Are your team members unclear about their tasks or consistently miss their project goals? Gantt charts help executives schedule projects, keep their team members on track, and delegate tasks responsibly. Download the Ultimate Gantt Collection to sync your employees and increase productivity. The collection includes two types of standard Gantt charts as well as an inventory Gantt chart and a reservation Gantt chart.
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Gantt charts are used by every type of team as an integral component of project management. At a foundational level, Gantt charts are visual representations of activity versus time. They are used to see how long projects will take and monitor resources over a project's lifespan.Tasks to be performed are listed on the vertical axis, while time intervals are placed on the horizontal axis.
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The chart is named after Henry Gantt, who initially used the charts to measure productivity levels for routine operations and to see which employees were performing well and which lagged. The first Gantt charts were written on paper, and the charts had to be redrawn completely whenever an adjustment to the schedule had to be made.
With the charts in the Ultimate Gantt Collection, project schedules can be tweaked and adjusted on the fly. Employees will have a clear sense of what they need to complete and how much time they are afforded for each task. This allows team members to track their progress, get ahead of deadlines, and identify project milestones.
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The first two tools are project-based Gantt charts organized by task and by employee. The third tool is a Gantt chart used to schedule reservations in various locations. The fourth tool is a Gantt chart used to track inventory usage and costs.
The first tool is a standard Gantt chart. Tasks to be performed, along with the team members to whom they are assigned, are listed on the vertical axis. Dates are listed on the horizontal axis.
The names of the project, company, and project manager are listed at the top. These names can be replaced, and the chart can be reused. Text in blue font signifies a unique input that the user should apply for their specific project.
Each project task is given a range of dates within which the task should be completed. The range can be adjusted by changing the number of days allotted for each task. When the number of days is changed, the date range automatically changes with it. In this way, the chart automatically generates deadlines. The horizontal bar for each task also matches the date range.
The start date and end dates for a project determine the dates that are shown in the horizontal row. The display week input changes which week of the timeline is shown in the horizontal row. The project start date is marked by a green box, and the project end date is marked by a red box. The current date is marked by a blue box. These boxes allow users to make sure that work is on schedule.
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Employees can also use the progress column to adjust the percentage they have completed of their assigned task. When the percentage complete is adjusted, the grey progress bar changes to reflect it. This gives a clear visualization for employees to see where they stand.
The second tool is an alternate version of the standard Gantt chart. This chart groups tasks in the vertical axis by employee. Employee names are listed in the vertical axis, and calendar dates are listed in the horizontal axis. Assigned tasks, and their allotted date ranges, are listed below each employee's name. When the number of days assigned to a task changes, the date range and the horizontal bar automatically change with it. The colored horizontal bars help project managers visualize the workload of each employee throughout the project. Similar to the previous sheet, employees can update their progress on assigned tasks by writing the percentage complete. This will adjust the progress bar for that task.
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Bottlenecks in an employee's schedule can be identified when there is an overlap of the horizontal bars. Then workloads can be either increased or reduced. Scheduling conflicts can also be identified in this way. This functionality provides peace of mind to both employees and managers.
The third tool is a Gantt chart used to schedule reservations at various locations. This template helps visualize when and where events will take place at specified locations during a given time range. This time range is easily adjusted by changes to the start time and time interval inputs. Once again, times are listed in the horizontal axis, but now specific events and locations are listed in the vertical axis. The horizontal bars change as the assigned times for each event change.
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Schedules are split up into days. Users can scroll down to the day they wish to schedule, and input the times and locations of each reservation. Once the start and end times are written in, the horizontal bars will automatically fill in that range. Users should input the unique reservation, location, and start/end times for each reservation. Reservations are grouped by location, so that users can ensure a specified location is not over- or under-booked. The horizontal, colored bars for each location should not overlap, otherwise there is a scheduling conflict at that location.
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The fourth tool is a Gantt chart used to track inventory usage and costs. The start time and interval lengths can be changed to accommodate any specific schedule. When these are adjusted, the list of times changes automatically. Users write a list of their company's items or resources in the first column. Items are grouped by category, such as "video equipment" or "furniture." Items can also be grouped by a specific type of item, such as "chair 1" and "chair 2." Each item is given a unique cost per time interval. The total value for that item is calculated automatically.
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The chart can be used to track who is currently in possession of items. Employees or guests who check out an item can type their name in the corresponding cell for the time interval they will use it. Each named cell is given a specific color automatically.
The chart streamlines the entire inventory management process. It allows companies to see who is currently in possession of an item and for how long. It also shows which resources are in high demand and which are not. Additional resources can then be ordered if need be.
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Gantt charts are often used for project planning, but as these templates show, their value extends well beyond that. Through the use of these charts, project leaders will be able to improve their management of resources and build clearer schedules.
