Gantt chart is a remarkable tool for project managers who wish to conceive, implement, and track the scheduled and actual progress of a project. Developing a Gantt chart manually is a laborious and time-consuming job. So you have an easier way out. Gantt software allows creation of Gantt charts by automatic formatting. By simple commands, Gantt software builds Gantt charts for you automatically, adds and removes tasks, changes start or end dates, and finally realigns and arranges elements for easy interpretation.

How Did the Concept of Gantt chart Originate?

Henry Gantt, a mechanical engineer and management consultant conceived and developed Gantt chart in 1910. During the early part of the twentieth century, however, Gantt charts were not as commonplace as they are today. These tools considered innovative, were in the earlier stages used effectively for large projects like the Hoover Dam in the 1930s and for the Eisenhower National Defense Interstate Highway System in the mid 1950s.

Project management has considerably evolved since those early years. Today project managers while planning and scheduling a project extensively use Gantt charts.

What Is a Gantt chart?

It is a project chart in a tabular form that displays each task in a row with time in columns. The unit of time will depend on the nature and duration of the project. The units can be weeks, months, or even years. Important details are added to the charts by including milestones and critical path lines. Gantt software makes it easy for project managers to create a project chart by allowing them to choose among dozens of quick-start templates.

How Is Gantt Software Practically Used?

Gantt chart software helps in building a visual tool during the planning, scheduling and implementation stage of a project. In short, a Gantt chart presents a bird's eye view of a project. By this chart project managers,

• Make a realistic assessment of the completion time of a project

• Make a sequence of the tasks, one after the other or in parallel

• Envision task dependencies

• Focus on resources, both human and material, and deploy them judiciously, throughout the entire phase of the project

Advantages of Using Gantt Software

Gantt software makes it simple for analyzing and planning complex projects. In a giant project, it is important for project managers to plan effectively the tasks that need to be completed. Moreover, the charts should provide a basis for scheduling the tasks in individual and milestone based concepts. The final objective is to build a critical path that defines the time schedule. Gantt chart software does all these tasks efficiently, allowing managers to concentrate on effectively deploying human and material resources to complete the project on schedule.

A Key feature of Gantt Software is the ease with which project managers can custom build charts for different projects, add as many tasks as needed, schedule and assign tasks and track progress. Time is the essence of most contracts. Nothing helps more in fulfilling this contractual obligation than Gantt software.