Gantt Chart
A Gantt chart is a bar chart that presents schedule information with activities listed on the vertical axis, dates shown on the horizontal axis, and activity durations shown as horizontal bars placed according to start and finish dates.
Explanation
The Gantt chart, also known as a bar chart, is the most widely used format for presenting and communicating the project schedule. Named after Henry Gantt, who popularized it in the early 20th century, the chart provides a visual representation of when activities start, how long they last, and when they finish. The horizontal axis represents the project timeline, and each activity is shown as a bar spanning from its start date to its finish date.
Modern Gantt charts often include additional information such as dependency relationships (shown as arrows between bars), milestones (shown as diamonds or special symbols), the critical path (highlighted in a different color), progress indicators (showing percentage complete), and the schedule baseline (shown as a secondary bar for comparison). This makes them powerful tools for schedule communication and tracking.
Gantt charts are particularly useful for stakeholder communication because they are intuitive and easy to understand, even for people without project management expertise. However, for very large projects with hundreds or thousands of activities, Gantt charts can become unwieldy. In such cases, summary-level Gantt charts showing work packages or phases rather than individual activities may be more appropriate.
Key Points
- •Bar chart with activities on the vertical axis and time on the horizontal axis
- •Most widely used schedule presentation format
- •Can show dependencies, milestones, critical path, and progress
- •Intuitive for stakeholder communication
Exam Tip
Gantt charts are sometimes called bar charts on the exam. They show schedule information visually but are most useful for communication, not for calculating the critical path (use the network diagram for that).
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Topics
Milestone Chart
A milestone chart is a schedule presentation that identifies only the start or completion of major deliverables and key external interfaces, displaying milestones on a timeline.
Schedule Baseline
The schedule baseline is the approved version of the schedule model that is used as a basis for comparison with actual results to determine if corrective or preventive action is needed.
Develop Schedule
Develop Schedule is the process of analyzing activity sequences, durations, resource requirements, and schedule constraints to create the project schedule model for project execution, monitoring, and controlling.
Critical Path
The critical path is the longest sequence of activities in a project schedule network diagram that determines the shortest possible project duration.
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