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Gantt Chart of Construction Schedule

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You can manage tasks within the construction schedule on the Gantt Chart. This is a quick and efficient way to manage the overall duration of the construction and see dependencies between tasks. So that you can see how the increase in duration of one task impacts other tasks and the overall duration in general.

All the activities are distributed through the timescale. You can regulate positions of activity bars on the timescale and adjust duration of tasks.

Here you can see that the page is divided into two parts. The left part accommodates the list of Tasks (Cost Centers), the right part accommodates the Gantt Chart for planning the construction activities and their distribution across the timeline.

 

The Tasks list shows the list of tasks grouped within the Critical Path stages. To view tasks within a specific stage, you can expand it by clicking the icon.

Each Cost Center, task and sub-task represents an activity which is shown on the Gantt Chart as an activity bar. By default, duration of each activity equals one day and all activities start from the same day. The Critical Path Stage is shown as progress activity bar on the Gantt Chart. Its length is determined automatically from the scope of all tasks within this stage.

For each task on the list, the following information is displayed:

Number Ordinal number of the Task on the list. The system assigns it automatically.
Task Name Name of the Task.
Resource Supplier or Contractor who can provide a specific service for Task completion.
Type Type of the task:

  • CP – Critical Path.
  • CCO – Cost Center task.
  • SUM – sub-task.
Pred. Number of the task which is a predecessor for the current task.

The parameter in the Pred. column can take one of the following values:

  • FS (Finish to Start) – a predecessor task must finish before a successor task can start.
  • SS (Start to Start) – a predecessor task must start before a successor task can start.
  • FF (Finish to Finish) – a predecessor task must finish before a successor task can finish.
  • SF (Start to Finish) – a predecessor task must start before a successor task can finish.
Duration Planned duration of the task in days.
Notes Notes about the task.

Adding Tasks to the Gantt Chart

  1. Open the construction schedule which you want to add tasks into.
  2. Under the list with tasks, locate the Gantt Chart button and click it.

The page with the list of tasks and the Gantt chart opens, as follows:

On the list with tasks, you can see the following:

Critical Path Stages Stage of the Critical Path. Its name is shown in bold unlike other tasks and it has the ‘CP’ flag in the Type column.
Cost Center Cost Center as a part of construction.  It has the ‘CCO’ flag in the Type column.
Regular Task Generic task. There is no flag in the Type column.

If the task is comprised of other subtasks, there will be the ‘SUM’ flag in the Type column.

Sub-Task Sub-Task that is added for a specific task.

The Tasks list shows the hierarchy of all tasks that should be completed for successful completion of the construction Job.

By default, the hierarchy of tasks is taken from the Construction Critical Path with all the Cost Centers mapped to each stage of this Critical Path.

You can modify this structure and add new tasks, as well as sub-tasks within it.

Note

You cannot add new Critical Path Stages and Cost Centers into the construction schedule. All the pre-defined Critical Path Stages and Cost Centers are loaded from the Construction Schedule Template.

To add a new Task:

  1. Hover over the Critical Path Stage or Cost Center, until the action icons appear.
  2. Click the Add Task  icon. A new row with the generic task name appears on the list.
  3. Double-click the row and enter the task name.
  4. When complete, click Process.

If you need to add a generic task without its mapping to a specific Critical Path Stage or Cost Center, click the Add task  icon (located above the top right part of the list with tasks).

To add a new Sub-Task:

You can add sub-tasks for generic tasks and Critical Path Stages, but you cannot add sub-tasks for Cost Centers.

  1. On the list with tasks, locate the Critical Path Stage or generic task, which you want to add a sub-task for.
  2. Hover over it until the action icons appear.
  3. Click the Add Sub-task  icon.
  4. Enter the name for a new sub-task.
  5. When complete, click Process.

Note

You cannot create a sub-task for the Critical Path Stage labeled as ‘Start’. 

To edit the task:

For the details on editing tasks, see the Editing the Task section.

To delete Tasks and Sub-tasks:

You can delete the Tasks and Sub-Tasks that you added for Critical Path Stages and Cost Centers.

  1. On the list with tasks, locate the task or sub-task you want to delete.
  2. Hover over it until the action icons appear.
  3. Click the Delete  icon.
  4. Confirm the removal of the task or sub-task.
  5. When complete, click Process.

To convert the sub-task into the task:

You can convert the existing sub-task into a generic task.

  1. On the list with tasks, locate the sub-task you want to convert into a task.
  2. Hover over the sub-task until the action icons appear.
  3. Click the Not sub-task  icon.
  4. When complete, click Process.

The sub-task will be moved one level up. If you were using the multi-level hierarchy of tasks, you may need to repeat the same procedure once more.

To manage order of tasks on the Tasks list:

You can change order of elements on the Tasks list. You can change order of all task types that you have. Please consider the following while re-ordering tasks:

  • You can only re-order Critical Path stages within the same level of hierarchy.
  • You can re-order Cost Centers within the same Critical Path Stages and you can move them from one Critical Path Stage to another if both stages are expanded.
  • You can re-order Tasks within the same Cost Center and you can move them to another Critical Path Stage.
  • You can re-order Sub-Tasks within the same and move them to another Critical Path Stage as a Task.

 

  1. On the list with tasks, locate the task which position on the list you want to change.
  2. Drag the  part of the row to the appropriate position on the list.
  3. When complete, click Process.

Note

You cannot change position of the first task labeled as ‘Start’. It should be always at the top of the list of tasks.

To expand all Tasks on the Tasks list:

Above the Tasks list, locate the Expand all button and click it. All the Tasks within the Critical Path stages will be expanded.

To collapse all Tasks on the Tasks list:

Above the Tasks list, locate the Collapse all button and click it. All the Tasks within the Critical Path stages will be collapsed.

To hide completed Tasks:

  1. Above the list with tasks, locate the Show completed tasks toggle.
  2. Move the toggle left.

All the completed tasks (which completion percentage equals 100%) will be hidden from the list and on the Gantt Chart.

To adjust the position of the activity bar on the timescale:

  1. Hover over the activity bar which position on the timescale you want to adjust.
  2. Drag the activity bar across the timescale.
  3. When complete, click Process.

You can also adjust the position of the Critical Path stage on the timescale. When you change the position of the Critical Path stage, all the Tasks within are also moved with the stage. If the task has other sub-tasks, their positions across the timescale are also changed when you move the task.

To adjust the duration of the Task:

You can adjust duration of Cost Center tasks, Tasks and Sub-Tasks.

  1. Hover over the activity bar which duration you want to increase or decrease. Once you hover, close to the left and right edges of the activity bar the circles appear.
  2. Drag the left-side or right-side circle to adjust the duration of the Tab. When you drag the circle, you can see how duration of the activity is changing in the tooltip.
  3. When complete, click Process.

Duration of the Critical Path stage is calculated automatically by the system on the basis of all Tasks within this stage. You cannot adjust duration of the Critical Path stage.

 

To manage dependencies between Tasks or Stages:

You can manage dependencies between Tasks and in this way indicate that some task can be started only when a specific task is completed or starts.

  1. Hover over the activity bar which you want to set the dependency for. Once you hover, close to the left and right edges of the activity bar the circles appear.
  2. Drag the line from the one activity bar to the circle of the other activity bar. The dependency line appears between the two activity bars.
  3. When complete, click Process.

You can also set dependencies between Critical Path stages in the way similar to setting dependencies between Tasks. You can set dependencies between Tasks from difference Critical Path stages too.

Consider the following relationship types between the two activities (Tasks):

FS (Finish to Start) A predecessor task must finish before a successor task can start.

To define this relationship type:

Drag the arrow from the right edge of a predecessor task to the left edge of a successor task.

When FS type is set, a successor task starts from the finish point of a predecessor task.

SS (Start to Start) A predecessor task must start before a successor task can start.

To define this relationship type:

Drag the arrow from the left edge of a predecessor task to the left edge of a successor task.

When SS type is set, a successor task starts from the start point of a predecessor task.

FF (Finish to Finish) A predecessor task must finish before a successor task can finish.

To define this relationship type:

Drag the arrow from the right edge of a predecessor task to the right edge of a successor task.

When FF type is set, a successor task finishes at the finish point of a predecessor task.

SF (Start to Finish) A predecessor task must start before a successor task can finish.

To define this relationship type:

Drag the arrow from the left edge of a predecessor task to the right edge of a successor task.

When SF type is set, a successor task finishes at the start point of a predecessor task.

Instead of dragging lines from one activity bar to the other, you can just enter the appropriate number of the task and relationship type into the field.

You can add multiple relationships between activity bars, in this case several values will be displayed in the field labeled as .

To delete the no longer needed relationship between activity bars, clear the value in the field labeled as for a specific task.

To manually enter a predecessor task and its connection type:

  1. Double-click the text field (with the label) and enter the number of a predecessor task and a connection type (for example, 16SS where 16 is a number of a predecessor task and SS is a Start to Start connection type).
  2. When complete, press Enter.

You can add multiple predecessor tasks and define delays between a specific task and other tasks on the timeline.

  1. On the list with Tasks, locate the one which you want to add predecessor tasks for.
  2. Click the Add predecessors  icon.
  3. In the Predecessor Kit for a Task Name form, define the following information about a predecessor task:
    Predecessor Select a predecessor task from the ones registered in the current schedule template.
    Relationship Select the relationship type from the following ones:

    • Finish to Start
    • Start to Start
    • Finish to Finish
    • Start to Finish
    Delay Select the delay or overlap in the relationship between tasks, as follows:

    ‘+’ = Delay

    A successor task starts some days after the end of a predecessor task.

    ‘-‘ = Overlap

    A successor task starts some days prior to the end of a predecessor task. In this case, a successor task overlaps a predecessor task.

    Days The number of days a successor task starts before/after the end/start of a predecessor task.

     

  4. When complete, click Apply.
  5. Click Process.

The specified delay and overlap values will be shown as lags when you hover over a relationship arrow on the Gantt Chart.

To manage view of Tasks on the Gantt Chart:

You can switch view of Tasks on the Gantt Chart among the following views:

  • Month
  • Week
  • Day

Above the top right part of the Gantt Chart, locate the Switch view  icon.

Click this icon and select the view for showing tasks on the Gantt Chart.

While navigating through the Gantt chart, you may need to quickly return to the current date to see the due tasks.

Above the top right part of the Gantt chart, locate and click the Back to Current Date icon. This will return you to the current date on the Gantt chart.

 

 

Updated on 5 November, 2021

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