milestones make up a Phase.

  • You must have at least one Group in a Timeline, and at least one Task must be assigned to that Group. For Development timelines, this means a minimum of one Task, one Milestone, and one Phase.

• Click the ➕ icon to add your new timeline after adding your information, you'll be automatically directed to a new page for that timeline so you can start building.

• Note that the 'Sales' tag at the top of the page identifies which type of timeline this is. The 'Draft Mode' tag is also showing you that this is an unpublished timeline, and not yet available for assignment to a unit, due to its unpublished state.

• Click the ➕ icon on this page to create your first Group.

• Name your Group and click the🎨icon to select a Group color. Click the ➕icon to save your Group.

💡Development Timelines - Adding Milestone

• For Development Timelines, repeat the steps to add a Group at the Milestone level.

  • Click the ➕icon

  • Name your Milestone

  • Select your Group color

➕Next Steps - Adding Tasks

• Click the ➕ icon within the Group (Stage or Milestone depending on Timeline type) we've added to create a new Task.

• In the popup window that appears, type the Task name. The Task name must be unique to the Group, and the system will prevent duplicates automatically. You can optionally include a Task Description in the box below. Next, you can update the Duration in Days, which is defaulted to 1. And finally, select to whom this task will be assigned. The assignment can either be a specific Contact or a Team Member Role. Click the ➕icon to save your first Task.

• Let's finish adding our Groups and Tasks to get a complete Sales Timeline:

🔗Highly Recommended - Adding Task Dependencies

• Here, we'll decide which tasks in the timeline must be marked as complete, before other tasks can be started. Task dependencies are not required, but are highly encouraged to ensure your timeline is executed in your preferred order, and that your 'Estimated', 'Start', and 'Planned' dates automatically populate as you expect. Click the 🔗icon on a Task to add one or more Task Dependencies.

• You can only add dependencies above the task you are currently selecting. To remove a dependency, click the ❌on the Dependent Task name.

Highly Recommended - Identify Critical Path

• In addition to controlling the flow of the Timeline through dependencies, we can also control how Units and Leads move through our Timelines by marking an Opening and Closing task for the Groups. This determines your 'Critical Path', which absolutely must be completed to move forward through your Groups. In most cases, this will be the first and last Task in a Stage (or Milestone, depending on your Timeline Type), however, you can customize this by clicking on the ▶️and⏹️ icons on each Task.

• The Self-Service Timeline Template Tool will automatically mark the first task as both the Opening and Closing Task, however, this tag will change as you make your adjustments:

🧪Highly Recommended - Test Your Timeline

• Once you have a publishable timeline (see below for criteria) - check out our Timeline Test Tool to review your timeline structure as it relates to Timeline Dates (Start Dates, Estimated Dates and Actual Dates). Start by clicking either the three dots in the top right corner of the Timeline Template, or by clicking the floating blue box in the bottom right corner.

• In this view, the Testing Tool will act as though you are associating the timeline to an object (either a Lead, a Site or a Project, depending on your timeline).

• The Timeline Test will kick off by automatically selecting the first task in your Timeline as the 'Starting Task', however, you can select any task with which to start.

• The 'Date' field will automatically default to todays date, however, you can also select any date by typing or using the calendar icon.

  

• Next, you'll want to indicate if the date that you've selected is the 'Start Date' of the task you've selected, or is it the 'Completion Date', using these buttons.

• You can also optionally choose to exclude weekends in your calculation, or add another Blackout Date Set. Both of these options will be available to you when you go to associate a timeline to a unit. For more information about how Blackout Date sets are created, check out this support article.

• The Timeline below will automatically adjust based on your selections.

• Use this page to verify that your Timeline 'flows' as you'd expect - that your dependencies have been properly set up, durations are correct, and that you are satisfied with the overall structure of your Timeline, to include the grouping of Phases, Stages, Milestones and Tasks.

• Right clicking on a Stage, Phase, Milestone or Task gives you several options for viewing, including expanding or collapsing individual groups, or all groups:

• It is important to note that you can not make any edits to your Timeline from this page, however, it is easy to get back to the Template by clicking any of these three buttons:

• Navigating back to the Template from the Testing Tool will refresh the tool for next use.

🏆Finish - Publish a Timeline

• If you click on the three dots in the upper corner of the page, you'll see that the 'Publish' button is still grayed out. Sales Timelines and Development Timelines have slightly different criteria for publication:

  • Sales Timelines require at least one Task and one Stage. A single Stage must be marked as the 'Win' Stage, meaning that a lead will become a Contact and be removed from the Sales Pipeline

  • Development Timelines (New Development, Renovation, and ReOpen) require at least one Task, one Milestone, and one Phase. A Single Milestone must be marked as the 'Opening' Milestone, meaning that the Project will become a Location and be removed from Project reports.

• Let's complete our Timeline by clicking on the ⭐ icon to indicate either the 'Win' stage or the 'Opening' stage, depending on the Timeline Type.

• It is important to note it is not required to be the last Group of your Timeline, however, once that Group is completed, conversion of either the Lead or the Unit will converted. For Units, any Tasks in Groups after the 'Opening' stage will live on the Location, not the Project.

• We now have everything we need to Publish our timeline! Click the three dots in the top right and click 'Publish'. In the popup window that appears, click 'Publish'. You should now see that the 'Draft Mode' tag has been replaced with a 'Version 1' tag.

• We can now see our Published timeline, with the Version label, back on the main page.

• Your Published Self Service timelines will also be available back in 'SiteZeus Classic', ready for selection in the respective Sales and Build modules.

🪄Optional - Assign Shared Names

'Shared Names' are names for Phases, Milestones, or Tasks that are shared across Timelines for easy reporting and identification of unit progress at a glance.

As an example, let's say you have two Timelines, one for Shopping Center Units and another for Stand Alone Units. These may have different tasks that kick off their Construction, due to the nature of their builds. So the initial task of the Shopping Center Unit may be 'Blueprints Drawn Up', and the initial task of the Stand Alone Unit may be 'Contact Architect', however, each of these signifies the Start of Construction. By setting a 'Shared Task Name' across these tasks titled 'Construction Start', you can easily collect both data points at once in the Development Report and in your Widgets.

For Milestones or even Phases, you may have a 'Demolition' group that you would include on some Timelines, but not others. However, you may want to track that as the 'Start of Construction' group across both. Simply set a 'Shared Milestone Name' or 'Shared Phase Name' (depending on your timeline structure) between timelines to easily roll up a standard construction versus an acquisition or renovated unit for easy reporting.

For more information or for some more examples regarding the various uses for Shared Names, please contact your SiteZeus Support Representative.

📃Optional - Assign 'Send FDD" Button

For Sales Timelines, you'll have the ability to specify on which task the 'Send FDD' button will appear. This button will live on the timeline itself on the lead card and when clicked, will pull up the 'Send FDD' window.

To assign which task on the Sales timeline specifically hosts this button, click the icon here on the timeline for that specific task:
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It is not required to set a task to host this button, as you can always send the FDD from the 'Actions' dropdown on the lead card, however, it is highly recommended and can greatly improve user interface quality for your sales team.

✏️Optional - Making Timeline Edits

Updating Names:

Simply click on the current name as shown here. This applies to Phases, Stages, Milestones, and Task names.

You can also edit the name of an unpublished timeline by clicking on the timeline name at the top.

Edit Task Details:

For other task updates, such as editing the Duration or Assignment, simply click on the related icon for that specific task as shown here:

Changing Timeline Structure:

Click and drag to move Tasks or Groups by using the six dots to the left of each line. The Timeline Template will not allow the movement of an Opening Task or a Closing Task. Additionally, the Template will not allow movement of Tasks above the Task on which they are dependent, or below a Task that is dependent upon it.

Copy a Timeline:

If you have similar Timelines, you can easily Copy a Timeline in two ways:

• Click the three dots at the top of a Timeline

• Right-click on a Timeline from the primary Timeline page

Delete a Group or Task:

Click the trash can icon on a Task or Group to delete it entirely, as long as it meets the following conditions:

• Tasks can be deleted if they have no assigned dependencies.

• Tasks can be deleted as long as they are not the opening or closing task in a milestone or stage.

• Milestones can be deleted if they have no tasks within them.

• Phases can be deleted if they have no tasks within them.

• Stages can be deleted if they have no tasks within them.

Thank you!

At the conclusion of our feature guide, we want to extend our sincerest gratitude to all our beta users who have tirelessly tested and provided invaluable feedback on our new feature. Your dedication and insights have been instrumental in shaping its development.

As we move forward, we are committed to continuing to listen to your feedback so that we can further enhance and refine this feature. Your input is invaluable to us, and we genuinely believe that together, we can make it even better.

We are incredibly excited to soon roll out this feature to the public. We firmly believe that it has the potential to revolutionize the way timelines are used and significantly enhance your experience with our product. Thank you once again for being a part of this journey with us.