Overview
The Gantt Chart row type renders an interactive timeline view of tasks, milestones, or activities associated with a record. Gantt charts are a standard project management tool for visualising schedules, durations, and the relationships between work items.
Gantt Row Types
DemandFlow provides several Gantt-oriented row types for different contexts:
- Gantt (
usgantt) — a standard Gantt chart for individual project schedules - Programme Gantt (
proggantt) — a programme-level Gantt chart that shows multiple projects on a single timeline
When to Use
Use Gantt charts when you need to:
- Visualise project schedules with start dates, end dates, and durations
- Show dependencies between tasks (e.g. Task B cannot start until Task A finishes)
- Provide an overview of how work is distributed across time
- Track progress against planned timelines
- Identify scheduling conflicts or resource bottlenecks
Key Features
Task Bars
Each task or work item appears as a horizontal bar on the timeline. The bar's position and length represent the start date, end date, and duration of the task. The bar may be colour-coded to indicate status or priority.
Dependencies
Dependencies between tasks are shown as connecting lines or arrows. These visual links make it clear which tasks must be completed before others can begin, helping users understand the critical path through the schedule.
Milestones
Milestones are key dates or events that appear as diamond markers on the timeline, representing important deadlines or checkpoints rather than duration-based tasks.
Timeline Navigation
Users can zoom in and out of the timeline to view different time scales (days, weeks, months, quarters) and scroll horizontally to navigate through the schedule.
Best Practices
- Place Gantt charts on a dedicated panel, typically named "Schedule" or "Timeline"
- Use a full-width column for maximum visual clarity
- Ensure tasks have populated start and end date fields for accurate display
- Keep dependency chains manageable — overly complex dependency webs become difficult to read
- Use milestones to highlight key decision points and deliverable dates