Gantt sections

A Gantt section is used to display a Gantt chart. Gantt sections have a scheduling engine that can be used to set scheduling information in records that represent tasks. This scheduling information includes earliest start dates, latest start dates, constraints, percentage complete, critical path, associated resources, container or umbrella tasks, baseline, and dependent tasks.

The Planned Start and Planned End dates in the Gantt display using the value in the Date Time Format field from the user's My Profile record. The time scale in the hourly view displays a 24 hour time format, and the hours, the date, time, and day display based on the value in the Date Format field of the user's My Profile record.

The task table in the Gantt section shows specified fields in records that represent the tasks displayed by the Gantt chart. The fields that display are defined by the query that is specified for the Gantt section. The Gantt chart in the Gantt section displays a Calendar view of the task records; the tasks display as bars on a timeline. If the Gantt section is not read only, you can use the Gantt section to interactively edit and create records that represent tasks in a project.

You can add a tab in the project form to provide more room for the Gantt section, which is beneficial for larger projects. The Open Gantt in New Window button that was part of the Java applet-based Gantt section in previous versions is not supported. It has no function in the current JavaScript based DHTML component new Gantt section and has therefore been disabled. To add a Gantt only tab, do the following steps:
  1. Navigate to the form for the record type that you want to modify under Tools > Form Builder. Select the module, then select the form, and click Revise. For example, to add a tab for Capital projects, select triProject for the module and select triCapitalProject for the form.
  2. Select the tab that contains a Gantt section. For example, the Gantt section in the Capital Project form is on the Schedule tab, so select the triSchedule tab.
  3. Select the Copy Tab action.
  4. Enter a name for the new tab, such as ‘GanttOnly’ and click Apply. No changes are needed for the Target Business Object or Target Form.
  5. After clicking Apply, you might need to refresh the form by clicking the name of the form in the Navigation panel.
  6. Expand the new tab in the Navigation panel.
  7. Select each section that you do not want to display in the new tab and delete them one at a time by using the Delete action.
  8. Adjust the height of the Gantt section by selecting the section and editing the Height parameter.
The Form Builder will allow you to put a Gantt section in any form. However, for the Gantt section to work properly, the business object associated with the form must contain these fields in its General section:
triProjectPlanStartDA
This is the project's planned start date.
triProjectPlanEndDA
This is the project's planned end date.
triProjectCalcStartDA
This is the project's calculated start date. This should be a read only field because the scheduling engine calculates the value.
triProjectCalcEndDA
This is the project's calculated end date. This should be a read only field because the scheduling engine calculates the value.
triTimeZonesCL
This is the time zone of the project.
triProjectCalcFromLI
This establishes scheduling engine calculation settings. The values in the drop-down list are Start and End. The Both value is deprecated.
Tip: Prior to opening the Gantt chart, any unsaved changes to the following fields should be saved so that the project can be scheduled correctly: Plan Start, Plan End, and Calculate Project From. This applies only to the fields listed.

In addition to needing a business object that contains these fields, a Gantt section also needs a query that determines which records and which of their fields will be displayed in the Gantt section. The records include but are not limited to contract review tasks, facility assessment work tasks, inspection tasks, punchlist tasks, schedule tasks, submittal tasks, and work tasks.

A query section will automatically update based on changes saved in the Gantt section. If the query section is a standalone query section, the name of the section must contain the word task. If the query section is within a multi tab section, the query section name must contain the word taskMilestone.

One last thing needed to set up a Gantt section is an association name to use for records that are interactively created through the Gantt section.

Common section properties includes information about the following properties in a Gantt section: Type, Name, Label, Height, Title Bar Color, Visible, Expand Section, Read Only, Show Title Bar, Style Class, Start Row, Row Span, Start Column, and Col Span. The properties in a Gantt section that are not described in Common section properties follow:
Query

The value of this property is the query used by this section to determine which records and which of their fields to display. This also determines which forms can be selected while creating tasks from within the Gantt section.

The details of how to specify the query that will be the value of this property are described in Query sections.

Tip: Once tasks are added to a Query section and loaded in the Gantt, the Gantt scheduling engine schedules (or arranges) the tasks. After the tasks have been scheduled, the start and end dates on the Gantt may be different from those on the Query section. These dates will coincide once the user either clicks the Save button on the Gantt or saves the record. The save causes the dates from the Gantt section to be propagated to the Query section. The start and end dates on the Gantt should be the Calculated Start and the Calculated End.
Workflow

The workflow specified by the value of this property is run when a person selects records to be associated with the record that contains the Gantt section.

If this property has no value, no workflow will be run.

To specify the value of this property, click the search icon. Clicking the search icon causes a list of synchronous workflows to appear. The synchronous workflows in the list will be workflows launched from records created from the business object associated with the form that the Query section is part of. If you select one of the workflows in the list and click the OK action on the list, the workflow you selected becomes the value of this property.

If you want to clear the value of this property so that it has no value, click the X icon.

Association Type
When this section is used to interactively create records, an association is created from the record being edited by the form to the new record. The value of this property is the name that is used for the association.
Select Association Type

Workflows may be run as a result of someone clicking a form state transition action (described in State-based actions). It may be helpful for the workflow to be able to recognize if the person who clicked the action that triggered the workflow first selected some records displayed in the Gantt section.

If an association name is selected for the value of this property and someone clicks an action you defined that triggers a workflow, the platform will create an association from the record associated with the form to the any records shown in this section.

Allow Delete

The check box for this property is selected by default. When the property is enabled, users can delete tasks in the Gantt section. To disable user ability to delete tasks from the Gantt section, clear the check box.

Note: The Open Gantt in New Window button that was part of the Java applet-based Gantt section in previous versions is not supported. It has no function in the current JavaScript based DHTML component new Gantt section and has therefore been disabled.