Gantt chart - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gantt_chart

Gantt chart
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart, developed by Henry Gantt in the 1910s, that illustrates a project schedule. Gantt charts illustrate the start and finish dates of the terminal elements and summary elements of a project. Terminal elements and summary elements comprise the work breakdown structure of the project. Some Gantt charts also show the dependency (i.e. precedence network) relationships between activities. Gantt charts can be used to show current schedule status using percent-complete shadings and a vertical "TODAY" line as shown here. Although now regarded as a common charting technique, Gantt charts were considered revolutionary when first introduced.[1] In recognition of Henry Gantt's contributions, the Henry Laurence Gantt Medal is awarded for distinguished achievement in management and in community service. This chart is also used in information technology to represent data that has been collected.

A Gantt chart showing three kinds of schedule dependencies (in red) and percent complete indications.

Contents
1 Historical development 2 Advantages and limitations 3 Example 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

Historical development
The first known tool of this type was developed in 1896 by Karol Adamiecki, who called it a harmonogram. Adamiecki published his chart in 1931, however, only in Polish, which limited both its adoption and recognition of his authorship. The chart is named after Henry Gantt (18611919), who designed his chart around the years 19101915.[2][3] One of the first major applications of Gantt charts was during World War I. On the initiative of General William Crozier, then Chief of Ordnance these included that of the Emergency Fleet, the Shipping Board, etc.[4] In the 1980s, personal computers allowed for widespread creation of complex and elaborate Gantt charts. The first desktop applications were intended mainly for project managers and project schedulers. With the advent of the Internet and increased collaboration over networks at the end of the 1990s, Gantt charts became a common feature of web-based applications, including collaborative groupware.

Advantages and limitations

Gantt charts have become a common technique for representing the phases and activities of a project work breakdown structure (WBS), so they can be understood by a wide audience all over the world. The technique is frequently used in Project Management to help breakdown the project.[5] A common error made by those who equate Gantt chart design with project design is that they attempt to define the project work breakdown structure at the same time that they define scheduled activities. This practice makes it very difficult to follow the 100% Rule. Instead the WBS should be fully defined to follow the 100% Rule,[6] then the project schedule can be designed.[7]

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Gantt chart - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Although a Gantt chart is useful and valuable for small projects that fit on a single sheet or screen, they can become quite unwieldy for projects with more than about 30 activities.[citation needed] Larger Gantt charts may not be suitable for most computer displays. A related criticism is that Gantt charts communicate relatively little information per unit area of display. That is, projects are often considerably more complex than can be communicated effectively with a Gantt chart. Gantt charts only represent part of the triple constraints (cost, time and scope) on projects, because they focus primarily on schedule management. Moreover, Gantt charts do not represent the size of a project or the relative size of work elements, therefore the magnitude of a behind-schedule condition is easily miscommunicated. If two projects are the same number of days behind schedule, the larger project has a larger effect on resource utilization, yet the Gantt does not represent this difference.
[citation needed]

Although project management software can show schedule dependencies as lines between activities, displaying a large number of dependencies may result in a cluttered or unreadable chart. Because the horizontal bars of a Gantt chart have a fixed height, they can misrepresent the time-phased workload (resource requirements) of a project, which may cause confusion especially in large projects. In the example shown in this article, Activities E and G appear to be the same size, but in reality they may be different orders of magnitude. A related criticism is that all activities of a Gantt chart show planned workload as constant. In practice, many activities (especially summary elements) have front-loaded or back-loaded work plans, so a Gantt chart with percent-complete shading may actually miscommunicate the true schedule performance status.

Example
In the following example there are seven tasks, labeled A through G. Some tasks can be done concurrently (A and B) while others cannot be done until their predecessor task is complete (C cannot begin until A is complete). Additionally, each task has three time estimates: the optimistic time estimate (O), the most likely or normal time estimate (M), and the pessimistic time estimate (P). The expected time (TE) is computed using the beta probability distribution for the time estimates, using the formula (O + 4M + P) 6.

Activity Predecessor A B C D E F G A A B, C D E

Time estimates Opt. (O) Normal (M) Pess. (P) 2 3 4 4 4 3 3 4 5 5 6 5 4 5 6 9 7 10 7 8 8

Expected time 4.00 5.33 5.17 6.33 5.17 4.50 5.17

Once this step is complete, one can draw a Gantt chart or a network diagram.

A Gantt chart created using Microsoft Project (MSP). Note (1) the critical path is in red, (2) the slack is the black lines connected to

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Gantt chart - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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non-critical activities, (3) since Saturday and Sunday are not work days and are thus excluded from the schedule, some bars on the Gantt chart are longer if they cut through a weekend.

See also
Critical path method List of project management software which includes specific Gantt Chart software. PRINCE2 Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) Henry Gantt Float_(project_management)

References
1. ^ Wilson, James M. (1 September 2003). "Gantt charts: A centenary appreciation" (http://www-public.it-sudparis.eu/~gibson/Teaching /CSC7003/ReadingMaterial/Wilson03.pdf) (pdf). European Journal of Operational Research 149 (2). doi: 10.1016/S0377-2217(02)00769-5 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2FS0377-2217%2802%2900769-5). Retrieved 2013-07-28. 2. ^ H.L. Gantt, Work, Wages and Profit, published by The Engineering Magazine, New York, 1910; republished as Work, Wages and Profits, Easton, Pennsylvania, Hive Publishing Company, 1974, ISBN 0-87960-048-9. 3. ^ Peter W. G. Morris, The Management of Projects, Thomas Telford, 1994, ISBN 0-7277-2593-9, Google Print, p.18 (http://books.google.com/books?id=5ekyoWaeZ1UC&pg=PA18-IA7&dq=Adamiecki+Gantt&as_brr=3& sig=xe_RAipoqlvhnu0xLkIsxx-8OAQ) 4. ^ Wallace Clark and Henry Gantt (1922) The Gantt chart, a working tool of management (http://www.archive.org/details /ganttchartworkin00claruoft). New York, Ronald Press. 5. ^ "Online Gantt Chart" (http://www.projectmanager.com/onlineganttchart.php). ProjectManager.com. Retrieved 3 July 2013. 6. ^ "The 100% Rule - Work Breakdown Structure" (https://www.workbreakdownstructure.com/100-percent-rule-work-breakdownstructure.php). Retrieved 2013-06-10. 7. ^ Project Management Institute (2003). A Guide To The Project Management Body Of Knowledge (3rd ed. ed.). Project Management Institute. ISBN 1-930699-45-X.

External links
Long-running discussion (http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=000076&topic_id=1& topic=Ask%20E%2eT%2e) regarding limitations of the Gantt chart format, and alternatives, on Edward Tufte's website Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gantt_chart&oldid=572352391" Categories: Project management Planning This page was last modified on 10 September 2013 at 14:54. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

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