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Gantt Chart

A Gantt chart is a bar chart that illustrates the schedule of a project. It displays tasks on the vertical axis and time intervals on the horizontal axis. The bars show the duration of each task and their dependencies. Gantt charts are created using either forward or backward scheduling to ensure tasks are scheduled only after prerequisites are complete. They provide a simple overview of project activities and relationships between tasks and time.

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Reshma Georgi
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222 views

Gantt Chart

A Gantt chart is a bar chart that illustrates the schedule of a project. It displays tasks on the vertical axis and time intervals on the horizontal axis. The bars show the duration of each task and their dependencies. Gantt charts are created using either forward or backward scheduling to ensure tasks are scheduled only after prerequisites are complete. They provide a simple overview of project activities and relationships between tasks and time.

Uploaded by

Reshma Georgi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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GANTT CHART

A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule. This chart lists the tasks to be
performed on the vertical axis and time intervals on the horizontal axis. The width of the horizontal bars
in the graph indicate the duration of the activity.

Gantt chart illustrates the start and finish dates of the terminal elements and summary elements of the
project. Terminal and summary elements constitute the Work Breakdown Structure of the project.

Modern Gantt charts also show the dependency relationships between activities. They can also be used
to show current schedule status using percent-complete shadings and a vertical ‘TODAY’ line.

Gantt charts are usually created initially using an early start time approach, where each task is scheduled
to start immediately when its pre-requisites are complete. This method maximizes the float time
available for all tasks.

Purpose of a Gantt chart

1. To illustrate the relationship between project activities and time.


2. To show multiple project activities on one chart.
3. To provide a simple and easy to understand representation of project scheduling.

Creating a Gantt chart

There are 2 methods to create a Gantt Chart:

1. Using a forward schedule: starting with the list of activities and a given start date; follow
them forwards in time until the given deadline.
2. Using a backward schedule: look at the deadline; from that date work in the logical list of
activities.

Steps to creating a Gantt Chart

1. Determine Project start date and deadline.


2. Gather all information surrounding the list of activities within a project- the project breakdown
structure may be useful for this.
3. Determine how long each activity will take.
4. Evaluate what activities are dependent on others.
5. Create graph shell including the time line and the list of activities.
6. Using either forward scheduling or backward scheduling begin to add bars ensuring to include
dependencies and the full duration for each activity.

Advantages:

1. A useful tool for displaying time-based information within a project.


2. Very simple to create.
3. They provide a useful overview of project activities, a good starting point for project planning.
4. They are widely used and understood.
5. There exist several PC software packages that allow you to build Gantt charts.

Limitations:

1. The Gantt chart doesn’t explain the reasoning behind the chosen duration of each activity.
2. The Gantt chart is very difficult to update when changes to the project plan take place. This
makes it time consuming and results in long term planning being difficult.
3. It encourages a one-step approach to planning- this prevents flexibility in project planning.
4. Modern day Gantt charts using PC software can look very professional without actually having
meaning, preventing project teams from challenging their content. This can lead to difficulties
later in the project.
5. They are difficult to update manually and can often become obsolete.
6. The chart doesn’t compare project resources and cost

Example:

Consider the following:

Gantt chart

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