Gantt Chart

Learn how to create a Gantt chart in Power BI to manage project timelines and task dependencies. Visualize progress and milestones for better project planning and delivery.

Why Gantt charts are essential for project planning

Turn plans into progress with the Analytics+ Gantt

Analytics+ ships with the best-in-class Gantt chart for Power BI, designed to visualize, communicate, and track project progress. With the fully customizable Gantt chart, you can

• Plan projects by breaking work into tasks with defined start and end dates

• Gantt charts make it easy to see which tasks block others and anticipate delays.

• Stakeholders get a clear view of what’s on track, at risk, or delayed.

• Assign resources to tasks and balance workloads across teams.

• Track key deliverables, approvals, and checkpoints.

Gantt chart in Analytics+

• The multi-level timeline enables capturing progress at a detailed level.

• Use connectors to visualize project-level dependencies.

• Apply conditional formatting to quickly identify status/risks.

• Track process completion with milestones and custom reference lines.

Gantt chart features

Quick start guide to building a Gantt chart

Let's look at how to build a Gantt chart with Analytics+. The data used to plot the Gantt is shown below.

Gantt sample data

STEP 1: Select the Gantt option from the landing page. You'll notice that there is an additional Gantt fields visual parameter. You can add Gantt-related dimensions like the start/end dates, milestones, connectors, and tasks/subtasks associated with the project.

Gantt fields

STEP 2: Let's map the basic fields required for a Gantt - the tasks involved in a project and the start and end dates for the tasks. Please bear in mind that the start and end dates have to be added to the Gantt fields parameter. You can then map the Start date and End date in the Pivot data window.

Map basic Gantt fields

STEP 3: Next, we'll break down the Development/Design/Requirements by adding the Sub Task field. Click the icon to expand the tasks and display all the related sub-tasks.

Adding sub tasks

STEP 4: Once we've determined the tasks and subtasks, we need to know the actual progress of each category. Let's add Progress to the Value parameter and map it in the Pivot data window. You'll be able to see the progress made for each subtask as well as the overall progress made for each task.

Displaying the progress

STEP 5: As part of tracking, it is critical to determine who is responsible for each task/subtask. Let's assign the Resource Name to the Gantt fields parameter and map it in the Pivot Data window.

You can also use the Gantt resource chart to determine workload distribution and allocation. Learn more about Gantt resource charts.

Assigning resources

STEP 6: You can display additional dimensions and measures by adding them to the Display category and Display measure data wells. To demonstrate this, let's display the progress status value in our Gantt.

Add extra context with measures/dimensions

STEP 7: Capturing milestones is a major part of planning and project tracking. You can add milestones to the Gantt Fields parameter and display them in the progress bars.

Learn more about milestones in Gantt charts

Adding milestones

STEP 8: Interdependencies are inevitable in any project. It is important to capture dependencies for proper planning. Add connector lines by assigning data to the Connect to field.

Learn more about connectors.

Connector lines to show dependencies

STEP 9: We can capture sprints of phases in the project with reference lines. Since Gantt charts are timeline-based, you can choose between the following options:

• first-of-date: The earliest date plotted in the Gantt.

• last-of-date: The latest date plotted in the Gantt.

• Today: Current date

• Custom date: Select a date from the date picker.

Learn more about analytics in Gantt charts

In this case, we've plotted a reference line for the current date and additional reference lines that signify the end of each phase in the project.

Reference lines for Gantt charts

We'll also highlight the initial planning phase with a reference band by choosing the Custom Date Range option.

Adding a reference band in a Gantt chart

STEP 10: Tracking the planned start and end dates is required to maintain deadlines and compare progress between the actual and planned dates. Let's add the planned dates and map them to the respective buckets in the pivot data window.

Planned start and end dates

STEP 11: Now, let's beautify our Gantt chart a little bit. We'll open Canvas settings to change the appearance of the progress bars and milestones. Learn more about Canvas settings for Gantt charts.

Changing the appearance of the Gantt

Migrating from xViz Gantt charts to Analytics+

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Access the detailed guide with step-by-step settings paths and a PBIX demo report for comprehensive configuration examples between xViz and Analytics+.

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