Customizing the Gantt Chart in Primavera P6

The Gantt Chart is an excellent visual representation of activity durations, progress and logic between activities. However, some critical project data is not visually represented in the Gantt Chart by default. This month we discuss creating user defined bars and with filters to identify activity criteria that is otherwise invisible in the Gantt Chart. In this example, we identify how to customize the bars in the Gantt Chart to visually represent activities by department code. In the image below, we assign a user defined department code of ENG to all activities which fall under the WBS element of Design and Engineering.

All activities within this element must be coded with ENG.

In the image below, we assign a user defined department code of FOU to all activities which fall under the WBS element of Foundation.

All activities within this element must be coded with FOU.

Once the code values have been assigned to the appropriate activities, We need to create a user defined filter for each code that we wish to graphically represent in the bars within the Gantt Chart. This filter is not applied to your layout. The filter is created and later assigned to user defined bars. An example of the user defined filter criteria for the department code ENG is detailed below.

Note: Filter criteria will be available only after the user defined code has been created.

Once the user defined filters are created, we create user defined bars and apply the user defined filters to the criteria of the bars. To begin, right click in the Gantt Chart and select Bars.

Next, select add.

A (new bar) will appear as detailed above.

To maintain continuity between the code, the user defined filter and the user defined bar, I name the bar the SAME as the user defined code and the user defined filter. The time scale is set to current Bar. The filter applied to the bar is the user defined filter (FOU).

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Next we will customize the appearance of the bar. Once we apply the user defined bars, we will rearrange the hierarchy of the bar chart so the user defined bars are visible in the Gantt Chart and overlay the existing bars. Therefore, it is important to select a shape identical to that of an existing bar. A good rule of thumb is to match the shape of your user defined bar to the shape of the Actual Level of Effort Bar.

Next, we select a color and fill pattern for the user defined FOU bar.

When selecting a color for the patterns, be sure to select a color NOT being used by any current bars in your bar chart options. As detailed above I have selected the color navy blue. Based on the criteria set above, the FOU bar will display a navy blue vertical line pattern on all activities coded FOU.

Next, I create a user defined bar ENG with the user defined ENG filter to display a navy blue cross hair pattern on all activities coded ENG.

The appearance of bars in the Gantt Chart are determined by the order of where the bars are organized within the bar window. Bars at the top of the list will appear below or underneath..

..bars at the bottom of the list.

Therefore, we need to shift the FOU and ENG user defined bars down in the bars hierarchy, using the Shift down button.

This will enable the user defined ENG and FOU bars to display the selected pattern over the existing bars within the Gantt Chart. The final product is a Gantt Chart with activity bars using different patterns to identify specific activity code values.

Note the blue cross hair pattern on all activities coded ENG

Note the blue vertical pattern on all activities coded FOU