Video:

Why:

A Timeline View is effective when the data represents a sequence of events or has a time-based context. It focuses on the chronological order of information and provides clarity on relationships between events or records over time.

Business use cases:

Businesses across various sectors utilize Timeline View to enhance efficiency. Below are a few sample use cases:

When to Use a Timeline View
1.    Time-Based Data: Data that revolves around dates, times, or a sequence of activities.
2.    Example: Historical customer interactions, project milestones, or event schedules.
3.    Tracking Progress: To visualize workflows, statuses, or lifecycle phases (e.g., customer journey).
4.    Sequential Analysis: When the user needs to understand the order of events or group related events.
5.    Expanding Details: To display condensed data with the ability to expand individual items for additional information.

Examples:

•    Customer engagement history (e.g., email campaigns or touchpoints).
•    A project timeline with milestones and tasks.
•    Event logs in IT systems.
•    Delivery or shipping updates.

Benefits:

Advantages of a Timeline View
1.    Clarity of Time-Based Relationships: Provides a clear picture of how events relate to one another in time.
2.    Focus on Individual Records: Allows users to expand and focus on detailed information for each event without losing context.
3.    Ease of Navigation: Users can quickly scroll through or jump to specific time periods.

Prerequisites: 

•    Ensure your application includes a Case Type set up.
•    You have a landing page configured using List View that list Case instances.

Configuring – Timeline View:

Best practices:

Timeline Views

1. Chronological Order: Display data in logical order, either ascending or descending, depending on the use case; ensure there is an adequate data model with at least one Date or Date/Time field.
2. Expandable Details: Use collapsible or expandable nodes for detailed information to avoid clutter.
3. Visual Markers: Highlight critical events or milestones using icons or color coding.
4. Interactivity: Allow users to filter, sort, or search for specific events.
5. Scalability: Ensure the timeline can handle both sparse and dense datasets effectively.
6. Mobile-Friendly Design: Optimize for smaller screens by enabling vertical scrolling or stacking events.
7. Icon: Timeline events can have different icons for different type of events. To configure this, ensure your data model supports the dynamic definition/calculation of the configured Icon field

Points to consider:

Comparison: Timeline vs. Table vs. Card Gallery

Examples of Timeline Scenarios

1. Customer Engagement History:

• The timeline in the provided image shows customer details that can be expanded. This is useful when tracking customer interactions over time.
• For instance, clicking on "Murphy" expands to show email, age, gender, and status.

2. Project Management:

• Milestones or task completion details can be represented in order with dependencies.

3. Event Logs:

• IT or audit logs where each entry represents an occurrence with a timestamp.

Summary

In your screenshot, the Timeline View is well-suited for representing customer data in a chronological manner. It allows users to expand individual customer details and is beneficial for time-sensitive or sequential analysis. However, if the dataset grows or requires comparative analysis, a Table View might be more efficient, while a Card Gallery would be preferred for a visually rich display without a strong chronological element.