What is Gantt Chart
We all have to plan some activities now and then. It can be, for instance, a long-expected holiday, unless we are going to stick to bed the whole month, of course, to compensate restless nights. But if we still want to go somewhere or all of a sudden we decided to refit the apartment or build a house. Moreover we can not only plan something, but also keep a steady eye on our plans completion, and make all necessary changes. If a while ago it took piles of paper to do this, we now just need to turn on the computer and go ahead! And what if planning is an essential part of our work? All appropriate tools are crucial!
Very convenient means for running a project are Gantt Charts. For the first time (at least, according to historic records) this chart type was applied by an American engineer Henry Gantt (1861-1919) in 1917 for planning shipbuilding at World War II times. So, what is Gantt Chart? It's a kind of chart which displays tasks as time bars located along the horizontal timeline and indicating at the project milestones by means of dots.
Gantt Chart proved to be such a powerful analytic tool that it has experienced no changes for almost a hundred years. And only in the 1990s of the last century link lines between tasks were added to the Chart.
ConceptDraw and ConceptDraw Project in their turn are very convenient programs for work with Gantt Chart. In this article we'll find out how to create a project in ConceptDraw by means of Gantt Chart.
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Creating Gantt Chart
Let's try to create a Gantt Chart in ConceptDraw.
So, we start ConceptDraw and a window with templates appears - Template Gallery. We then select Project Management category and start Gantt Chart Wizard. The wizard will open Task Properties dialog.
Here starts the very process of planning.
We recommend that you keep to the following planning scheme: we first define the main project phases, and then assign tasks to them. If necessary we can split some tasks into several subtasks. And at the same time we assign duration for each task. How is it done physically?
Phases and tasks are created by clicking Insert Task. Visually, tasks are distinguished from phases by their position (to the right from the phases), i.e. a step lower in the hierarchy. Thus, we select a task (or tasks) and click Shift Right.
To move a task a step up in the hierarchy, i.e. make the task a phase, you should select it and click Shift Left.
Date is set directly in the date-cell in the pop up calendar.
After we have finished making up a project, we press Create. The program will arrange a project according to our settings.
Some useful hints:
- Many steps can be made by different ways. You can add tasks and change their sequence not only in the dialog but in the document itself. For this, select a cell with a task name, then call the context menu by right clicking the mouse and use Add New Task, Move Task Up and Move Task Down.
- To delete unnecessary tasks press Delete Task(s). To move tasks up/down use Down and Up arrow buttons.
- If you want to save the document or just see how it looks, press Create (to save the document, click on
icon or select Save in menu File after the report has been created).
- To make a cell editable, double-click on it.
- If there's not enough space for entries in the cell, you can make the cell larger, by moving control points. To fine-tune the cell size, select the control point and move it pixel by pixel with the arrows on the keyboard.
- If you work with libraries, we advise that you save the document as workspace: select Save Workspace in menu File. In this case the document will be opened along with libraries and will look as it has been saved.
- Wizard or dialog Task Properties is called from the headline context menu (select Go To Wizard).
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Editing documents. Libraries.
ConceptDraw allows to not only create a project but also work with it: indicate progress on a task, change terms, add new tasks and delete tasks we do not need.
The Wizard itself (independently) finds units optimal for the project, but they can be changed if necessary in dialog Calendar Properties (use Rebuild Calendar in the context menu).
In the field Time Scale we select necessary units. In the fields Start Date and Finish Date you can also change corresponding dates for the project.
Percent completed of tasks can also be indicated in the Wizard. In the document itself the degree of completion is indicated in the units. The last section of the project is a chart where tasks are displayed with the help of horizontal bars. We select the needed task. Three control points appear on it by moving which the next parameters can be changed: by the upper point you can change the Start Date of a task, by the lower one - the End Date, and by the middle one - the degree of its completion. The green part of the segment indicates the work completed, the blue one - the work yet to be done.
It's enough to indicate the degree of completion in days only or in percent only - the program will calculate the second parameter automatically and display it in the project.
The program calculates and displays any changes in the project made with the control points: duration, Start/End Dates, degree of completion.
On starting the Wizard the program opens a set of libraries with the help of which various additions to the project can be made to make it clearer, more informational and attractive.
Library Gantt Chart Shapes
With the help of objects from this Library you can add information to the project: you can add legends to put it straight and plain for a non-specialist i.e. task lines, timelines, indicating project phases, tasks and milestones.
Libraries Borders & Frames and Backgrounds are supportive. See Supportive Libraries section.
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