Gannt Chart 2

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What is a Gantt chart?

A Gantt chart, commonly used in project management, is one of the most

popular and useful ways of showing activities (tasks or events) displayed

against time. On the left of the chart is a list of the activities and along the top isa suitable time scale. Each activity is represented by a bar; the position and

length of the bar reflects the start date, duration and end date of the activity.This allows you to see at a glance:

What the various activities are When each activity begins and ends How long each activity is scheduled to last Where activities overlap with other activities, and by how much The start and end date of the whole project

To summarize, a Gantt chart shows you what has to be done (the activities) andwhen (the schedule).

A simple Gantt chart

Gantt charts are useful tools for planning and scheduling projects. They allow

you to assess how long a project should take, determine the resources needed,and lay out the order in which tasks need to be carried out. They are useful in

managing the dependencies between tasks.

When a project is under way, Gantt charts are useful for monitoring its progress.

You can immediately see what should have been achieved at a point in time,and can therefore take remedial action to bring the project back on course. Thiscan be essential for the successful and profitable implementation of the project.

Gantt Chart History

The first Gantt chart was devised in the mid 1890s by Karol Adamiecki, a

Polish engineer who ran a steelworks in southern Poland and had becomeinterested in management ideas and techniques. Some 15 years after Adamiecki


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, Henry Gantt, an American engineer and management consultant, devised his

own version of the chart and it was this that became widely known and popular

in western countries. Consequently it was Henry Gantt whose name was tobecome associated with charts of this type.

Karol Adamiecki Henry Gantt

History: Henry Laurence Gantt (1861-1919) was a mechanical engineer,management consultant and industry advisor. He developed Gantt charts in the

second decade of the 20th century as a visual tool to show scheduled and actual

progress of projects. Accepted as a common-place project management tool

today, it was quite a radical concept and an innovation of world-wide

importance in the 1920s. Gantt charts were first used on large construction

projects like the Hoover Dam, started in 1931 and the interstate highway

network which started in 1956. Download Organizing for Work, a book by

Henry Gantt.Henry Gantt's contribution to the management process is honored today through

the The Henry Laurence Gantt Medal. The award established in 1929 is given

for distinguished achievement in management and for service to the community.

Steps In Drawing a Gantt Chart

To draw up a Gantt diagram (Gant diagram), follow these steps:

Step 1. List all activities in the plan

For each task, show the earliest start date, estimated length of time it will take,and whether it is parallel or sequential. If tasks are sequential, show which

stages they depend on.

You will end up with a task list like the one in figure 1. This example shows the

task list for a custom-written computer project. We will use this same example
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for both this section and the section on Critical Path Analysis and PERT. Thiswill allow you to compare the results of the two approaches.

Figure 1. Gantt Chart Example: Planning a custom-written computer

project

Task Earliest

start

Length Type Dependent

on...

A. High level analysis Week 0 1 week Sequential

B. Selection of hardwareplatform

Week 1 1 day Sequential A

C. Installation and

commissioning of hardware

Week 1.2 2 weeks Parallel B

D. Detailed analysis of coremodules

Week 1 2 weeks Sequential A

E. Detailed analysis of

supporting modules

Week 3 2 weeks Sequential D

F. Programming of core modules Week 3 2 weeks Sequential D

G. Programming of supporting

modules

Week 5 3 weeks Sequential E

H. Quality assurance of core

modules

Week 5 1 week Sequential F

I. Quality assurance ofsupporting modules

Week 8 1 week Sequential G

J. Core module training Week 6 1 day Parallel C,H

K. Development and QA ofaccounting reporting

Week 5 1 week Parallel E

L. Development and QA of

management reporting

Week 5 1 week Parallel E

M. Development of

Management Information

System

Week 6 1 week Sequential L

N. Detailed training Week 9 1 week Sequential I, J, K, M

Step 2. Set up your Gantt Chart

Head up graph paper with the days or weeks through to task completion.

Step 3. Plot the tasks onto the graph paper
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Next draw up a rough draft of the Gantt Chart. Plot each task on the graph

paper, showing it starting on the earliest possible date. Draw it as a bar, with the

length of the bar being the length of the task. Above the task bars, mark the timetaken to complete them.

Schedule them in such a way that sequential actions are carried out in the

required sequence. Ensure that dependent activities do not start until the

activities they depend on have been completed.

This will produce an untidy diagram like the one below:

Step 4. Presenting the analysis

The last stage in this process is to prepare a final version of the Gantt Chart.

This shows how the sets of sequential activities link together, and identifies the

critical path activities. At this stage you also need to check the resourcing of the

various activities. While scheduling, ensure that you make best use of theresources you have available, and do not over-commit resource.

You can also use color to represent the different resource types that you need touse such as programmers, or analysts.

A redrawn version of the example project is shown below:


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By drawing this example Gantt Chart, you can see that:

If all goes well, the project can be completed in 10 weeks. If you want to complete the task as rapidly as possible, you need:

1 analyst for the first 5 weeks. 1 programmer for 5 weeks starting week 4. 1 programmer/QA expert for 3 weeks starting week 6. Note:

Activities L and M have been moved back a week. This does notaffect the critical path, but it does mean that a single

programming/QA resource can carry out all three of activities K, L

and M. Analysis, development and testing of supporting modules are essential

activities that must be completed on time. Hardware installation and commissioning is not time-critical as long as it

is completed before the Core Module Training starts.

While this section describes how to draw a Gantt Chart manually, in practice

project managers use software tools like Microsoft Project to create Gantt

Charts. Not only do these ease the drawing of Gantt Charts, they also makemodification of plans easier and provide facilities for monitoring progressagainst plans, as well as generating resource histograms.
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Enhancing a Gantt chart

Gantt applications generally include features to make your Gantt chart easier touse. These vary from application to application; here are some examples:

Adding explanatory notes to tasks. This is especially useful for tasks thathave constraints. Constraints override links and can lead to illogicalitiesor schedule conflicts in the plan, so you will need to keep an eye on them.

Highlighting the critical path in order to see at a glance the tasks that arecurrently directly affecting your project end date. In a project plan, the

critical path corresponds to the tasks or chain of linked tasks that cannot

be delayed without delaying the entire project. A task lies on the critical

path if a change to its start date or duration affects the end date of the

project (or the start date if you are scheduling from the end of theproject). Keeping a close eye on the status of your critical tasks at any

time is therefore key to good project management. If the overall project

duration is too long, the only way to make it shorter and bring in its enddate is to shorten the critical path.

Setting milestones or deadlines to mark key dates. A milestone is a taskwith zero duration. It appears on the Gantt chart as milestone symbol.

Milestones are generally used to indicate important dates on the projectplan, often key events or goals. For example, you might use milestones tomark desired completion dates, or project review meetings.

A deadline marker does not affect any of the Gantt calculations, but places avisible marker on the Gantt chart as a reminder. In most Gantt applications anindicator will warn you if a task moves past its deadline marker.

Giving tasks priorities.


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Showing a percentage completion for any task, visible on the task bar. Customizing the appearance of the project plan on the Gantt chart, for

example the color of task bars, the display (or not) of informationallabels.

Gantt Chart Advantages

While there are a number of reasons to use Gantt charts below are five keyreasons they are often advantageous:

1. Avoid Completion Confusion: Gantt charts were created to keep userson track, providing a visual timeline for starting and finishing specifictasks. By providing a visual overview of milestones and other key dates,these charts are thought to offer a more understandable and memorable

method of maintaining timescale-based tasks and deliverables whether

tracked on a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly basis.

A Gantt chart template available at Creately( click to use as a template )
http://creately.com/diagram/example/gv9euunp3/Gantt+Chart+for+Analysis+&+Report+Writing


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2. Keep Everyone on the Same Page: Where there is a visual frameworkfor the work to be done, there are fewer chances for misunderstanding,

especially when it comes to highly complex tasks. Using Gantt charts

allow all types of stakeholders to have the same information, set mutually

understood expectations, and conduct their efforts according to thedesired protocol.

3. Understand Task Relationships: These charts can make clear howvarious tasks are interrelated and perhaps rely on the completion of

another to meet specific objectives. These task relationships revolve

around understanding the timing of each task, which then impacts other

tasks listed. This can better assure the optimum workflow, maximizedproductivity and overall project success.

A Gantt charts makes it very easy to visualize related tasks

4. Effectively Allocate Resources: By being able to look ahead on theGantt chart, users can clearly discern where resources need to be

anticipated, allocated or shared to maximize the use of those resources.

The more closely the chart is followed, the better chance there is of

keeping project costs within budget while also better assuring on-time

completion.

5. Get a Handle on the Future: While it is often easy to get caught up inday-to-day tasks as detailed on a chart, Gantt chart advantages include

helping decision-makers look farther ahead to ensure each given project
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is working toward the achievement the organizations long-term strategicobjectives.

Gantt Chart Limitations

For those Gantt chart cynics mentioned earlier, this method is not designed to be

the cure-all for an organizations project management ills. There are some

situations where other tools may indeed be more effectiveparticularly in

scenarios when a particular milestone or critical task is missing because theproject manager didnt include. Other limitations include the inability to include

certain constraints like time, scope, and costs. Overall, however, Gantt chartadvantages have been realized by all types of organizations for applicable

applications.

Because of the many advantages offered by Gantt charts, thousands of

companies use Gantt charts to become more productive, enhance their

communications, forecast over the long term and track results. While some

naysayers believe they limit the size of the project that can be tracked,

Gannt Chart 2

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