Easy Project Representation With a Gantt Chart
By: Daiv Russell

Project management is the field of organizing and managing resources (such as people) in a way that the project is completed within the defined scope, quality, time and cost constraints. The construction of a building or implementation of a new computer system are examples of projects that would be managed.

Developing the project plan is at the core of project management. This includes defining the goals and objectives of the project, identifying tasks or how goals will be achieved, the resources required, and specifying budgets. Also it has to be seen that the project is implemented on time and managed according to the plan.

A specialized bar chart is used to give a graphical overview, schedule of all activities or to provide elements and dependencies of a work effort. This is a chart with rectangular bars. The length of each bar is proportional to the value to which it corresponds. You can compare tow or more values with this bar chart. One of such charts is Gantt chart. The final product illustrates the schedule of a project.

The project‘s summary and terminal elements, which combine to form the project‘s internal structure, are shown on the Gantt chart. Many charts will also depict the precedence rankings and dependencies of various tasks within the project.

The initial format of the chart was developed by Henry L. Gantt, hence the name. Henry Gantt created many different charts and inspired many others. The Gantt chart that is popular today was described in 1942 as a layout chart by W. Clark. The use of additional charting lines to show the dependencies between tasks was a much later innovation and did not really become established until the late 1980‘s.

The charts can illustrate the start and finish project terminal elements in project management. It can also show summary elements and terminal dependencies. The smallest task tracked as part of the project effort is known as a terminal element. Gantt chart represents the tasks in most modern project scheduling packages. However other management applications use simpler communication tools such as message boards, to-do lists and simple scheduling etc., therefore, they do not use Gantt charts as heavily.

When creating the chart process, first figure out what the required activities are and list them. Next, draft a preliminary version of the chart. Analyze the dependencies and pencil in the activities. Determine the amount of time in hours that each activity will take. Specify who will accomplish each activity. Then, analyze the total time required.

The purpose of a Gantt chart is to show the start and finish dates of the terminal and summary elements of a project. These elements are the work breakdown structure of the project and may show the precedence and network relationships between the activities in the project.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleJoe.com

Daiv Russell is a management and marketing consultant with Envision Consulting in Tampa, Florida. Consult our www.project-management-course.info/“>Project Management Course Guide or learn more about www.project-management-course.info/Project_Management_Basics.php“>Project Management Basics, and www.gantt-chart.biz/gca/Gantt_Charting.asp“>How to create a Gantt Chart.

Please Rate this Article

5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5 

Not yet Rated