Planning Work Packages on the Gantt

When to use Gantt view

The Gantt chart shows your Work Packages and sub-packages as bars on a horizontal timeline. It's the right view whenever you want to think about dates rather than rows.

Open Gantt when you're:

• Building a programme for a new job and want to see how the pieces fit together
• Spotting overlaps and clashes before they bite you on site
• Reshuffling the schedule because something has slipped
• Showing a client or QS what the planned timeline looks like

Switch to it from the view toggle in the top-right by clicking Gantt. Your browser remembers the choice for next time.

What you'll see on the chart

The chart is laid out so you can read it without much explanation:

• Each row is a Work Package, with its sub-packages appearing as their own rows underneath
• Each bar shows the planned start and end dates of a piece of work
• The colour of the bar matches the status — so In Progress looks different to Blocked
• Connecting lines between bars show the dependencies you've set up
• A vertical line marks where today sits on the timeline

Hover over any bar to see a tooltip with the name, dates, and status follow your cursor.

Zooming in and out

Use the zoom controls above the chart to fit more or less of the timeline on screen.

• + zooms in for finer control when you're dragging bars around
• – zooms out so you can see more of the project at once
• Reset returns you to 100%

You can zoom anywhere between 50% and 200%. A lower zoom is good for getting an overview of a long job, a higher zoom is good for fine scheduling on individual days.

Switching between day and week

The Day / Week toggle above the chart changes how the timeline columns are sized.

• Day shows individual day columns and is best for short jobs or precise scheduling
• Week condenses things down and is best for projects that run over many months

Pick whichever matches the level of detail you need.

Dragging bars to reschedule

The fastest way to reshuffle work is to grab the bars directly.

1. 1

   Click and hold the middle of a bar to move the whole thing along the timeline. The duration stays the same — only the dates shift.

2. 2

   To resize a bar instead, grab either edge. Dragging the left edge changes the start date, and dragging the right edge changes the end date.

3. 3

   Release the mouse and the new dates save automatically.

Creating a new Work Package straight from the chart

You don't need to switch back to the table to add a new Work Package — Gantt has a quick create flow built in.

1. 1

   Click an empty area of the chart at roughly the date you want the work to start.

2. 2

   The Create Work Package dialog opens with the start date pre-filled from the column you clicked.

3. 3

   Fill in the name and any other details, then click Create.

The new Work Package appears on the chart at the date you picked, ready to drag around if you need to fine-tune it.

Dependency lines

When two pieces of work are linked by a dependency, you'll see a connecting line drawn between them on the chart. The direction of the line matches the dependency type — a finish-to-start link, for example, runs from the end of one bar to the start of the next.

You can't create dependencies on the Gantt itself — for that, head to the Dependencies tab on the Work Package detail page. Once a dependency is set up, the line shows up here.

Real-world examples

• Programme kick-off — drop in your first cut of Work Packages by clicking on the timeline, then drag them around as the picture firms up
• Slip recovery — when a sub-package finishes late, drag the dependents along the bar to absorb the slip and see whether the project end is at risk
• Pre-start meeting — switch to Week granularity, zoom out to fit the whole job, and walk through the timeline with your client

Next steps

• Scheduling and rescheduling — for the date-adjustment dialog and the inline timeline on the detail page.
• Dependencies — to set up the links that draw the connecting lines.
• Creating Work Packages — for the full create flow including click-to-create from Gantt.