What is a Gantt chart? How to create a Gantt chart in project management

Gantt charts are loved and applied by many businesses in project management today. However, not everyone can enjoy all the benefits of this chart and how to build a professional Gantt chart. Let's learn about this useful tool with 1C Vietnam in the article below.

1. What is a Gantt chart? Benefits of Gantt charts

Gantt chart (also known as Gantt Chart in English) is a diagram that visually presents tasks in order using bars of different lengths to represent time for each task in the project. . A sample Gantt chart typically includes a list of tasks to be done, a start date, an end date, and a system of bars depicting progress.

A Gantt chart uses arrows and horizontal bars to represent each task. In which, the arrowhead is the starting time and the tail of the arrow is the ending time. The horizontal bars are systematically arranged in chronological order. In the case of tasks with dependencies, the horizontal bars can be stacked on top of each other.

Gantt charts have the following outstanding benefits:

• Using a Gantt chart helps businesses get an overview of the implementation schedule and the relationship between tasks in the project.
• Administrators can closely monitor and manage project implementation progress. By comparing the actual situation with the original plan, managers can make necessary adjustments or reallocate resources to suit each stage.
• Gantt charts help administrators be more proactive in preparing resources and making necessary adjustments during project operations.
• Using Gantt charts in planning helps managers schedule specific tasks for each task and each team member.

2. Advantages and disadvantages of Gantt chart

2.1 Advantages

Gantt charts are an effective support tool for project planning and management. Advantages of Gantt charts include:

• Allows management of a lot of information at the same time: With a simple, intuitive presentation, administrators can easily determine the order of work, the person in charge and the time of specific work.
• Improve work efficiency: Gantt chart shows the visual relationship between small tasks and the overall project progress. This helps each member determine the importance of each task and proactively complete their work.
• Helps manage and allocate resources more effectively: When using Gantt charts in project management, businesses can get an overview of the workload and optimally allocate resources, more rational.

2.2 Disadvantages

Besides the outstanding advantages mentioned above, the Gantt chart still has certain disadvantages:

• The plan depends on the pre-built structure: During project implementation, if unforeseen problems and errors occur, the manager is at risk of having to change the entire structure. chart.
• Ineffective for large-scale projects: For projects with large investment scale and complex relationships between tasks, the Gantt chart is not a suitable choice. Using Gantt in this case can be time-consuming and ineffective due to the need to regularly update the chart and constantly change it.
• Not handling project constraints well: When implementing a project, there are 3 important factors that administrators need to pay attention to: scope, cost and time. However, the Gantt chart only focuses on showing the time factor instead of all three factors. This can lead to errors in resource allocation and is difficult to control if there are too many tasks interwoven in succession.

3. Who should use the Gantt chart?

Gantt charts can be used by businesses, agencies, and organizations that need:

• Outline the project plan according to the timeline: Drawing a Gantt chart will be very effective in showing task implementation milestones, building work and a clear timeline for the project.
• Collaborate with multiple stakeholders: The Gantt chart will give the implementer a detailed view of each task at a specific time and when work should be passed on to the next person.
• Estimate time and workload: The Gantt chart will let administrators know how to more optimally allocate resources thanks to a visual representation of time and human resource factors for each specific job.
• Simplify the process and ease of practical application: Building a Gantt is not too complicated but still ensures to provide employees and partners with an overall view of the progress of a project.

4. How to make a Gantt chart in project management

The traditional way of making a Gantt chart by hand requires meticulousness, diligence and a lot of time. However, with the development of modern software today, Gantt charts can be created and updated easily with the 4 steps below:

4.1 Step 1: Identify important work items

The first step a business needs to take to build a Gantt chart is to list out all the tasks necessary to complete the project. Businesses can base on project goals to build work items, determine start time and estimate the time needed for implementation.

4.2 Step 2: Determine the relationship between work items

One of the benefits of using a Gantt chart in planning is showing the relationships between tasks. Based on the created job list, the manager will determine which jobs need to be completed before the next job can be performed. These dependent activities are also called “linear” work or “sequential” work. Besides, managers also need to pay attention to tasks that are performed in parallel during the same period of time. Businesses need to note that the more parallel tasks, the sooner the project will be completed.

In the principles of drawing a Gantt chart, there are 3 main relationships between sequential tasks:

• Finish to Start (FS): The FS task cannot be executed before the previous related task finishes.
• Start to Start (SS): The SS task cannot be executed when the previous task starts.
• Finish to Finish (FF): FF tasks cannot be completed before the previous task ends.

4.3 Step 3: Represent the Gantt chart

After fully preparing the necessary data, the manager will draw the Gantt chart in different ways such as drawing by hand, using Excel software or other professional Gantt chart drawing software. Besides, there are a number of tools built on cloud algorithms so the whole team can discuss and optimize the project implementation process.

4.4 Step 4: Monitor and update project progress

After completing the Gantt chart, businesses need to regularly monitor and update project progress according to the actual situation. When problems such as delayed or eliminated tasks occur, managers need to immediately make the necessary changes to ensure the project continues.

5. How to draw a Gantt chart in Excel

Excel is one of the most popular software for displaying Gantt charts of work plans. Below are the steps to build a Gantt chart in Excel:

5.1 Data preparation stage

Data preparation is always the first step in any Gantt chart building process. An accurate data system will help make charts effective and close to reality. To supplement the Project Implementation section, businesses need to add the % completion column (completion rate) in the Implementation (actual) table. Then, the implementer will add the item Days completed (number of days completed) in Data Preparation, specifically:

• If the Project timeline is listed in the Plan section, Days completed will not be counted
• If Project timeline is Actual then Days complete = % completion * Days

The purpose of this is to help managers understand how many % of the actual results have been completed compared to the set standards. Once completed, the data table will have the following interface:

5.2 Implementation steps

Step 1 - Create a new chart

Select the Insert tab on the toolbar, select Chart/ Bar/ Stacked Bar

Step 2 - Load the prepared data into the chart

Click on the created chart to appear Chart tools on the toolbar. Select Design/ Select Data.

Step 2 is to import data into the chart

Select the data area loaded into the Chart in Chart data range:

In the Legend Entries (series) section, select Add to add a Start date data area

The manager will then change the order of Start date to put it before Days in Legend Entries and edit the Horizontal (category) Axis Labels section. Completing this step, the practitioner will obtain a chart as below:

Step 3 - Arrange the order of the tasks

After entering data, the order of tasks will not be in the order desired by the business. Therefore, the manager needs to perform reordering by selecting Tasks on the chart. Then, the user will select Categories in reverse order in the Axis Options window.

Step 4 - Keep only the days taken chart for tasks

In the Gantt chart above, the blue part is the number of days to complete the Task, the yellow part is the part calculated from the starting milestone (Excel often automatically suggests this milestone). The purpose of the Gantt chart is to manage project progress, so the implementer must hide the yellow part and only display the number of days to complete the Tasks.

To do this, the manager needs to select the chart bar/Format Data Series. Then, the user will select Border, select No Line, in No Fill, select Fill to complete.

Step 5 - Change the chart period

When using Excel to draw a Gantt chart, the manager will be automatically suggested a time period. However, this time period is often not accurate with the business's desired time. Therefore, managers need to align closely with the project.

The user selects the Date item in the chart and will see:

• The smallest date displayed as number 43120 corresponds to January 20, 2018
• The largest date displayed as number 43240 corresponds to May 20, 2018

The goal is to change to:

• The smallest date that is close to the project that can be chosen is March 1, 2018
• The largest date that can be chosen that is close to the project is May 10, 2018

The manager enters the 2 selected dates in any position in the Sheet, selects Format cells for the 2 entered positions as General. The date value is displayed as a number, entering these 2 numbers will get:

Step 6 - Track job completion rate

To be able to track the job completion rate, the manager must show the Days completed section in the chart and at the same time nest it in the Days section. To do this, the manager will add an Error Bar to the chart.

The operations to be performed are as follows: Chart Tools/ Design/Add Chart Element/Error Bars/More Error Bar Options…

When selecting More Error Bar Options, the screen will appear Add Error Bars based on Series. That means Excel wants to ask which data area to add Error Bar data to. Here, the manager will select Start date.

In the Format Error Bars section, the manager will set the following:

• Direction choose Plus
• End style select No cap
• Error Amount select Custom/Specify Value and select the Days Completed area (area O4:O9)

The manager will then format the display for this area as follows:

• Choose a color that has high contrast compared to the currently displayed color.
• Select width: Depending on the width of the area, select the corresponding Error Bar to be inserted over the entire original chart area.

After using the Error Bar, the chart below has changed color: Error bar (day completed) is blue, Working days is yellow.

6. Download free Gantt chart template

Building a Gantt chart is not too complicated but requires a lot of work and requires an investment of time. Managers can refer to an example of a Gantt chart compiled by 1C Vietnam HERE .

7. Set up Gantt chart easily on Office software 1C:Document Management

Office Software 1C:Document Management is a solution to automate document management, processes and work administration. The solution is capable of centrally storing information on a single system, helping individuals and organizations handle remote work anytime, anywhere, even on mobile devices.

The software possesses many important modules including document management, process management, digital office management,... to support businesses in adapting flexibly during a period of strong digital transformation such as Currently. In particular, the project management module provides the necessary features to fully manage the life cycle of a project including planning, managing work items and controlling project progress. At the same time, 1C:Document Management also develops an intuitive Gantt chart system to help businesses manage projects most effectively.

Through 1C:Document Management software, administrators can:

• Show project progress through Gantt charts in a visual and vivid way.
• Change project work duration in the agile chart.
• Visually display job status in color:

- Black - job with subordinate tasks;

- Green - work has not been done and is not overdue;

- Dark red - work has not been done but is overdue;

- Green - work is being done and is not overdue;

- Red - work is being done but is overdue;

- Gray - work is finished.

Thus, with Digital Office solution 1C:Document Management, businesses can manage projects more comprehensively and easily than ever before. Possessing powerful features and useful support utilities such as Gantt charts, the software will help administrators optimize processes and run project work more smoothly and effectively.

The above article has summarized the advantages and disadvantages, use cases and how to build a Gantt chart in project management. This is a simple model, easy to apply and effective for small-scale projects. In addition, businesses can refer to Office software 1C:Document Management, which provides intuitive Gantt charts to help businesses easily create, track and control project progress effectively. Contact 1C Vietnam today to receive support and advice on solutions suitable to the specific characteristics of your business.