How SI’s Gantt View with new enhancements can provide further insight and perspective.
For this month’s article, we are going to follow up on last month’s blog about SI’s Gantt View. This seemed like a great way to focus on some enhanced features of this mechanism as well as serving as an additional notice that v22 is now live for SI users.
So if you are looking for a sneak peek at SI v22, tune back in here next month for our preview/review of newly released feature enhancements and benefits of SI’s latest product release.
If you missed last month’s entry, you can catch up here.
First of all, what is the SI Gantt View?
The Gantt View in SI allows our users to view data from Projects, Tasks, and Checklists in a linear calendar presentation alongside of specific data fields from said Projects, Tasks, and Checklists that are related to the actual deployment values associated with all the items within the SI Project itself.
Now while that may seem like a mouthful, the mechanism is outstanding at placing multiple values into a single split-screen view for various aspects of Project Management, review of installation dates, and overall elements of the success of such installation milestones.
Be sure to consult our online Wiki for an in-depth dive on SI’s Gantt View.
What’s new in the Gantt View?
-Resource additions via checklists:
Picking up here with the newest features of SI’s Gantt View, our development team has added an interesting consideration for project manager’s and scheduling agents that is sourced from SI’s Checklists.
(Seen above here from the SI Control Panel.)
Meaning, you can now add Resources via Roles to your Checklist entries in order to load the team members who are assigned to those Roles in your Project’s Resources.
This is a critical shortcut when designating responsibilities for items on your Project’s to do list.
You can then insert these values from your Checklists into your Gantt View by clicking on the Add icon in the ribbon and then selecting from your existing Catalog or Project Checklists.
Upon doing so, you can then review the structure of your Checklist values and the date it will become active in your Gantt View:
The Select All icon can be very helpful here especially for extensive checklist entries.
Once assigned in your Project’s Checklist, and inserted into the corresponding Gantt View, you still have the ability to update said Resource’s Roles in either the Gantt View or the Checklist itself.
From here, you can then populate other details of your Gantt View evaluations such as Predecessors. Which leads me conveniently to the next area of focus…
-Predecessors and the addition of Lag time:
What is a predecessor in a Gantt View? Basically it equates to an event that must take place prior to the execution of a successive event on the Gantt View’s to do list.
In SI, Predecessors can be set based on their placement in the overall Gantt View structure.
Once you open a Gantt View in SI and populate your events, you can click in the Predecessors column
in order to stagger and structure the event timing according to what must be done ahead of any following event commencing work.
As seen above here, the Predcessors column allows our users to select prior events by, not only the name of the prior event, but also by the row number where it appears in the Gantt View list.
Further, with the release of SI’s v22, our users can also now add lag time to their event list of entries.
This feature helps our users by allowing them to designate a time period that must elapse prior to execution of the next event on the Gantt View list. This is very helpful when trying to ensure actions like inspections and quality control related reviews have appropriate time to occur prior to moving forward with continued work at the site.
As an added bonus here, we thought it would be good to mention the type field that is displayed just before the lag data field.
This mechanism is an additional way to ensure that successive events (or Tasks) are executed at the appropriate time and do not overlap. For a better understanding of these settings, please see the following explanations:
-Finish to Start (FS)—This means the predecessor must end prior to a successor beginning.
-Start to Start (SS)—This means that a predecessor must begin before a successor begins.
-Finish to Finish (FF)—This means that a predecessor must end before a successor can end.
-Start to Finish (SF)—This means that a predecessor must begin before a successor can end.
By default, SI will load “Finish-to-Start (FS)” as a means to assist our users as this is generally accepted as the best practice when structuring such events in a Gantt View.
-Removal of Predecessors when Planning Tasks are complete:
There now exists a setting to remove any predecessor on an SI planning task when that planning task has been marked as 100% complete in the Gantt View.
As seen above here, our users will receive a prompt that will alert them to this action whenever 100% is achieved on these said Tasks.
And, for those that are not aware, planning Tasks are simply Tasks (or events in your Gantt View) that have not been converted to actual SI Tasks for field deployment. Just another helpful aspect of recent improvements with SI’s Gantt View.
-Option to View read-only Successor values:
SI v22 now also has an option to add a Successor column to your Gantt View display.
This is another incredibly helpful inclusion for our users that offers additional insight into following events that succeed entries in the Gantt View.
So, as a project manager or scheduling agent, you can now be fully aware of future events set to occur after completion of prior activities in your Gantt View.
With this type of usage, your team can very successfully and quickly modify predecessors, completion percentage, and insert values from your Project or Catalog checklists. Overall, the Gantt View is an incredibly effective tool that will enable your team to be exceedingly efficient with your SI Project tracking and scheduling.
Now, while we have covered a few mechanisms and methodologies here, this is merely scratching the surface of what SI can achieve for Project Managers.
And further, since we know each team will leverage and utilize these aforementioned features in their own unique method, it is strongly recommended for new (as well as experienced) SI users to reach out to our PSG division to gain further insight from our team of industry professionals with extensive SI experience themselves.
And there it is!
SI’s features function in such a fashion that will enable our users to quickly and effectively execute, review, and modify values related to their deployment timeline via this Gantt View”. Be sure to tune back in here for future installments on SI’s v22 and beyond.
A Perspective
Our team is continually evaluating ways to improve and enhance your team’s usage of and experience with our SI platform. Therefore, it behooves you and your team to explore these (and other features) as well by securing time with our Professional Services Group of SI and integration industry veterans in order to maximize your team’s ability to succeed with the software.
In Summation…
-Update to v22 if you have not already done so.
-Review, utilize, and deploy these newly added features listed above here to ensure success Gantt View.
-Sign-up for webinars, training, or visit our online documentation “wiki” for tutorial assistance.
And, as always…
-Get focused, get serious, and make money.
Enjoy!
With all of that said, there’s still plenty more in store for you with SI and forthcoming product releases so keep an eye out for future updates.
We are always reviewing your Feature Requests to determine our best step forward and next course of action with future SI product releases so…“keep’em coming”!
In closing…
For more information on these and other features of SI, please see this link: d-Tools v22. You can also review our other videos and our usual support documentation.
You can also get more detailed information about v22 via our upcoming webinars and by enrolling in SI training with our PSG team. Further, please feel free to review our “What’s new in v22” webinar that is now available.
And don’t forget, that’s why we are here…to ensure your success with our product! Be sure to check back here next time for more on v22!!!
