Where can I do this?
You can display a Gantt chart view of the project schedule, down to the activity level, in the Projects > Activities page.
To display the Activities page, open the project or project group you want to work with, then click on the Projects toolbar.
You can customize features of your Gantt chart, activity table, and activity network diagram in the Customize Activity View dialog box. For example, you can:
- Group activities to display summary bars that provide a quick glance at the overall schedule. The summary bar represents the time period from the earliest Early Start to the latest Early Finish for the group.
- Filter activities to create targeted chart views of the schedule, for example, milestones only.
- Sort activities to present their schedule bars in a specific order, based on the value of a data field you specify.
- Choose to chart progress, baseline or late dates, and identify critical activities.
Tip: The Activities page presents a combination table/chart view of project data. To hide columns and expand the Gantt chart to its maximum size, click and drag the vertical bar between the table and chart.
I want to
- Group, filter, and sort activities
- Choose bar data, color and label
- Customize the visual layout
(for example, to change the timescale, show or hide activity relationships)
- Edit activity dates
Group, filter, and sort activities
- On the Activities toolbar, click
Customize View.
- Select one of the following tabs:
- When finished selecting your options,
click the arrow
of the Customize Views menu
, then
- choose Save View to preserve your changes, or
- choose Save View As to create a new view that reflects the changes
In the Grouping tab
- From the Level drop-down lists, select up to 20 levels in which , a horizontal bar displays to represent the content of the level.
Tip: For example, if in the Field column you selected a level to represent a WBS, in the To Level column you selected All, and in the color column, you applied the color, blue, to your previous selections, when you display the activity table, you will see a all WBSes represented by a horizontal bar of the color you selected. Changing view to the activity network diagram, you will see all WBSes displayed as boxes with title bars shaded in the selected color.
- Specify
the sort order for each group. The sort order for groups follows the same rules as the sort order of activities. However, when grouping by a hierarchical field, an additional sort order option, Hierarchy, is available.
The Hierarchy option sorts groups based on the sequence defined for the hierarchical item, rather than using alphabetical or numerical sequencing. For example, with Hierarchy sort order, three WBS elements defined in the hierarchy as WBS a, WBS c and WBS b, would appear in bands replicating that sequence, but for Ascending sort order would appear as WBS a, WBS b, and WBS c.
When you choose to group by a hierarchical field, such as activity code, the To Level drop-down list is available so you can choose the number of hierarchal levels to group by.
Tip: To create a view for managing the WBS, in the Level 1 drop-down list, select WBS and in the To Level drop-down list, select All.
In the Grouping tab, you can also choose options that apply to the Activity Table.
- For each group, select the background color and text color of the group
heading row, or band.
- To display the group field name, followed by the field value in group heading rows, choose Show field title.
- To display group totals in heading rows for all cost, numeric, integer, start date, and finish date fields, choose Show field rollups.
- For each WBS, Project, Activity Code, or Primary Resource displayed in the Gantt chart or Activity Table, select to display its
- ID/Code
- Name and Description
- ID/Code and the Name and Description
For example, if you choose to group activities by Early Start, the field name Early Start appears to the left of the date value for the group. If you do not choose this option, only the date value for the group appears in the band.
Tip: Start date rollups reflect the earliest date for the group and finish date rollups reflect the latest date for the group. Unit and cost rollups are a total of the values for each activity in the group.
In the Filters tab
- Select a filter type.
- Choose or create the filter.
Standard Filters
Choose Standard to select from predefined filters, such as Critical activities behind schedule or Milestones only.
If you choose Standard, select a predefined filter from the drop-down list.
For the Activities Finishing Within Specified Days filter, be sure to specify a number of days.
The My Activities filter displays all project activities you are either assigned to as a resource or designated as the activity owner.
Tips: The Critical Activities Behind Schedule filter uses the project baseline to determine variance, identifying activities behind schedule. If no project baseline is assigned, the current project is used as the baseline, so no activities are displayed.
If you have Team Member module access, either assigned as a resource or activity Owner, applying the My Activities filter will have no affect on the activity list display because your access is already restricted to your assigned and Owner activities.Custom Filters
Choose Custom to create a filter based on activity data fields and values you specify.
In the Select Filter Criteria drop-down list, choose to display activities that meet all or any of the specified criteria. If you select Any of the following, any activity that meets at least one of the filtering conditions will display in the Activity View.
To create a filter criteria statement, in the Parameter drop-down list, select a field. Next, select an operator from the Is drop-down list. In the Value field, type or select a value to complete the filtering criteria statement.
You can create up to 10 criteria statements for a custom filter. Click the appropriate icon to add
or delete
a criteria statement.
In the Columns tab
- To
specify the order in which activity bars appear, use the Sort by drop-down list. The sort order applies to activities within groups and when they are not grouped. You can select from a wide range of sort fields categorized by type, for example,
units, dates, or general data fields.
- Sort order can be ascending or descending.
- Text fields are sorted alphabetically.
- Numeric and date fields are sorted numerically or in calendar sequence.
- Checkbox fields, for ascending, are sorted as checked followed by unchecked.
- Activity status ascending sort order is Not Started, In Progress, and Completed.
- Indicator UDF fields, for ascending, are sorted
in this sequence:
On the Columns tab, you can also choose options that apply to the Activity Table.
- Use the Show first column as option to select either activity name or activity ID as the stationary first column.
- In the Font field, click
Browse to open the Font dialog box. Choose the font type, size, and style of text to display in your Gantt chart and Activity table. Click OK to save your selections.
These are the only fields you can display in the first column. The first item that appears in the Selected Columns list will occupy the second column on the Activities page.
- In the Available Columns list, select the data fields you want to display, then click the arrow buttons to move them to the Selected Columns list and to specify their order.
The top-to-bottom order of fields in the Selected Columns list corresponds to the left-to-right display order of the columns on the Activities page.
Tip: You can display a maximum of 30 columns in the Activity Table.
Choose bar data, color, and label
- Click
Customize View. then use the Bars tab to make your selections as described below.
- When finished customizing,
from the Customize View menu (
), choose Save View to preserve your changes or, to create a new view that reflects the changes, choose Save View As.
Choose bar settings
In the Bar section:
- Select the type of bar:
- Current Bar
- Late Bar
Tip: When you choose to display a Late bar, it does not appear on the Gantt chart unless the project has been scheduled.
- Project Baseline Bar
- Primary Baseline Bar
- Float Bar
- Free Float Bar
- Plan Bar
- Percent Complete Bar
- Select a color to apply to the bar.
- Select the width of the bar.
Show progress and critical activities
In the Current Bar Option section:
- Mark the Show Progress checkbox to chart progress, or actual work, along the Current bar.
The blue Progress bar represents duration based on the actual start and remaining start dates.
- Mark the Show Critical checkbox to represent critical activities with a red bar instead of the Current bar color you selected.
Select to show non-work time
In the Necking section:
- Select Use calendar non-work time to show, in the Activity Table and the Gantt chart, hours and days, such as weekend days and holidays, which are not scheduled as work time.
In the Activity Table, these hours and days are listed. In the Gantt chart, a bar that represents an activity visually is divided to show the non-work time.
- Select Use activity non-work time to show, in the Activity Table and the Gantt chart, hours and days allocated for tasks, such as meetings, employee breaks or absences, training, or other events that occur necessarily but do not contribute to the completion of scheduled activities.
Edit bar labels
In the Labels section:
- From the Label menu, choose the activity data field you want to display as a bar label.
- From the Label Position menu, specify the position of the bar label you selected previously.
- From the Label Font menu, click
Browse and select the font type, size, style, and color for the bar label.
Set the timescale
From the Timescale menu, select the timescale to show in the Gantt chart.
Customize the visual layout
Adjust the timescale
- To zoom the timescale so that all bars are in view, click
.
- To quickly bring the bar for a particular activity or group into the display area, double-click in the chart area to the right of the activity or group row.
- To manually adjust the timescale, in the top section of the timescale header, click and release the mouse. Then, drag the horizontal arrow that appears.
- To change the timescale setting (for example, Quarter/Month), either right-click in the timescale header row or choose timescale increments from the Customize View Bars tab.
Show, hide, and resize items in the view
- To show or hide the Gantt chart, in the toolbar, click
or
, respectively.
- In a grouped view, to expand all summary bars Click
. To collapse all summary bars, click
. To expand or collapse individual summary bars, in the Activity Table grouping band, click the + or - in the first column.
- To resize the table and chart sections, mouse over the vertical bar that separates the sections,
then drag to resize. The mouse cursor changes to a horizontal arrow
when properly positioned anywhere along the vertical bar.
You can drag the bar to hide all table columns except the first. - To expand the view to full screen, click
. To return to the normal display, click
again.
This hides the browser and Primavera application interface elements not required in the view.
Note: Online help becomes unavailable when the view is maximized. To use online help, return the view to the normal display.
Edit activity dates
You can resize and move Gantt chart bars to easily modify an activity's start or finish date, or to apply a constraint.
After changing activity dates by resizing or moving a Gantt bar, when you save your changes, the activity remaining duration is recalculated based on the new dates and the activity's calendar. Because the calendar for the activity is applied when you save, a date you specified for an activity may change slightly if it occurs during calendar non-worktime. Also, if you move, but do not resize a Gantt bar, the duration may shorten or lengthen based on the activity calendar's non-worktime.
Tip: In the Gantt chart, you can impose only a Start On or After constraint. You can apply other constraint types, as well as Secondary constraints, in the Activity Table and on the Activity Details Status tab.
To change a Start or Finish date
- Click on the activity's Gantt bar; selection handles appear.
- Drag the start or finish selection handle to a new position along the timescale. The corresponding date column updates dynamically to reflect the new bar position.
- Click
(Ctrl+S) to save your changes.
To apply a Start On or After constraint
- Position your mouse over the center of the activity's Gantt bar and drag it to the new position along the timescale.
If displayed, activity date columns update dynamically to reflect the new bar position.
- Confirm that you want to apply a constraint to the activity for scheduling purposes.
If you choose the option to not show the dialog, it will not reappear until the next time you log in. Also, each time you drag a Gantt bar, your decision to add or not add a constraint will apply until you exit the application and log in again.
- Click
(Ctrl+S) to save your changes. After you save, the start date column displays an asterisk.