Activity center — Gantt tab

Availability

Overview

Opening a Gantt view

To enable the Gantt view:

1. Go to the Activity center.

2. Click Gantt.

Granularity

The Gantt view comes in four granularity settings:

• Daily,

• Weekly,

• Monthly,

• Yearly.

Showing a critical path

Critical path activities are marked with a thick red line on top and have a pinky coloring.

To display a critical path:

1. Click .

2. Turn on the Critical path toggle.

Showing a baseline

The baseline is shown as a thick black line running along the bottom side of projects and activities.

To show baselines:

1. Click .

2. Turn on the Baseline toggle.

Gantt view conventions

To make it easier for you to work with the Gantt view, the following key conventions are used to help identify various objects as they are displayed on the Gantt view:

The current day/week/month/year are identified by purple print.
Projects and activities with duration only are moved to the left end of the project. Their progress, if specified, is indicated only as a numerical value in brackets beneath the graphical representation after the name.
Projects and activities with start date or end date. The progress is not shown graphically, only numerical value is given in brackets.
Projects with activities, and activities with sub-activities are shown with a thick line running along their top side as a visual aid to tell them apart from "single" projects and activities.
The color used for milestones is beige. Accordingly, the progress of a milestone is shown as a dark beige portion starting off from the left-hand edge which length is the same percentage of the total length of the bar as the progress of the milestone.
When the mouse pointer is close enough to a project or activity on the Gantt, two "handles" appear on both of its sides. These can be used to change its start or end date by drag-and-dropping or move the entire bar along the timeline. However, if there are restrictions in place, such as dependency, sub-activity, etc., drag-and-dropping may not take effect. In such a case, try to identify a possible reason for any "unexpected" behavior before reporting it as a bug.
Dependencies are shown as arrows connecting start and end dates in accordance with the type of dependency. You can set a dependency using the "handles".

Navigation

The Gantt view in the Activity center is interactive insofar as it allows you to build dependencies and change the position of projects and activities on the timeline.

To move a project or activity to another position on the timeline:

1. Place the mouse pointer in the middle of the activity to be moved, press and hold the button.

2. Drag the bar representing the activity to a new location without releasing the left button.

3. Release the button to "drop" the activity at the new location.

To change the start date or end date of an activity:

1. Place the mouse pointer at the left- or right-hand extremity of the activity you want modified.

2. Drag the edge to the desired date on the time line holding down the left button.

3. Release the button.

To set a dependency between two activities:

1. Place the mouse pointer on the activity you want to make dependent on another until two "handles" appear on both ends ().

2. Drag one of the handles to the start or the end of the target activity. 

   • Option 1: Activity 1 start -> Activity 2 start. Result: Dependency start to start ("Activity 2 starts when Act 2 starts").
   • Option 2: Activity 1 start -> Activity 2 end. Result: Dependency start to finish ("Activity 2 finishes when Act 2 starts").
   • Option 3: Activity 1 end -> Activity 2 start. Result: Dependency finish to start ("Activity 2 starts when Act 2 finishes").
   • If a dependency of the intended type can be set, you will see a handle in a black circle linked with a dashed line. Releasing the button now will set a dependency.
   • If a dependency of the intended type CANNOT be set, you will see a warning message about the same.

3. The dependency will be represented by a polygonal arrow with its end connecting to the dependent activity. See Manage dependencies to learn more.

Dependency can be set

Dependency cannot be set 

Editing and removing dependencies

To edit or remove a dependency:

1. Click the polygonal arrow that represents the dependency you want to edit/remove. The dependency editing screen will appear.

2. To edit the dependency, make changes as required and click Save.

3. To remove it, click Remove dependency.

Project and activity details

To access a project or activity details:

1. Adjust the project/activity's position in the chart area to make sure its name, or any clickable part of it, is visible.

2. Click the name of the project/activity.

3. Go to the details as the panel opens on the right.

Undo button

The changes that you make while working on the Gantt tab are undoable. That is to say, Birdview keeps a log of such changes and allows you to undo them. When an undoable change occurs — e.g. a dependency is set — the Undo button appears on the tab bar.

• The button can undo one action at a time.
• To check out the last action to be cancelled, use the tooltip associated with the button, as shown:

• You can continue undoing actions on the undo list, until the button disappears indicating that no more undoable actions are available.
• Check out the undo limitations below to make sure when the button cannot be expected to appear.  

Undoable actions

If you've made a mistake it is possible to undo your last action while managing dependencies on the Gantt tab. Please note that the undo action is only available within the current session (before the page has been refreshed or Birdview has been re-signed in). 

To undo an action:

1. Click .
2. Last recorded undoable action will be cancelled. 

The following actions related to dependencies can be undone, providing the undo limitations are met (see below):

Undo limitations/capabilities

• Actions can only be undone within the current session (before the user refreshes the browser page or logs back into the system).
• The Undo button cancels the current user's own actions only (for example, user 1 edited name of Task 1 to Task 2, then user 2 edited the same name to Task 3. If user 1 then clicks Undo, the name will revert to Task 1).
• An action can be undone even if the user has performed any non-undoable action afterward (e.g., a user edited task name and then its estimated hours. If the user then clicks Undo, the name will be returned by its previous value, but the hours will remain the same).
• Multiple actions can be undone in a reverse sequence (starting from the most recent).
• A tooltip on the Undo button carries a message about the action that will be reversed on the next click.
• If, for some reason, it’s impossible to undo an action, the system will return an error message (for example, a user edited the task name. At the same time, someone else deleted the task. If the first user clicks the Undo button, the system will show an error message).