Graphical View
Along with the table view and the detail view, a graphical view is available for you to use when processing projects. This Graphic
subview of the project structure visualizes schedule-related information about the project elements in the form of a Gantt chart. You can obtain information about a project element by positioning your mouse on the corresponding bar. If required, you can also display additional phase or task information, such as name, status or constraints, directly in the bar chart. By moving, lengthening, or shortening a bar, you can change the start and finish, as well as the duration, of the corresponding project element. You can shift or delete constraints directly on the chart. Additionally, you can maintain relationships between tasks. Any changes or deletions are reflected on the Detail
and Table
subviews.
Note
You cannot make any changes if you have opened a snapshot.
If you want to display additional phase and task information in the graphical view of your projects, you have activated the user interface setting 0021 Display Additional Information on Gantt Chart
in Customizing for SAP Portfolio and Project Management
under .
You can choose which view of the calendar you want the system to display in the graphic from the View
dropdown box. If you select the Overview
view, the system automatically uses the calendar view that best suits the duration of the project. The view does not contain the dates from the object links.
If you select , the graphic is displayed exactly from the start to the end of the project. With the view Date Range
, you can restrict the displayed time frame to the given dates.
When you select a project element in the structure, the system automatically positions the calendar in such a way that the start of the project element appears at the left edge.
The Navigate
button allows you to specify the section of the project you want the graphic to display.
The Settings
pushbutton opens a dialog box where you can set a start and finish date. This date range first restricts the displayed graphic when the view Date Range
is selected. In addition, the date range takes effect in the print preview. Moreover, you can make the following settings for printing here:
By choosing the checkboxes Horizontal
or Vertical
, you can restrict the print preview to the currently visible part vertically or horizontally. The horizontal restriction applies to the table part and the graphic part. If a date range was specified this is deciding for the graphic part.
By choosing Display Header
or Display Footer
, you can define whether a header or a footer shall be displayed in the print preview.
Note
You can influence the content of the header and the footer by implementing the BAdI DPR_GANTT
.
By choosing Repeat Tree and Timescale
, you can define whether you want to repeat the project structure (table part) or the timeline header (graphic part) on each page.
By choosing Display Border
, you can select a border around the graphic.
By modifying the data in the Title
field, you can adapt the title of the print preview.
In the dropdown menu Print Graphic
, you select Print
to print the current project. You select Print Preview
to set print parameters and display the current appearance of the graphic for printing. If no restrictions have been made using the Settings
dialog box, the entire duration of the project and all displayed rows are printed.
If you want to create a title for the printout, you can change the header of the graphical view. The system expands all subtrees of the project structure in the structure tree by default. You can restrict the expansion of the subtrees to certain levels by selecting the required level in the Expand Subtree
dropdown box (for example, Expand to Level 2
). The setting you make is automatically saved and applies the next time you call the graphic.
In the table part of the graphic, the column with the project hierarchy is always displayed on the left. You can change the order of the other columns using drag and drop and you can change the width of all columns. The changes are automatically saved for your user.
You can compare the current project with a simulation, snapshot, or forecasted dates by choosing Compare
. The system displays a popup from which you can select the available object types. The value None
is selected by default. The system displays two bars: the upper bar indicates the source object and the lower bar which is shaded indicates the target object. You can carry out all functions that are possible in the graphical view (such as drag and drop) for the source object. You cannot edit the target object.
You can also compare a project version with an operational project, a simulation, a snapshot, or the forecasted dates.
You can use the column Deviation
to check whether the source task finishes early, on time, or late compared to the target task. You can use the columns Version Start
and Version Finish
to monitor the time line of the version. You can use the columns Forecasted Start
and Forecasted Finish
to compare the dates of the source project with forecasted dates.
For more information, see Reconciliation and Comparison of Versions. To access the Compare screen, choose Show Comparison
.
If you use object links and have specified a date type in the user settings (see Making User Settings), the linked SAP objects are displayed as separate bars. You can also specify in the user settings which columns are displayed in the table part of the graphic.
Tasks that you have marked as milestones are indicated by
(Milestone
). If the milestone task has a duration greater than 0, the milestone icon is displayed at the start date of the task. For more information, see Dates and Work.
Tasks with a buffer less than or equal to 0 are part of the critical path. These are displayed in red unless they have already been marked as milestones. If the task is only part of the critical path due to the must start on
or must finish on
constraints, it is displayed in yellow.
Tasks with duration 0 are represented in the same way in the graphic as tasks with duration 1.
You can determine the degree of processing of a task by looking at the degree to which the corresponding bar in the graphic is filled.
Checklists do not appear in the graphic. Checklist items are marked as
(Checklist Item
).
Scheduling conflicts are highlighted in red in the graphical view. Every project that causes a corresponding message is highlighted. The highlighting is visible until the end of the session or the next scheduling takes place. Therefore, project elements can still be highlighted after conflicts have been resolved if the user is working with manual scheduling. You can deactivate this function in the user settings. This function is only available if the complete project is open.
If you have enabled the display of additional information on the Gantt chart (see Prerequisites
), phase and task information, such as status, name, or constraints, can be displayed directly on the Gantt chart. On the Graphic
tab page of your user settings, you decide which information you want to display (see Making User Settings). The information selected is displayed as text next to the bar of the corresponding task or phase.
Note
This function is only supported in the Graphic
subview of individual projects. The additional project information is not displayed in the multi-project monitor, or when you compare the planned project data to a simulation, a snapshot, or the forecasted dates in the Graphic
subview of a project.
You can change the duration by selecting the date bar and lengthening or shortening it.
If the constraints must start on
or must finish on
are set for the start and finish, you can only adjust the duration by changing the constraint dates. If you use the constraints finish no earlier than
or finish no later than
, you can only adjust the duration in line with the constraints that are set. Changing the duration here has the same effect as changing the duration in the detail view.
Example
The following constraints are defined for a task: Must start on
January 26 and finish no later than
March 11, duration 46 days. You can reduce the duration of the task, for example, to 30 days. When you increase the duration of a task, the system permits a maximum of the duration specified by the constraint on the finish.
You can move a constraint (Must start on
, Must finish on
, Start no earlier than
, or Finish no later than
, for example) directly in the bar chart by selecting the constraint information and shifting the constraint element to the desired point in time.
You can delete a constraint from the bar chart by selecting the corresponding function from the context menu of the constraint information.
You can move a project element without changing the duration by placing the mouse pointer on the bar and moving the bar to the left or right holding down the mouse button.
When you move a project element, the system automatically sets the constraint must start on
if the constraint must finish on
has not already been set.
The system calculates the duration of the project element automatically from the start and finish. You can change the duration within the time frame of the constraint dates, as described above.
Note
If the constraint must finish on
is set, the system updates the finish of the project element when it moves it.
If the constraint must start on
is set, the system updates the start of the project element when it moves it.
If both constraints are set, the system updates the start and the finish of the project element when it moves it.
You can also change the dates by selecting a project element in the structure and choosing Specify Dates
.
Alternatively, you can change the dates by choosing Detail
in the context menu of the bar. A dialog box appears that contains the first four tabs of the detail view (Basic Data
, Dates and Work
, Additional Data
, and Notes
). If customized to do so, the system also displays a tab containing custom fields. All data contained in these tabs can be viewed and changed on the tab containing the custom fields.
You can create a relationship. To do this, choose one of the following options:
Choose the Create Relationship
node in the context menu of the bar that is to be the predecessor in the relationship and pull the joining line to the start of the successor with the mouse button held down.
Hold the Alt key down and pull a joining line from the predecessor to the successor.
After creation, you can change the link type in the context menu of the relationship. The type of relationship can only be changed once the link to the subsequent task has been created.
To delete a relationship, choose Delete Relationship
from the context menu.
To edit a relationship, choose Edit Relationship
from the context menu.
You can change all attributes in the dialog box. If you only want to change the relationship type, you can do this from the context menu.