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Gantt module

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If you have BigPicture Enterprise, you can change the terminology and rename modules. To avoid confusion check the module icon which is unalterable.

The Gantt module is all you need to manage your project or portfolio. Use it to prepare and visualize your project schedule or roadmap, monitor and control the execution, and generate reports by aggregating your task data or using advanced export features.

The Gantt module includes four key elements:

  • Customizable task list (WBS) that presents almost any Jira or built-in fields as columns with aggregated data

  • Timeline with tasks and dependencies that visualizes your work items and includes auto-scheduling

  • Resources panel that shows your resources’ workload

  • Infobar that highlights the most important information related to your project, e.g. Overdue tasks, Critical path, Dependencies, and Milestones

Use the Gantt to show you project schedules or to visualize your product roadmap:

Example of the Gantt module visualizing the sub-boxes: 

Main features 

The table below lists the main features of the Gantt module:

Feature

Description

Box switcher

Navigate between Boxes, change the currently viewed Box or narrow the scope to a Sub-Box.

Scenario mode

Try different variants of your plan, compare the results, and find the best one.

+ Add task

Use this option to add tasks by:

  • Creating new tasks in the Host platform (the Host platform is the Jira instance you are currently using)

  • Importing tasks (requires BigTemplate App)

  • Cloning existing tasks

Use this option to access the scope definition page:

  • Manage scope definition

Data

Add the following features to all tasks within the Box scope:

  • Organize tasks—change the order of your tasks in an ascending or descending way, based on fields added as columns using the Column Views Gantt

  • Period mode—enable auto-scheduling or plan your task manually

  • Baselines—create and display time baselines for your tasks

  • Group tasks—multi-level group your tasks and count tasks in each group

  • Resynchronization—trigger an incremental sync your Box (requires Box Admin or Box Editor security role)

View

Change the view options to include more information in the Gantt chart or show additional features:

  • Layout—adjust the row height so that you can fit more tasks on the screen and show a larger portion of your schedule. You can also add grid lines to distinguish between dates.

  • Baselines—set project baselines to compare initial and actual schedules

  • Critical path—highlight tasks on the critical path that determine project duration

  • Period warning—show the position of parent tasks calculated based on its children tasks

  • Progress—show task progress directly on the taskbar

Taskbar

Show task information using labels added to the task on the timeline or change the task colors based on status or manually:

  • Task information - manage what task details are shown on the Gantt chart

  • Other scope info - show/hide an icon indicating that a given task is in multiple multiple Boxes with their own separate scopes

  • Task color

Dependency

Visualize two types of dependencies using Gantt:

  • Strong dependencies

  • Soft dependencies

Show / Hide Resources

Use the Resources panel to see the workload of each resource (assignee).

When enabled, an additional icon with Resources settings will appear:

Effort modes:

  • Original estimate

  • Remaining estimate

Aggregations:

  • Daily

  • Weekly

  • Monthly

Switch to Resources

Once the Resources panel is enabled, you can click "Switch to Resources" to be redirected to the Resources module.

Export

Export your work as:

  • MS Project: MPP, XML, PDF

  • MS Excel: XLSX

  • CSV

  • PDF image

Export requires the BigTemplate App.

Column Views

Customize the task list to display available fields as columns. You can save your Column View and mark it as a favorite.

Column configuration

Configure the columns the way you need. Configuration options depend on the type of field added to the view.

Manage Column Views

Add or remove columns within the task list. When you add or remove fields the current Column View is modified but will not be saved automatically.

Undo button

Undo button becomes available after a user made changes.

Undo the following actions:

  • Resizing the task on Gantt

  • Moving the task on Gantt

Shortcut: ctrl/cmd + z

Important: Only a single action can be undone.

The Undo button is grayed out by default. It becomes available when the user performs an operation that can be undone. Performing an undo operation OR reloading the page makes the Undo button grayed out again.

After pressing the Undo button, the application displays a screen asking the user if he wants to undo the change (Undo or Cancel). This screen shows the name of the operation, the task ID, and the date and time of the operation to be undone.

If it turns out that after pressing the Undo button, the last operation cannot be undone (because there were some changes elsewhere in the system in the meantime), the application displays a screen that the Undo operation cannot be performed (Cancel). This screen shows the name of the operation, the task ID, and the date and time of the operation.

Filters

Add your favorite filters to the header and filter the list tasks to see only the items which you are interested in. There are two types of filters:

Search Box

Use the search box to filter out unwanted information. Choose between two modes:

  • Text search

  • JQL

Timeline zoom

Zoom in and out, move to the current date, or fit all your tasks on the timeline.

Timeline settings

Show additional elements on the timeline:

Task structure

Indent and outdent your tasks manually or move them up and down the list. The manual structure might be in conflict with the active structure builders in which case a warning will be displayed.

Deleting tasks

You can delete the tasks from the list in which case the task will be also removed from the Host and External platforms (in case of connecting with other External Platforms such as Trello or other Jira instances).

Infobar

Show more information about your tasks:

Mini-map

Enable a mini-map to navigate through the whole timeline with a single click.

Live-sync 

Live-sync is available for the Gantt module. It lets you see changes in data without the need to refresh a page. With the live sync, your data will be instantly updated when users update their tasks. 

Editor slider

Allows you to carry out operations bulk operations on tasks:

  • Delete (the trash icon)

  • Create/Delete a baseline for selected tasks

  • Change the Period mode (regardless of the relationship of selected tasks)

  • Convert to Milestone

  • Set up the manual color. 

For an individual task, you can also move it within a tree (indent, outdent, move up, move down) and access the Edit pop-up. 

Edit tasks

Inline editing

You can inline edit by double-clicking (left mouse button) on the field. 

Right-click - edit

  • Right-click on:

    • tasks in the task structure on the left

    • a task on a timeline on the right (anywhere except the task key)

  • Select "Edit"

When you click "Edit" a pop-up window appears, allowing you to modify the Task.

If the task is based on a Jira issue, the "Configure Fields" option at top right lets you select visible fields. Other items (such as sprints or components) can't be edited in this way.

The pop-up depends on the type of task. If you try to edit a Basic task you will get an appropriate pop-up.

Editor slider

  • Select a task from the tree on the left by clicking on it (anywhere except the Key). 

  • The task is highlighted in blue and an Editor Slider panel appears in between the task tree and the timeline.

  • Click on the three dots

  • "Edit"

 

Redirection to a connected tool

When you click on the Issue Key (either in the Column view or on a timeline) you will be taken to the connected tool (for Jira, it will be the Jira issue screen). 

Constraints:

  • Basic Tasks don't exist in any connected tools, so Key doesn't function as a link

  • For the Project, the Key will take you to the Project screen 

  • For a Sprint, you will be taken to the Issue search displaying all the sprint issues. 

Delete

This action removes the task completely. If it was based on a Jira issue, the task will be deleted from a Jira Project. If you just want to exclude a task from a Box, go to Box Configuration > Tasks > Scope definition to narrow down the scope.

If the task had any children nested under it within the tree:

  • Tasks nested directly under it will have one less 'indent'

  • Structure present under this task (other nesting) will be preserved

You can delete a task in the following ways:

  1. Right-click on a task and select "Delete" from the pop-up menu. 

  2. Click on a task to select it from the Task structure on the left. Select "Delete" from the Editor Slider panel. 

  3. Remove the task directly in the connected tool. 

Convert tasks to milestones

Convert a single task to a milestone

To convert a single task to a milestone or vice versa, right-click on the selected task (on the task list) or use the ". . ." button in the vertical dialog.

You can also use inline editing to turn a task into a milestone. 

Start/end date recalculation

During conversion, the task end date is set as the milestone date.

Before conversion:

After conversion:

Convert multiple to milestones / tasks

Use the multi-select option to select a few tasks and milestones and right-click to "Convert all to...":

  • Milestone

  • Task

When you select a milestone and a task and right-click "Convert all to.. > Task":

  • A milestone is converted to a task.

  • A task remains unchanged because it is already a task.

Task color

Task colors can be displayed in two modes:

  • Status based colors

  • Manual colors

View settings can override task color (in both status and manual modes). In particular, the "Overdue" and "Critical Path" views require overriding the task color setup to show critical information).

More information can be found on the following page

Period mode

Period mode of all tasks

To change the Period mode of all tasks click the Data drop-down at the top > Period mode and select one of the four options

Period mode of a single task

Make sure the change won't cause a conflict (upper-level task being set to bottom-up and tasks nested under it being set to top-down).

If the Task has children, you can include them in the change:

  • right-click on the Task (either in the Task structure on the left or on the timeline on the right - don't click on the Key)

  • Click on the Task row to select it and use the Editor Slider panel in the middle

Period mode of a selected group of tasks

  • Select the tasks using the multi-select mechanism

  • Use the Editor Slider panel in the middle

Baseline

Baseline for all tasks

Use the Data drop-down at the top

Baseline for a single task

If the Task has children, you can include them in the change:

  • right click on the Task (either in the Task structure on the left or on the timeline on the right - don't click on the Key)

  • click on the Task row to select it and use the Editor Slider panel in the middle

Baseline for a group of tasks

  • Select the tasks using the multi-select mechanism

  • Use the Editor Slider panel in the middle

Task structure

You have several ways to organize the task structure. 

  1. Automated Task structure based on Structure builders.

  2. Drag-and-drop mechanism
    You can select a single task (or multiple tasks) and move it by clicking on the icon on far left.

    If you move a task that has children nested under it, the whole structure (task + all its children) will be moved.

  3. Keyboard shortcuts

    Keyboard shortcuts are unavailable in the Cloud version of the App. To find out more about Cloud-related App limitations go to the following page.

    • Move up Shift+↑

    • Move down Shift+↓

    • Indent Shift+→

    • Outdent

      Certain operations are too complex to be carried out for the whole group. If you have selected the tasks and the Editor Slider has the arrows greyed out, you won't be able to carry out the action using shortcuts.

  4. Editor slider

    • Select the tasks using the multi-select mechanism

    • Use the Editor Slider panel in the middle

      Certain operations are too complex to be carried out for the whole group. If you have selected the tasks and the Editor Slider has the arrows greyed out, you won't be able to carry out those actions for the group.

Right-click
You can select a single task (or multiple tasks). Then, right-click on the Task (either in the Task structure on the left or on the timeline on the right - don't click on the Key). 

Certain operations are too complex to be carried out for the whole group. Unavailable actions are greyed out.

Undo a task

The Undo button allows to go back to the previous state. 

Important: Only a single action can be undone.

The Undo button is grayed out by default. It becomes available when the user performs an operation that can be undone. Performing an undo operation OR reloading the page makes the Undo button grayed out again.

After pressing the Undo button, the application displays a screen asking the user if he wants to undo the change (Undo or Cancel).

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