You can access the Gantt view for a project via the Gantt View button on the Project Explorer ribbon.
This will open the Gantt View interface in its own window.
Any task initially added to a Gantt Chart is considered a "Planning Task" and is not the same as a Task in SI used for scheduling. However, SI tasks can be created from planning tasks.
Add or Insert Tasks
Both the Add and Insert menus provide similar functionality, except that:
The Add option has an option to add a subtask.
The Add option adds the task to the end of the list, whereas the Insert option inserts the task above or below the selected task.
All the examples in this article use the Add option.
Add a Task
When you add or insert a task to the Gantt view, its name defaults to "Task [X]" where "X" is the next available number in the list.
In the example above, you can see that the duration was 8 hrs, which is the default value in the Task settings in the Control Panel.
You can manually edit the Duration field and Start and End dates directly in the Gantt View grid. You can enter your duration in hours or days.
Task durations also factor in the weekdays, weekends, and holidays specified in the Business Hours and Holidays setting and will span the chart accordingly.
Create Summary Tasks
You can use the Indent button to create summary tasks. A summary task is any task with at least one other task indented beneath it (a subtask) in the grid.
A summary task cannot be converted to an SI task.
The duration of a summary task is the sum of the durations of all its subtasks (those indented beneath it) and depends on the start dates and the Business Hours and Holidays settings.
Example: In the example below, Task 2, with a duration of 2 days, and Task 3, with a duration of 1 day, were indented, and now Task 1 is a summary task.
Notice that the summary task has a duration of 2 days.
This is because the start date for the subtasks has not yet been set, and each subtask is set to start on the same day.
In the screenshot below, Task 3 was dragged to next week, and the summary task's duration is now 4 days. This is because the start date of Task 3 is after the weekend, and the weekend was ignored as per the Business Hours and Holidays settings.
Define Tasks
You can do the following to define tasks
Add Predecessors
A "Predecessor" is an indicator you add to a task to signal that it depends on a previous task. The task that is a dependency is called the "Predecessor task," and the dependent task is called the "Successor task."
Predecessors can be of different types.
Finish-to-Start (FS) - The predecessor task must finish before the successor task can start.
Start-to-Start (SS) - The predecessor task must start before the successor task can start.
Finish-to-Finish (FF) - The predecessor task must finish before the successor task can finish.
Start-to-Finish (SF) - The predecessor task must start before the successor task can finish.
In SI, you can add any of the four types of predecessors. To add a predecessor, you need at least 2 planning tasks.
To add a predecessor:
1/Click in the Predecessors cell of the task for which you want to add the predecessor, and click the gray button on the right side.
This will open a dialog with the following columns to add predecessors.
Column | Description |
Name | Select the name of the predecessor task from the dropdown. |
Row Number | The row number of the predecessor task is automatically populated. |
Type | Select the predecessor type from the dropdown: FS, SS, FF, or SF. |
Lag | Add the lag time for the successor task to start after the predecessor task has started or finished, based on the predecessor type you selected.
This is added in days or hours as follows:
|
2/ Add the predecessor(s), and click Select.
If you have at least one predecessor in the list of planning tasks for a project, the Predecessors column will change to Predecessors (With Lag).
The following screenshot shows three tasks, numbered 1, 2, and 3. We added two FS predecessors for Task 3: Task 2 with a 1-day lag and Task 1 with a 4-day lag. So, the Predecessors (With Lag) column for Task 3 reads "2FS+1d, 1FS+4d.
Show Successors
If you want to see the successor values (in terms of the lag) for the predecessor tasks, select Display Successors in the Options group on the ribbon.
You will see a new column "Successors" with the successor values.
Mark as Milestone
Any task can be marked as a "Milestone" by checking the box in the grid. A milestone can be useful to mark achievements.
Milestones technically don't have a duration and are denoted by a diamond shape on the Gantt Chart. When you check the box to make a task a milestone, the duration value will not change, but you can manually set it to zero if needed.
Milestones cannot be converted to an SI task.
Assign Resources
You can assign resources to tasks in the Gantt view. The resources are listed under your users in SI.
Mark % Complete
This is the last manually editable field in the Gantt view. This field synchronizes to and from planning tasks converted to SI tasks.
Add Tasks from Projects
You can add tasks from a project's list of phases, systems, and locations to the Gantt view.
You can add up to three levels, but you can choose only one.
When you add multiple selections, the previous level will be created as summary tasks.
You can always change this via the Indent and Outdent functionality once they have been added to the Gantt view interface.
In the next step, you choose which items from your levels you want to add to the Gantt view, and you can position them in any order you choose using the Move Up arrow and the Move Down arrow.
Notice that the hours for each item are displayed. If you have chosen more than one level, there will be multiple tabs for you to make your selections.
The final step is to verify your selections, then click Finish.
Budgeted Hours
When these are added to the Gantt view, notice that the Budgeted Hours column is populated with the hours from the project. This field is read-only and can be used for reference when adjusting your duration.
Phase, System, and Location
These columns are read-only and serve as a reference that the tasks were created from project data; if you rename the tasks, they will still be referenced.
Add Tasks from Checklists
A powerful feature of the Gantt view interface is the ability to use your own custom Checklists to add or insert a list of tasks.
In the next step, you can choose the items you want to add to the Gantt view.
Click the Finish button when you're ready, and your selections from the checklist will be added to the Gantt view's task list.
Notice that, in this example, the checklist hierarchy was respected, and the "Rough-In" task was created as a summary task.
If any of the items on the checklist were assigned a role, the planning task added to the Gantt view will be assigned to the resource matching the role within the project.
Add Tasks from a Gantt Template
You can add the tasks created in a Gantt template in the Control Panel.
Check out this article for more details.
Click From Gantt Template when adding or inserting a task.
You will see a modal to select the Gantt template. Select a template and click Next in the lower-right corner. You will see an option to set the start date for the tasks in the template. The following are the options:
Today - set the start date to the current date.
Select Date - select a start date from the date selector.
Add "X" days to the last task date - set the start date of the first task in the template "X" days after the end date of the last task currently in the Gantt view.
Once you have set the start date, click Finish.
Move and Copy Tasks
You can move or copy selected planning tasks (one or multiple at a time) once they've been added to the Gantt view.
Once you select the planning task you want to move or copy, click the appropriate button, and a form similar to the one shown below will be displayed.
Choose a task position and then choose to move, or copy, above or below.
Round the Duration of Tasks
You can round the duration of one or more tasks by selecting them and clicking Round Duration in the Round section of the ribbon. You will see a modal with various rounding options.
Mass Update Tasks
You can update multiple properties of multiple tasks in the Gantt view.
1/ Select the tasks using the Ctrl or Shift keys on the keyboard.
2/ Click Mass Update in the Update section of the ribbon.
You will see a modal to update the predecessors, resources, milestone, and % complete.
Print Tasks
You can print all the tasks in the Gantt view by clicking Print in the ribbon. All columns shown in the Gantt view will be printed, and the SI Task column will show a checkbox.
Find Tasks in Chart
You can click a task on the left and click Find in Chart in the ribbon to see exactly where the task is in the chart.
Convert Gantt Tasks to SI Tasks
You can convert any planning task in the Gantt view to an SI task to schedule work. Summary tasks and milestones cannot be converted to SI tasks.
Select the tasks you want to convert and click the Convert button.
You will see a message similar to the one shown below, letting you know what will happen.
Once you save the Gantt view, the tasks will be created as SI tasks. If resources have been assigned to the task, these assignments will sync to the SI task.
If you attempt to convert a planning task with predecessors associated with it but have not chosen the predecessor tasks, you will be notified that the predecessor tasks will also be converted to SI tasks.
When you click Yes on the message above, the selected tasks now display with a checkmark in the SI Task column, but they do not yet exist in SI and won't be created until you save the Gantt view.
Once you save the Gantt view, the planning tasks will be created as SI asks, and the SI Number column will display the SI task number.
The SI Task Status field will also populate. This read-only field syncs from the SI task to the Gantt view.
One additional feature is available when converting planning tasks to SI tasks from planning tasks added to the project. Since these tasks comprise stand-alone or combined groupings (phase/system/location), you will be prompted whether or not you want all of the corresponding items from the project to be added to the SI tasks automatically.
Quick Filter
There is a Quick Filter feature that lets you filter planning tasks by duration or budgeted hours.
Export Gantt View Tasks
You can export the Gantt View of tasks to Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Project.
Microsoft Excel
Click Export to Excel in the Export section of the ribbon. You will see that an Excel file will be downloaded to your computer with all tasks listed in the Gantt view.
Microsoft Project
Click Export to MS Project in the Export section of the ribbon to export the Gantt View to a new MS Project file.
You will need to have MS Project installed and open when exporting.
You will need to select an SI project whose tasks you want to export.
A new project will be created in MS Project.














