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Overview
Project Planning's Gantt chart allows you to plan project tasks, order of work and gives you both detailed and summarized feedback on the impact of scheduled items. Launched from the toolbar in Project Planning, projects and related schedules are displayed in an interactive Gantt chart.
Additionally, Gantt chart can control the time frame in which you can schedule resources in Project Planning. To schedule resources, they must fall within the date boundaries of the Gantt. Dates can be changed manually in the date columns in the grid immediately to the left of the chart.
Field Descriptions
Gantt View Options
| • | The Gantt chart can be viewed in units of Days, Weeks, Months, Quarters or Years. Change the view by clicking the corresponding button. When viewing in Days or Weeks, the current date is highlighted on the chart. |
Gantt Grid
Description - The WBS Grid displays the project structure and associated planning. Each node can be scheduled and ordered using the fields contained in the grid.
| • | Index - Index of the project node, primarily used for assigning predecessors (see below). |
| • | WBS - Project Path (read only) |
| • | Name - Project Name (read only) |
| • | Duration - Increase or decrease the amount of time allotted to a project node in increments of days or weeks (based on the selected view option). This updates associated Finish dates and Gantt Bars. Project Level duration is summarized and reflected in the number of planned days- start to finish. |
| • | Start - Planned start date |
| • | Finish - Planned end date |
| • | Predecessors - Indicated by the Index number, predecessors allows you to control, for instance, the schedules for a list of tasks underneath a project phase. Using a predecessor, you can effectively lock the schedules of a WBS together- rescheduling the predecessor has a ripple effect on the schedules of the linked nodes. The nature of the relationship between a predecessor task and a successor task determines the type of task dependency to use. This relationship can be defined by typing the following codes into the Predecessors column prefixed by the Index ID (e.g. 2FS): |
| o | FS (Finish-to-Start): Task A must finish before Task B can start. This is very commonly used and the default dependency created if only an Index ID is entered into the Predecessors column. |
| o | SS (Start-to-Start): Task B can’t start until Task A starts. Task B can begin any time after Task A begins. This method can be beneficial as it can help reduce the overall duration of the project as it allows for task overlap. |
| o | FF (Finish-to-Finish): Task B can’t finish until Task A is done. They don’t have to end at the same time- Task B can end any time after Task A ends. Similar to SS, FF dependencies can also reduce the overall duration of a project. |
| o | SF (Start-to-Finish): Task B cannot finish until the start of Task A. This is a VERY RARE scenario of Task in any type of Project. |
Chart
Description - The chart is reactive to the view options and the WBS Grid settings and displays two types of bars: Gantt bars and a Summary bar.
| • | Gantt Bars - Gantt bars (blue) reflect the settings of the associated project node listed in the WBS chart. Gantt Bars can be moved by editing the WBS chart or by clicking and dragging the gantt bar. This will adjust any associated schedules. You can alter the duration (and subsequently start and end dates) of a task by gripping the left or right edge of the gantt bar and increasing or decreasing its length. |
| • | Summary Bar - The summary bar shows a running total of the time represented by all scheduled tasks. While gantt bars can be edited, the Summary bar is read only. |
Other Options
| • | Print - Launches print preview for content of the Gantt Chart and WBS Grid |
| • | Automatically move Schedules with Start Date - When checked, Start Dates are impacted when sliding Gantt Bars |
| • | Save - Saves Gantt information |
| • | Save & Close - Saves Gantt information and closes the Gantt window |
| • | Close - Closes the Gantt window without saving |
Tutorial
| 2. | Schedule the WBS beginning with Start dates |
| 3. | Add Finish dates by increasing/decreasing Duration or adding a static Finish date |
| 4. | Use Predecessors (description below) to link WBS nodes together for ordered/hierarchical scheduling |
| 5. | Adjust schedules using the WBS Grid or by dragging the Gantt Bars displayed on the Gantt Chart |
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