Gantt Chart is a useful tool for planning and scheduling construction projects. It is a type of bar chart used to illustrate a project schedule, including start and finish dates of activities and a summary of activities of a project.
Gantt chart helps to ensure that the project schedule is maintained at a reasonable pace, and that the individual tasks that make up the work breakdown schedule logically progress in a manner that moves the project closer to completion. A Gantt chart can be used for just about any type of project, from laying out a marketing strategy or planning a building project.
Using a Gantt chart offers the following advantages:
- Gantt charts can be used to represent phases and activities of a project so they can be understood by general audience.
- It can be useful to indicate the critical points on the chart with bold or colored outlines of the bars.
- An updated Gantt chart helps manage the project and head off schedule problems.
- Computer software can simplify constructing and updating a Gantt chart.
Eexample of a Gantt Chart for a Residential Construction
the Gantt chart is used to establish a precedence network that determines the priority level of each task associated with the project. At the same time, the chart also evaluates the dependency relationships of each of the tasks. Together, these two aspects of the Gantt chart make it possible arrange and project the completion time of various tasks in a manner that shows a logical progression toward the successful completion of the project.
In most cases, the Gantt chart appears as a horizontal bar chart. Each task associated with the project is accounted for on the body of the chart. Because the Gantt chart is concerned with executing the project in the most efficient manner, it also helps to define the amount of time required to complete each individual task. The chart also helps to define tasks that can be completed concurrently and which tasks cannot be addressed until other tasks are fully complete. This function helps to project both the sequence and the duration of each task involved in the project.
Gantt charts have a variety of uses among construction professionals. Gantt charts must be used under the following circumstances:
- To communicate plan or status of a construction project.
- To monitor tasks within a project.
- To express the sequence and duration of specific tasks or process from a construction project,
- To demonstrate which tasks depend on completion of previous tasks.