The project timeline

Visualize and manage your entire project schedule on the timeline — create blocks, set dependencies, assign crews, and watch the schedule respond to changes in real time.

The project timeline is a visual representation of your project schedule. It shows work blocks as horizontal bars on a calendar grid, with crews on the vertical axis and time on the horizontal axis. Drag to move blocks, stretch to change duration, and connect blocks to create dependencies. Recast keeps everything consistent as you make changes.

Reading the timeline

The vertical axis shows crews (or resources, depending on your view setting). The horizontal axis shows calendar days. Each work block appears as a colored bar spanning its scheduled dates. Block color indicates crew type — dirt crews are one color, paving another. The current date is marked with a vertical line. Blocks to the left are in the past; blocks to the right are future.

Scroll horizontally to move through time, or click a date in the date picker to jump directly
Zoom in/out with Cmd/Ctrl + scroll wheel — zoom to see individual days or zoom out for the full project
Use the Today button to snap back to the current date
Toggle between Day, Week, and Month views from the view switcher

Creating blocks on the timeline

Double-click any empty space on the timeline to create a new block at that date and crew row. Enter the block name, set the duration, and the block appears immediately. You can also create blocks from the Add Block button for more control over the properties. See the Work Blocks article for details on block configuration.

Pro tip

Use the Month view for initial planning — you can see the full project scope and arrange blocks quickly. Switch to Week view when you're fine-tuning dates and durations. Day view is best for same-week dispatch coordination where every hour matters.

Timeline views

The default view groups blocks by crew. Switch to the Category view to see blocks grouped by work type (grading, paving, utilities). The Critical Path view highlights the blocks that directly determine your project's finish date — the longest sequence of dependent work. If any of these blocks slip, the whole project slips. Blocks not on the critical path have some flexibility before they affect the end date.

Click Print in the timeline toolbar to generate a printable schedule. The output is a clean Gantt chart formatted for letter or tabloid paper. Use this for customer meetings, subcontractor coordination, and crew briefings. The printed schedule includes block names, dates, and crew assignments.

Was this helpful?

Working with work blocks

Create, configure, and manage work blocks — the individual units of work that make up your project schedule.

Block dependencies

Link work blocks so one can't start until another finishes — creating the logical sequence that recast uses to calculate your schedule.

Automatic rescheduling (recast)

How Gradeworks automatically recalculates your project schedule when changes happen — respecting dependencies, pinned dates, and the work week calendar.

Parallel work blocks

Schedule overlapping work blocks to compress project timelines — when crews can work simultaneously without interfering with each other.