Applying a progress line to the Gantt chart enables you to quickly view the progress of activities with regard to their scheduled deadlines.
- As a variance line, the progress line can represent a variance between the planned and actual start dates or finish dates of a task.
- As a progress point line, the progress line shows either the remaining duration of an activity or the percent of the activity that has been completed.
In the Progress Line tab of the Bar Chart Options dialog box, you have complete control over how the line is drawn, whether it will be a variance line based on start or finish dates, or a progress point line based on remaining duration or completion percentages.
Tips
- This feature applies to the Gantt Chart in the Activities window only.
- The progress line will not be drawn if you do not display a baseline bar and you choose to base the line on activity % complete or remaining duration.
- Select View, Bar Chart Options, and click the Progress Line tab.
- Type or select the value between 1 and 10 points to set the thickness of your progress line.
- Click the color button to choose a color for your Progress Line.
- Select to use the Project baseline or Primary baseline when calculating the Progress Line.
- Select one of the following:
- If you want the progress line drawn based on the difference between activity start or finish dates in the current project and baseline project dates, select Based on Difference between Current and Baseline Activity's option.
From the list, select Finish Date to calculate the progress line based on the variance between the baseline finish and the current finish, or select Start Date to calculate the progress line based on the variance between the baseline start and the current start. - If you want the progress line drawn by connecting progress points based on each activity's remaining duration or percent complete, select By Connecting Progress Points Based on Activity's option.
From the list, select % Complete to calculate the progress point based on each activity's percent complete (which is the same as viewing the % Complete bar), or select Remaining Duration to calculate the progress point based on each activity's remaining duration. For Remaining Duration, the progress line is drawn to activities that have started or that should have started (when the project baseline start is earlier than the current data date) relative to the baseline start dates.
- If you want the progress line drawn based on the difference between activity start or finish dates in the current project and baseline project dates, select Based on Difference between Current and Baseline Activity's option.
- Click OK.
- Choose View, Progress line to display the line.
In the Gantt chart, the new progress line is displayed. When the progress line is drawn to the left of the data date, the activity is behind schedule. When the progress line is drawn to the data date, the activity is on schedule. When the progress line is drawn to the right of the data date, the activity is ahead of schedule.