Class 4 Chart Types 

The Gantt chart and milestone trend analysis (MTA) chart types belong to class 4.

Gantt Chart

In a Gantt chart, you can illustrate the time progression of projects and their substeps. You can also group these substeps in categories.

The time is displayed on the X axis and the substeps and categories are displayed on the Y axis. If you created categories, all substeps are displayed separately for each category on the Y axis.

You can display the time in days or you can use start and end times:

●     Start Date

●     Start Time

●     End Date

●     End Time

All combinations of start and end points are supported:

●     Start Date & End Date

●     Start Date & Start Time & End Date

●     Start Time & End Time

If you select Start Time as the start point, the system uses the current data as the Start Date.

If you select Start Date or End Date as the start point or end point, the system fills Start Time and End Time with the value 0:00. This is particularly important for the interpretation of end points in the Gantt chart (see below).

Data Provider

You build the table on which a Gantt chart is based as follows:

●     The table must contain at least two data columns. The first column determines the start point; the second column determines the end point.

●     In addition to the start points and end points, categories are also entered in the data columns. You must make at least one entry (data column) for the start point and end point for each category.

Example Table for Gantt Chart

The example illustrates a table for a Gantt chart; it contains three categories and no data for some start and end times. The substeps are the Project Steps: Chart, Object Services, and Web Runtime. The categories are the Work Packages: Concept Creation, Specification, and Solution Validation.

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Example of a Gantt Chart

In the example, the categories Concept Creation, Specification, and Solution Validation are displayed from bottom to top on the Y axis. The substeps are included in accordance with the data in the underlying table, that is, only Chart and Web Runtime are included for the Concept Creation category because no data is specified for the Object Servicessubstep.

The start point and end points for the substeps are displayed on the X axis (month, day).

Milestone Trend Analysis (MTA)

The milestone trend analysis enables you to monitor the contents of the project progression. You define the milestones and can schedule appointments and display any deviations.

The Y axis is defined as the target time axis with the scheduled milestones; the X axis represents the actual time axis. The appointments for project meetings (reporting times) are recorded on this X axis. In these project meetings, for each milestone, each owner is asked about the upcoming fulfillment date. The fulfillment dates named are entered into the chart using the meeting time. A forecast curve is produced for each milestone:

●     If target and actual times coincide, the milestone for the scheduled time has been reached and the forecast curve runs horizontally.

●     If the milestone is moved during the project meetings to a later time, the forecast curve rises.

●     If the milestone is moved during the project meetings to an earlier time, the forecast curve drops.

Data Provider

You build the underlying table for a milestone trend analysis as follows:

●     The table must contain at least two data columns. The first column determines the reporting time; the second column determines the milestone.

●     You can add further pairs of data columns to the table. The table can consist of 2, 4, 6, and so on, data columns.

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Special Features

The milestone trend analysis can also be created without categories, which means it contains data series only.