Gantt

Use the Gantt layout in PowerTable to visualize and manage project tasks on a timeline. You can track task duration and progress, manage milestones and dependencies, and monitor project schedules in a single view.

Use cases#

You can use the Gantt layout to:

• Plan project schedules: Organize tasks and subtasks along a timeline and track their start and end dates.
• Track task progress: Monitor the progress of individual tasks and the overall project.
• Manage dependencies: Visualize relationships between tasks and identify how changes to one task can affect others.
• Track milestones: Highlight important events, deadlines, and project completion points.
• Manage resources: Assign tasks to team members and monitor resource allocation.
• Identify critical paths: Identify tasks and dependencies that can affect the overall project schedule and completion date.
• Reschedule tasks: Adjust task dates and timelines when project schedules change.
• Analyze dependency impacts: Understand how changes to a task can affect dependent tasks and the overall project timeline.

In this article, you learn how to create and configure a Gantt layout for your table by using an example.

This example uses a Project Tasks table that stores project task details.

Prerequisites#

To create a Gantt layout, make sure the table meets the following requirements:

• Include Start Date and End Date fields, along with a primary key field that contains unique task IDs.
• Ensure the Start Date, End Date, and Milestone Date fields use the Date data type during the initial table configuration.
• Configure the field that contains unique task IDs as the primary key.

Configure Gantt layout#

1. In the PowerTable tab, go to Layout > Gantt. The Gantt Layout Configuration dialog box opens.

2. Configure the fields to create the Gantt layout:

Necessary fields

• In Start Date, select the column that contains the task start dates.
• In End Date, select the column that contains the task end dates.
• Under Task ID, PowerTable automatically selects the primary key column, which is the Task ID.

Optional fields

These are the optional fields you can set to leverage the complete Gantt chart capabilities.

Hierarchy type

The hierarchy type organizes the task list into parent tasks and subtasks. You can organize tasks into a parent-child hierarchy by using either Parent ID or Hierarchy By.

• Parent ID: If your data has a column that identifies and maps the parent task for each task, select that column under Parent ID. Then, under Task Name, select the column that has all task names.

• Multiple Column Hierarchy: If your data doesn't have a Parent ID column, select this option and then select the fields that define the task hierarchy.

Milestone

Under Milestone, select the date column that identifies important events or deadlines, if available.

If your data doesn't include a separate milestone field, PowerTable identifies milestones based on the Start Date and End Date fields. A task is treated as a milestone when it has only an End Date or when the Start Date and End Date are the same.

Progress

Under Progress, select the numeric column that contains the task completion percentage.

Dependency

Under Dependency, select the column that contains task dependency information. Use the TaskID-ConnectionType format to define dependencies. For example, 1002FS indicates that the current task starts after task 1002 finishes. Supported dependency types include Finish-to-Start (FS), Start-to-Start (SS), Start-to-Finish (SF), and Finish-to-Finish (FF).

Estimated Effort

In Estimated Effort, select the field that contains the estimated effort for each task in hours.

Filter Columns

Select the columns that you want to make available for filtering in the Filter side panel. If no columns are selected, all columns are available for filtering.

3. Select Save.

PowerTable displays the tasks in the Gantt layout.