Add a Gantt View to visualise your project data

An Introduction to Gantt Views

A Gantt View is a visual way to see a timeline of tasks or pieces of work. You can get an at-a-glance view of the schedule of activity and identify where they may be peaks or troughs in the team workload.

A Gantt View shows a block for each piece of work where the length of each block represents the time the work will take. These blocks are then plotted on a timeline.

Use Cases for Gantt View

Gantt Views can be useful across many industries and departments.

Plan a Product Launch

For a product launch, you may use a Gantt View to plan out each of the activities that take the product from an idea to launch.

By using a Gantt View, you can get a clear overview of all the required tasks and identify any resourcing problems early.

Mapping a Marketing Campaign

A marketing campaign has many moving parts and requires collaboration between many people and departments.

A Gantt View can simplify this process by showing a sequence of tasks and which team is responsible for which part. Teams can see how the work they are doing fits into a larger overall plan and any impacts it may have on others.

Implementing a new Software Tool

If you are trying to rollout a new tool or piece of software in a business, there can be many stages and stakeholders involved. For example, you have to first identify the requirements then find a suitable supplier. There is then purchasing and training to consider.

If you plot all of the purchase stages and tasks on a Gantt View, you can see when the solution will be implemented and where there may be blockers or time constraints.

Gantt Views in Gridfox

You can add a Gantt View over any existing Table in your Project.

Your users can access these Views just like the Boards, Calendars and standard Grid Views.

All the Records that your users add to the Table will automatically show up on the Gantt View. If they make any changes to Records, then the Gantt View will show those changes immediately.

Setting up a Table for a Gantt View

Firstly, we need to create a Table that we will create a Gantt View over. Remember that Gantt Views are for plotting pieces of work over a timeline, so we will need to make sure that the Table contains some Date Fields to allow the Gantt Blocks to be plotted.

As an example, you may want to track Tasks for Projects in Gridfox.

Creating the Tables

1. Open up a Gridfox Project, or create a new one
2. In the Explorer or Grid View Editor, create a new Table called Projects
3. Add a text Field to the Projects Table called Name
4. Create a new Table called Tasks
5. Link the Tasks Table to the Projects Table where Tasks is a child of Projects

6. Add the following Fields to the Tasks Table:

   • Text Field called Description
   • Date Field called Start Date
   • Date Field called End Date
   • List Field called Status, with Statuses of ‘To Do’, ‘In Progress’, and ‘Done’

7. Save your new Tables, setting the Reference Fields as follows:

   • The Name field for the Projects Table
   • Add an Auto Counter to the Tasks Table

Your Project will now have the following Tables and Fields:

Adding Records to the Table

Now that we have the model set up, you can add some Records to your Tables so that the Gantt View will show some data.

1. Exit out of the View Editor or Explorer
2. Select Projects in the left hand navigation bar
3. Create a new Project
4. Add some Tasks to the Project, making sure the Tasks have a Start and End Date set
5. Create a few more Projects with some Tasks

We are now ready to create a Gantt View to visualise these Tasks.

Creating a Gantt View

Now that you have your Table set up and ready to go, you can start creating your Gantt View for this Table.

1. In the Create menu in the bottom left hand corner, select Gantt
2. Enter a name for the View – we can call this one ‘Task Tracker’
3. Click the next arrow

You now have a brand new Gantt View. Before it can be saved, it needs to be configured.

Configuring a Gantt View

When configuring a Gantt View, you will be guided through a step by step process to get everything up and running.

1. Select the Projects Table and click Next
2. Choose Task ‘Start Date’ as the Start Date Field and click Next
3. Choose ‘End Date’ as the End Date Field and click Next
4. Choose ‘Description’ as the title and click Next
5. Click Save
6. Click Exit View Editor to take a look at your new View

Your Gantt View is up and running ready for Users to use.

All the Tasks that are created will show up on the Gantt View.

Using the Gantt View

You can take a look at your new Gantt View in more detail.

1. Use the date zoom to change the level of detail of the Gantt View
2. Click Add Event to add a new Task
3. Click on a Gantt Block to go to the Record

Customising a Gantt View

Now that you’ve got the fundamentals of the Gantt View, there are some additional options you can configure to get the best view for your Users.

Colour Coding Gantt Blocks

To help your users get an at-a-glance view of the Projects, you can colour code the Blocks based on Task Status.

Start by checking the colour coding for your Task Status Field.

1. Click Tasks in the left hand navigation panel
2. Click Edit Current View
3. Click the Status column
4. In the left hand field configuration panel, set a colour for each Status
5. Click Save

Now we can use this colour coding on the Gantt View.

1. Select the Tasks Tracker in the left hand navigation panel
2. Click Edit Current View
3. Click Gantt Colours
4. Select Status
5. Click Save
6. Click Exit View Editor

Now on the Gantt Screen, each Task will be colour coded based on its status.

Adding Display Fields

You can choose to show extra information about Records on your Gantt View. These are called Display Fields.

Display Fields can be added for the Records themselves, as well as any related Parent Records that are shown.

1. Click Edit Current View
2. Click Display Fields
3. Drag Fields into the Display Fields column, such as Status
4. Click Save
5. Click Exit View Editor

Summary

You have learnt how to create a new Gantt View and where they may be useful in your Gridfox Projects.

For more details on Gantt Views, make sure to check out the help guide.