Non-linear Project Timeline Visualization System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Commercial project management software struggles to create concise, easy-to-understand visual reports due to their reliance on linear time axes, which fail to effectively communicate project complexities and often require manual, inflexible processes for non-linear or discontinuous time representations.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented system that allows users to create visual project reports with non-linear or discontinuous time axes through rules-based or drag-and-drop methods, enabling users to hide sections, resize time cells, and define working hours, thereby enhancing report clarity and flexibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If a linear time axis is used to show all elapsed time between project start and finish, then the complete project timeline is visible, but the report becomes difficult to understand and communicate for large timespans
Solution Approach 1:
The time axis is divided into multiple segments or sections, each representing a specific phase or milestone of the project. This segmentation allows the report to maintain completeness while improving readability by breaking down the overall timeline into manageable chunks that can be individually analyzed and understood.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a second dimension to the time axis representation by allowing non-linear scaling and discontinuous time periods. This enables the visualization to compress or expand specific time periods while maintaining the overall project timeline, effectively adding a scaling dimension that resolves the contradiction between completeness and understandability.
2Loss of information
If all time periods are displayed equally on the time axis, then the entire project duration is represented, but relevant details in specific time periods are lost
Solution Approach 1:
Different sections of the time axis are assigned different visual properties or scaling factors based on their importance. Critical time periods can be expanded or highlighted with greater detail, while less important periods are compressed, allowing the report to maintain overall coverage while providing enhanced precision where needed.
3Loss of information
If a continuous linear time axis is used, then all project time is visible, but the report requires manual and inflexible processes to modify time representations
Solution Approach 1:
The time axis is designed to be dynamic rather than static, allowing automatic adjustment of scaling, compression, and expansion based on user-defined parameters or project data. This dynamic capability enables flexible modification of time representations without manual intervention, resolving the contradiction between maintaining continuity and achieving flexibility.
4Ease of operation
If non-linear or discontinuous time axes are implemented manually, then focused views of specific time periods are achieved, but the process becomes non-standard and inflexible
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides a universal framework that supports multiple time axis configurations (linear, non-linear, continuous, discontinuous) through a single standardized interface. This multi-functionality allows users to switch between different time representations as needed while maintaining consistent reporting standards, thereby achieving both focus capability and standardization.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented system that transforms one or more project plans to create a graphical project view. The project view contains a set of markers along a time axis, and one or more time axis rules which define the appearance of discontinuous timespans, non-linear timespans, or both along the time axis. Once created, users may alter its appearance by adding, removing, or changing the time axis rules to modify the set of timespans along the time axis. Timespan adjustment also causes markers to shift horizontally and adjust their widths so that the dates on the time axis always align with the dates of the markers. The system also can create templates containing time axis rules and other settings, but no markers. Templates are used to create new project views from different project plans, while maintaining the same time axis geometry.