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Let's take a look at the Gantt Chart view in Smartsheet.
The Gantt Chart allows us to visualize
and see how project tasks relate to each other
and progress over time.
There are a couple of ways to start a project with a Gantt view.
You can open a project template,
import an existing MS project, Google spreadsheet or Excel file,
or start a new project sheet that is preset for Gantt Chart viewing.
We'll go ahead and open this Q4 Product Launch.
To open the Gantt Chart, click the 'Gantt View' button on the tool bar.
We can adjust the width of the Gantt Chart by dragging it's edge.
At the top - left side of the Gantt Chart
are buttons to zoom in or out to
weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly perspectives.
The Gantt Chart shows workdays in white,
non-workdays in grey,
and holidays in light pink.
The current day is marked with a black
dash line along the right side of the column.
Simply enter the start date
and the task will appear in the Gantt Chart
as a colored bar for 1 day.
We can change the color if we like by right - clicking
on the bar and selecting a different color.
Or by using the Conditional Formatting tool.
Here we will enable a rule for past due items
to be marked in red in the Gantt Chart.
For the Gantt Chart to work properly, we need 2 'Date' columns,
a 'Predecessor' column and a 'Duration' column.
The 'Duration' column counts the number of workdays for the task
and will account for non-working days such
as weekends or holidays.
Here we can see the blue task spanning
6 days because of the weekend.
We can also create milestones by
entering '0' into the 'Duration' column.
A diamond shape will then appear on the start date.
The Gantt Chart is interactive.
We can move the date range by clicking in
the middle and dragging horizontally,
or dragging the edges to change it's duration.
If we click and drag up or down, a black arrow will appear.
Simply drag and drop it to another task and
instantly create a 'Task dependency'.
A 'Task dependency' is a link from one task to another
that will automate the dependent task's start and end date.
For example, if we need to change the duration of a task
every dependent task will adjust to
create the new schedule automatically.
To break a 'Task dependency', simply move
the dependent task to a new start date
or delete the row number in the 'Predecessor'
column of the task
and the black arrow will disappear.
The 'Predecessor' column will contain the row number
of the preceding task when it becomes a 'Task dependency'.
If we click on the pencil icon,
the 'Edit Predecessor' window will open allowing
you to manually
edit the dependencies for that task.
Notice that you can change the type of dependency,
delete the dependency all together
or enter "Lag days', which is a way to schedule
the start date
of the dependent task a specified number of
days from the preceding task.
Let's take a look at other columns that relate
information into the Gantt Chart.
The 'Percent Complete' column allows you to display your progress.
As we enter our progress for each task, it'll reflect in the timeline
and over the entire project.
We can organize tasks by creating a row
hierarchy using the Indent tool.
In the Gantt Chart, parent rows are grey
and can't be moved.
That's because they calculate information from
their child rows and will automatically adjust,
as we can see when we make changes to the
purple task and the orange task.
Within the parent row,
we can also see a weighted average of the
'Percent Complete' column,
that will change as progress is updated,
the earliest start date
and the latest end date for the group of tasks
rolled up into the parent row.
To change the settings of the Gantt Chart, the button
is located next to the zoom buttons.
Here, you can change the details of
how the Gantt Chart functions.
For example, currently our Gantt Chart displays
information from the 'Task name' column,
but I could change it to display information
from the 'Assigned To' column.
Or if my company didn't work on Fridays, I could press the 'Edit' button and uncheck 'Friday'.
We can also manage holidays to make sure they
are accounted for when scheduling out the project.
Here we can see Friday columns are now in grey.
We also have the option to print the Gantt Chart
Displaying any or none of the columns.
Send it as an email attachment straight out of Smartsheet
Or export it as a PNG file to incorporate
with other digital files and presentations.
Providing simple visualization, automation
and management of your projects.
And that's the Gantt Chart view in Smartsheet.