Lanes, markers, and panels

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Lanes, markers, and panels

    Lanes, markers, and panels are core components of timeline visualizations in ServiceNow, primarily appearing in the 3D view. These elements help organize and display activities and records chronologically, enhancing project and task tracking within the platform.

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    Key Features

    • Lanes: Serve as channels grouping activities, with up to eight lanes visible simultaneously. Users can customize lane visibility via the Settings pane. The number of items shown per lane is controlled by specific settings on the Timeline Visualization form.
    • Markers: Horizontal lines crossing all lanes that indicate transitions to the next month, aiding in temporal orientation within the timeline.
    • Panels: Color-coded elements representing records, with differences between 2D and 3D views:
      • In 2D view, panels represent single records, are grouped and stacked by month in chronological order, and open by default showing the current month. These visualizations can be printed directly from the browser.
      • In 3D view, panels can represent one or multiple records consolidated by date and grouped in lanes. Panels with multiple projects are colored black to indicate consolidation.

    Practical Usage and Configuration

    • Panel colors and displayed information are administratively configured, including color coding based on project states.
    • The date used for panel placement is selectable by the timeline administrator, ensuring alignment with relevant project milestones (e.g., planned completion date for CIO Roadmap projects).
    • Interacting with panels provides detailed insights:
      • Clicking a single-record panel opens a summary window with additional details and a link to the full record.
      • Shift-clicking a panel opens the full record directly.
      • Clicking a multi-record panel lists all related records, allowing users to access individual records easily.
    • Note that activating timeline visualizations does not automatically enable the predefined CIO roadmap, which requires the PPM plugin (com.snc.financialplanningpmo).

    Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    By leveraging lanes, markers, and panels within timeline visualizations, customers can efficiently track and manage projects and activities over time with clear visual grouping and color coding. The ability to toggle lane visibility, view detailed summaries, and consolidate records in 3D view enhances project oversight and decision-making. This setup supports better planning and communication by presenting complex data in an accessible, chronological format.

    Lanes, markers, and panels are the fundamental elements of a timeline visualization. appear in the 3D view only.

    Note:
    Lanes and markers are available in the 3D view only. A panel in the 2D view always represents a single record, while panels in 3D view may represent one or more records.

    Lanes

    A lane is a channel in which activities are grouped. A visualization can display up to eight lanes at a time. While viewing a visualization, you can use the Settings pane to show or hide individual lanes.
    Note:
    The number of items displayed in a lane depends on the Max items per lane and Max items per lane 2d settings on Timeline Visualization form.

    Markers

    Markers are horizontal lines that cross all lanes and identify a transition to the next month.

    Panels

    Panels in both 2D and 3D views are color coded according to values that the administrator selects during the initial setup.

    3D panel

    2D panel

    In 2D view, panels are grouped by month and stacked in chronological order, from the earliest date to the latest date. By default, the 2D view opens with the current month displayed on the left side of the visualization. You can print visualizations from the 2D view using the browser's print option. In 3D view, panels are grouped in lanes and ordered by date, from earliest to latest. The date that appears on the panel determines its placement in 2D and 3D view. The date displayed is based on a value the timeline administrator selects during initial setup.

    Panels appear in the CIO Roadmap according to the planned completion date for the project. In 3D view, projects with the same planned date of completion are consolidated into a single panel. In 2D view, projects with the same planned date of completion are displayed as individual panels.

    Panel headers in the CIO Roadmap are color coded based on project state. However, in 3D view, if a panel represents more than one project, the panel header is colored black. The Settings pane contains a key showing each available project state and the corresponding color.

    Note:
    Activating timeline visualizations doesn't activate predefined CIO roadmap. You require PPM (com.snc.financial_planning_pmo) plugin to use CIO roadmap.
    To view additional information about a panel:
    • Click a panel for a single record while in 2D or 3D view to open a summary window that contains additional information. Click the heading in the summary window to open the full record.
    • Press the Shift key and then click a panel to open the full record.
    • Click a panel that represents multiple records to open a list of those records. Click a record number to open the full record.

    The timeline administrator can configure the information that appears in summary windows.