Since they provide an easy-to-understand graphical representation of important project dates, barcharts are widely used by many organizations to communicate information about the project schedule. A barchart is a type of horizontal bar graph that you use to plan and track projects. Because it combines a traditional Gantt-style barchart with a spreadsheet, a barchart view provides a convenient way to view activity start and end dates, durations, and how activities relate to one another.
The Schedule Analysis barchart displays scheduling information for activities based on data in the Schedule Analysis grid. The descriptions display to the right of each bar.
The bars that display and their colors depend on the settings in the selected bar set. You can select a different bar set by clicking Barchart on the toolbar to display the Barchart Options dialog box. You can also use this dialog box to view the bar legend and to turn on relationship lines. If you have the right permissions, you can edit and create additional bar sets in Administration » Bar Sets.
If selected, the baseline bar represents the baseline start date to the baseline finish date from the Budget Baseline selected on the project Schedule Integration tab.
If selected, the forecast bar represents the forecast start date to the forecast finish date from the Forecast Baseline selected on the project Schedule Integration tab.
The progress bar only displays for activities when the computed status is In-Progress and there is a period end date for the project. After you enter an actual start date for an activity, the computed status is not calculated until the progress is approved, and you run Time Analysis in Open Plan or integrate with Microsoft Project.
This option is available on the Barchart Options dialog box (click Barchart on the toolbar). Select this option to view relationship lines in the bar chart. Relationships only display if both the predecessor and successor are displayed in the view. When you use the Activity Search dialog box to set a filter, the relationship lines do not display.
PM Compass remembers the value of this option the next time you display the Barchart Options dialog box.
The red dashed line represents today (Time Now) and is the current period end date. If there is no period end date, no red line displays.
When you hover over a bar, the tooltip displays the description, the forecast start and finish dates, and the duration of the activity.
Use the vertical and horizontal splitter bars to view more/less data in each area of the view.
Click and drag the background left or right to navigate along the barchart timeline.
Use the vertical scroll bar on the right side of the barchart to view additional rows. The vertical scroll bar is only visible if there are too many rows to display in the window.
Expand or collapse the Control Account/Work Package rows to view or hide corresponding bars in the barchart.
You can adjust the barchart time scale to different time units by using your mouse wheel. The date scale can be set for units as small as 15 minutes or as large as one year. Click in the barchart and scroll your mouse wheel forward to scale down to smaller units or backward to scale up to larger date units.