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  View Fit , the graphic is displayed exactly from the start to the end of the project. With the view Date Range, you can restrict the displayed timeframe to the given dates.

In the User Settings, you can define a default view (such as week, month, or fit) that the system will use every time you access the Gantt chart (see Making User Settings).

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:

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.

Choose  Compare Compare ... to compare the current project using one of the following comparison options:

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.

Choose  Compare Exit Comparison Mode to exit the comparison mode.

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 timeline 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.

You can export the project data displayed in the graphical view to a Microsoft Excel file. Choose one of the following export options:

Project data that is hidden by the User Settings function is not exported.

Once you have chosen one of these options, the system generates the Microsoft Excel file. You can open the file directly or save it to your file directory. The display format, options, and limitations correspond to the Microsoft Excel standard functions (for example, outline of rows).

Depending on your user settings and the settings on the Dates and Work tab page of the project definition, the position of the bars in the Gantt chart indicates either the earliest or the latest dates of the project elements. For more information, see Making User Settings as well as Dates and Work.

You can display the date type used for a project next to the project definition bar in the Gantt chart. If required, make the corresponding setting on the Graphic tab page of your user settings under Show Additional Gantt Information (see Making User Settings).

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 how much of a task has been processed by looking at the corresponding bar in the graphic.

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.

Project header, checklist item, phase and task information, such as status, name, or constraints, can be displayed directly in 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.

If enabled in Customizing, you can display constraint icons without additional information (see above under Prerequisites).

The Maximize button allows you to switch to fullscreen mode of the graphical view. This mode provides a subset of the functions that are available for the default mode of the graphical view. In fullscreen mode, you use the Minimize button to switch to the default mode. You can switch between the two modes without loss of data.

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.

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 timeframe of the constraint dates, as described above.

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.

If you have enabled the enhanced display functionality in Customizing, the Dates and Work tab appears as the initial view when the Details window opens (see above under Prerequisites). This Customizing setting also makes the Details option available in the context menu of constraint icons.

You can create a relationship. To do this, choose one of the following options:

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.