Often, a milestone chart consists of a horizontal timeline with project milestones shown as vertical bars or symbols. It includes additional information such as specific dates, teams involved, and percentage of completion. Depending on the nature of the project, the timeline of the milestone chart can be divided into months, weeks, or even days.

The usual format of a milestone chart is that of a timeline that uses various symbols (squares, diamonds, circles etc.) to separate a project schedule into major phases. It typically contains a horizontal timescale for the whole project’s life cycle along which milestones, their descriptions and due dates are shown vertically.