A Gantt chart is a form of bar graph used to show how scheduled information interrelates.

Activities (often called "Tasks") are shown labelled as text in a column or "tree" on left hand side of the graph, while a Timeline of days, weeks, months, and years is displayed at the top of the graph.

Colored bars represent the Tasks and their placement and length on the Timeline indicates when a task is scheduled to begin and end.

Dependency lines with an arrow pointing to the next task show that one task is dependent on another task's completion.

Several dependency relations can be displayed on a Gantt chart.

You might decide that one task must start when another finishes...that's called a Finish- to-Start dependency and is the most common and looks like this...

Or... you might decide that two tasks MUST start at the same time, that's called a Start-to-Start dependency and looks like this...

Gantt charts can also show the % of completion of any Task by colored lines embedded INSIDE of the colored bars.

Milestones are points in time used as a marker to indicate that a particular phase of the project has been reached. A milestone looks like a little diamond "dot"...

Milestones are often used by management as a point in time when it's desirable to track a project to see whether it's "on track" or "delayed"

How is a JCVGantt chart different?

Our Gantt chart shows a few extra items including "resources", "float times" and % complete to the right of the bars.

 Percent done shown in two ways

Resources may be "people resources" like your cousin Ted who performs a task or activity...or can be a "physical resource" ...like a jackhammer... that you might need to accomplish the task.

Resource names are shown to right of Task bars

We also have a special little resource view that is unique to our product called "Cost view" where we show the cost calculated for a task right next to resource names

Float times (also called "lag time" or "slack time" is scheduled time for mishaps and delays and are indicated on a Gantt as extensions to the dependency lines...

 Dependency with “Float” or “Lag time” indicated