What Does the Widget Do?
The Plan View widget allows you to display work in the format of a plan. A common use for this is on the radar of a work type, where key dates can be shown in a clear plan view. Depending on the configuration of your widget, users can drag and move dates or phases based on their understanding of how long a piece of work may take.
The plan view can also show a Gantt chart of tasks within a plan, as well as key dates. The widget supports dragging and dropping the start and end dates of tasks, and dependencies can be created between tasks. Work items can be grouped into swimlanes, making it easy to visualise and manage multiple workstreams side by side.
Configuration Settings
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| With Chrome | Will display your widget as a self-contained tile with a title and functional buttons. |
| Title | Title must be provided if With Chrome is switched on. |
| Icon | The Font Awesome icon that will be displayed next to the title on your widget. |
| Help text | A short description that appears as a tooltip beneath the widget title. |
| Expanded | When switched on, the widget loads in its expanded state by default. |
| Show / hide based on business rules | Controls the widget's visibility based on one or more configured business rules. If no rules are selected, the widget is always visible. |
| View type | Defines what the plan view displays. Select Work item to show individual work items on the timeline, or Portfolio to display separate plan views for a list of work types. |
| Portfolio List View | (Portfolio view type only) Select the list view scope that provides the list of work types to display separate plan views for. Click + Create new to create a new list view scope. Required when View type is set to Portfolio. |
| Rows per page | (Portfolio view type only) Sets the number of work types displayed per page. Required when View type is set to Portfolio. Keep this number small (e.g. 5) as the portfolio view is performance-intensive. |
| Maximum number of rows to show per swimlane | Sets the number of rows visible in each swimlane before the user expands it. Swimlanes with more rows than this value are collapsed by default. |
| Show time | When switched on, a time axis is displayed across the top of the plan view. |
| Preferred scale | Sets the default time scale for the timeline. Options include Days, Weeks, Months, and Years. Note that the view may auto-scale depending on the date range of work items and available screen space. |
| Show phase plan | When switched on, phase milestones are overlaid onto the timeline. Enabling this reveals additional phase plan settings. |
| Use closest ancestor of this type | (Show phase plan only) Optionally specify one or more work types. When set, the phase plan context will be derived from the closest ancestor work type matching one of the specified types, rather than the current work item. |
| Colour | (Show phase plan only) The colour used to display phase milestones on the timeline. Required. |
| Use colours from phase configuration where available | (Show phase plan only) When switched on, colours defined in the phase configuration are used in place of the colour set above. |
| Show plan progress | (Show phase plan only) When switched on, a progress indicator is displayed on the phase plan. |
| Show overdue phases as finishing today | (Show phase plan only) When switched on, overdue phases are displayed as if they end today rather than their original end date. |
| Show user on milestone progression | (Show phase plan only) When switched on, the user responsible for progressing a milestone is displayed on the phase plan. |
| Allow user to change phase durations | (Show phase plan only) When switched on, users can adjust phase durations directly from the plan view. |
| Swimlanes | Click + to add a swimlane. Select the work type or classification to use as the grouping for each swimlane. |
| Show dependencies | When switched on, dependency lines are displayed between linked work items on the timeline. Enabling this reveals an additional field for specifying which relationship types to use. |
| Include the following relationship types as plan dependencies | (Show dependencies only) Select one or more relationship types to treat as plan dependencies. Relationship types are configured elsewhere in the system. Examples include Parent-Child, Linked Case, and Related. |
| Topic name | Specify a topic name that is shared by two or more widgets to ensure that UI events are only processed by that group of widgets. |
Swimlane Settings
When you click + in the Swimlanes section to add a swimlane, a configuration blade opens with the following settings.
General
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | The display name for the swimlane. Required. |
| Description | An optional description of the swimlane. |
| Colour | The colour used to identify the swimlane on the timeline. Required. |
| List View | Select the list view scope that will supply the work items displayed in this swimlane. A list view scope defines the query parameters and columns for a list of items, and is configured in Modeller > Forms and Views > List Views. Click + Create new to create a new list view scope directly from this blade. The built-in scope core-case-plan-view-key-milestones provides a ready-made view of key dates and is a useful starting point. |
Note: Before adding a swimlane, ensure that Load work scheduling data is configured in the list view configuration under Additional Columns. Without this, you will not be able to manually schedule items in the swimlane.
Items
The Items settings control how individual work items are displayed within the swimlane. You can choose which details appear on each card — such as the title, reference, current phase, and progress — and configure milestone-specific display options for icons, dates, and times. Additional options let you control scheduling behaviour, including whether users can adjust durations or set expected start dates directly from the plan view, and how overdue items are represented on the timeline.
Using the Plan View Widget to Manage Workstreams on a Matter
The Plan View widget is particularly well-suited to complex matters such as M&A transactions, where different streams of work - for example, due diligence, regulatory filings, and financing - need to be assigned to different fee earners and tracked independently.
By configuring the widget to display workstreams as swimlanes, you can vary the duration of tasks across each stream, providing clearer oversight and more accurate scheduling.
Before You Begin
Ensure the following are in place before configuring the widget:
- The work type you intend to use as a swimlane grouping (for example, a work type called Workstreams) has the Work Scheduling aspect added. Without this, scheduling data will not load in the plan view.
- Your task work type also includes the Work Scheduling aspect. Once added, the aspect can be configured to capture expected and actual start and end dates, and to control whether users can manually override start dates or mark work as started.
1. Add Workstreams as Swimlanes
- Open the Plan View widget configuration.
- In the Swimlanes section, click + to add a new swimlane.
- Select Workstreams (or whichever work type you are using) as the swimlane grouping.
- Repeat for any additional swimlane groupings you require.
Each swimlane will appear as a separate horizontal band in the plan view, with its associated work items displayed independently on the timeline.
2. Set Varying Durations per Workstream
Once your swimlanes are configured, you can set different start dates and durations for work items within each swimlane directly in the plan view. This allows you to reflect the different timelines of each workstream, identify overlaps or dependencies between streams, and reassign or reprioritise work without affecting other streams. To allow users to drag and resize items on the timeline, enable Allow user to change duration and Allow user to specify expected start in the swimlane's Items settings.
3. Enable Work Scheduling in the List View
The Plan View widget works in conjunction with the List View widget. To ensure that scheduling data displays correctly, you must enable work scheduling in the List View settings.
- Add the List View widget to the same matter workspace.
- Open the List View widget settings.
- Enable the Load Work Scheduling Information option.
Without this setting, work item dates and durations may not synchronise correctly between the list view and the plan view.