The Timeline Scheduler View

The Timeline view shows your day as a chart. The jobs still waiting to be planned sit along the top. Underneath, each schedule is its own row, and every job is a coloured bar placed at the time it happens. The wider the bar, the longer the job takes. It is just another way to look at the scheduler - you can switch back to the normal (Classic) view whenever you want, and TransMaS remembers which one you used last.

Opening it

Open the scheduler as normal. To swap between the two views, use the button with the table icon on the right of the toolbar. Your choice is remembered, so the scheduler opens the same way next time.

What you are looking at

Each schedule is a row. The label on the left shows the driver, vehicle and trailer.
Each job is a bar. Where it sits, left to right, is the time it happens.
A wider bar means a longer job. The gap after a bar is the driving time to the next stop.
Each bar shows the job number, the customer, and the towns you collect from and deliver to.
The red line is "now". It moves along as the day goes on. If a job is running late, its bar stretches so you can see it slipping.

Hover your mouse over a bar to see the full details - the route, the collection and delivery times, ETAs and how the job is going. Hover over the driver name on the left to see the same summary you get in the Classic view.

Planning a job

You plan by dragging, and every drag sets a time too:

Add a job - drag a job from the top onto a schedule's row and drop it where you want it. That puts the job on that schedule at that time.
Change the time - drag a bar left or right.
Move it to another schedule - drag a bar onto a different row.
Jobs that have already started are locked and can't be dragged.

The order of the bars is the order the driver does the jobs in the app.

Right-click for quick actions

Right-click something for a short menu, so you don't have to open the whole record.

Right-click a job to:

Confirm or unconfirm it.
Remove it from the schedule. If it is part of a bulk order, you are asked whether to put the quantity back or leave it unplanned.
Change it between a collection, a delivery, or both.

You can't change a job while its driver is on site - the menu tells you so.

Right-click an empty part of a row to:

Add an instruction at that time, like a break, a fuel stop or a note for the driver. The time you clicked is filled in for you.
Set when the schedule starts, if you haven't already.

Confirming as you go

Switch on Auto-confirm in the toolbar (or press Alt+C) and jobs are confirmed for you as you plan them, so you don't have to confirm each one.

The plan tidies itself up

You don't have to line everything up perfectly. A planned time means "not before this time", and the timeline sorts out the rest:

Drop a job between two others and the ones after it shift along to make room.
If a job runs late, the jobs after it move later too.
If you leave a gap on purpose, it stays.

Just after a change, the driving times take a few seconds to work out. Then the bars settle into place.

Colours to watch for

The timeline warns you when something needs a look:

A bar with a red outline has been pushed outside its booked or requested time. It no longer fits the time you promised.
A bar with an amber (yellow) outline is happening at the same time as another job on that schedule. Two stops are planned at once.

These update as you plan, so you spot a problem straight away.

Finding jobs and schedules

Waiting jobs - use the Customer and Order Type filters and the search box at the top to find the jobs you want.
Schedules - the search box above the driver names filters the rows by driver, vehicle, trailer, supplier, job number, customer or town. The buttons next to it are the same presets as the Classic view (like your own drivers, or schedules with no driver), and your choice carries over between the two views.

Subcontracted work

When a schedule is given to an outside haulier who plans it themselves, its row shows the jobs as simple chips in order rather than on a time grid, because you are not setting those times. Hauliers whose work you do plan show on the timeline as normal, with a MANAGED label.

Making room

Drag the divider between the top and bottom to make either part bigger. It is remembered.
If you scroll away from the current time, a Now button appears - click it to jump back.
The Columns button and the date arrows work just like the Classic view.