3.1 Create Milestones

What is a Milestone?

• A Milestone is cmBuilder’s unit of time, representing a specific point where project elements appear or disappear to define the progression of the project.
• cmBuilder can be thought of like a flip-book animation, where each Milestone represents a page, and the development of the site is shown step by step over the timeline.
• Milestones allow your scheduled items to appear and disappear at specific dates, helping build a clear project timeline.
• Milestone can be found in the Timeline section of a Scenario. To learn more about Timeline, refer to the 🔗 Timeline user guide.

Example Sequence:

A simulation attempting to capture the major stages of work may include some of the following Milestones :

1. Existing conditions
2. Site setup and Mobilization
3. Demolition
4. Excavation stages (1, 2 , etc.)
5. Foundation
6. SOG
7. Level 1
8. Level 2
9. Level 3 and so on
10. Envelope
11. Podium
12. Complete project

Milestone Management

You can create, delete and alter Milestones from both the Timeline and Project Schedule. To access additional options, click the three dots on any Milestone. These options include changing the name or date of an existing Milestone or creating new Milestones as well as deleting existing Milestones.

Timeline VS Project Schedule 

The Timeline is always visible at the bottom of the screen and offers most of the same functionality as the Project Schedule. Both allow you to change existing Milestones' name and date details as well as create new Milestones. The project Schedule also allows for managing links to imported schedule tasks' dates.  

The Project Schedule can be launched using any of the following methods:

• Click Project Schedule (1) from the toolbar.
• From a Milestone in the Timeline, click the three dots (2) and select Project Schedule (3)
• Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + M

Create a new Milestone

You can manually add Milestones one at a time and manage their settings from both the Timeline or Project Schedule. Alternatively, create Milestones by importing a schedule (see 🔗 Import Schedule).

To add Milestones using the Timeline:

• Click the + icon (4), to add a Milestone after the current (selected) Milestone. 
• Click the three dots (5) in the Milestone, select Add Milestone Before or Add Milestone After (6).
• As soon as the new Milestone is created, then press Enter or click outside to confirm.
• To change a Milestones date, Click the three dots and choose Edit Date (7). Select a date from the calendar.

To add Milestones using the Project Schedule, Launch the project schedule as described in the Open Project Schedule section.

• Click the + icon (8), to add a Milestone after the current (selected) Milestone . 
• Click the three dots (9) on a Milestone, select Add Milestone Before or Add Milestone After (10)
• As soon as the new Milestone is created enter, then press Enter or click outside to confirm.
• To change a Milestones date, Click the three dots (7) and choose Edit date (11). Select a date from the calendar.

Edit or Delete a Milestone

You can update or remove a Milestone from both the Timeline or Project Schedule. Edits would include updates to then name or date.

To edit a Milestone (in both the Timeline and Project Schedule):

• Double-click the name or date, or use the three dots (12) to access Edit Name / Edit Date (13).
• Edit the name or select a different date.
• Press Enter or click outside to apply changes.

To delete a Milestone (in both the Timeline and Project Schedule):

• Click the three dots to access Delete (14), click Delete.
• The Milestone is removed from the Timeline and Scenario. 
  • Any items associated with that Milestone are automatically reassigned to the remaining Milestones.
• Note, the Project Schedule allows for holding ctrl to multiselect Milestones to delete them in bulk. 

Navigating Milestones using Timeline and Project Schedule

Both Timeline and Project Schedule can be used to navigate through Milestones which updates the 3D view accordingly. Alternatively use the keyboard shortcuts.

• Key shortcut L/R arrow keys step forward/backward one Milestone per keystroke.
• Key shortcut Ctrl + L/R arrow keys lets you jump to the first/last Milestone.

Project Schedule Milestone navigation

In the Project Schedule, use the Go to Milestone button to navigate to a specific Milestone. To learn more about the project schedule visit the Project Schedule user guide page.
 

Timeline Milestone Navigation 

The Timeline, located at the bottom of the screen, provides an intuitive way to view and navigate all Milestones within a Scenario across different phases of work. To learn more about the project schedule visit the Timeline user guide page.

• Scroll through the Timeline by using the scroll bar below the Milestones, click on a Milestone (1).
• Use the the Milestone step buttons  (2) below the timeline to step forward or backward one Milestone. 
• Use the the Milestone jump buttons  (3) below the timeline jump to first or last Milestones
• To change the Milestone view- on the right end of the Timeline click the three dots  (4) then View  (5)
  • Select from Weekly (W), Monthly (M), or Index  (6) to show on the Timeline

Video Tutorial

In this tutorial, you will learn about the concept of Milestones, and how Milestones are used to create the steps of the Site Plan simulation.