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Gantt Component

The Gantt component renders project schedule bars in a formal report page. It is purpose-built for delivering schedule evidence to project stakeholders — presenting selected activities, baselines, milestones, and dependencies in a presentation-quality layout. For schedule analysis and logic review, use Planner.

Report Forge Gantt component example

Display modes

ModeDescriptionBest for
OperationalShows actual bars, progress, and current status against the original programme.Internal progress reports and site reports.
BaselineShows planned baseline bars and actual bars side by side for comparison.Client progress reports and contract reporting.
ExecutiveSimplified milestone-only view with phase banners. Strips out individual activity bars.Board-level summary pages.

Activity rows and data binding

PropertyDescription
Activity fieldThe field used as the row label (Activity ID, Activity Name, or a custom field).
Start fieldThe actual or planned start date field for the primary bar.
Finish fieldThe actual or planned finish date field for the primary bar.
Baseline startOptional baseline start date field. Renders as a secondary bar below or behind the actual bar.
Baseline finishOptional baseline finish date field.
Progress fieldPercentage complete field used to shade the progress fill within each bar.
Status / classification fieldOptional field for color-coding bars by status (e.g., on track, delayed, critical).

Timescale options

Control the calendar scale displayed across the top of the Gantt:

Timescale tierOptions
Upper timescaleYear, Half-year, Quarter
Lower timescaleQuarter, Month, 2-Week, Week, Day

Mix upper and lower tiers for a two-row header (e.g., Year on top, Month below). The component auto-calculates visible columns based on the date range of the activities in scope.


Dependencies

Dependency lines between activity bars are drawn when a dependency field (predecessor/successor mapping) is bound in the component's data source:

Dependency typeVisual encoding
Finish-to-Start (FS)Arrow from the right end of the predecessor to the left end of the successor.
Start-to-Start (SS)Arrow from the left end of predecessor to the left end of successor.
Finish-to-Finish (FF)Arrow from the right end of predecessor to the right end of successor.
Start-to-Finish (SF)Arrow from the left end of predecessor to the right end of successor.

Dependency lines are styled independently (color, thickness, show/hide). They can be toggled off entirely when the chart is used for milestone-only views.


Critical path highlighting

Enable critical path highlighting to automatically colour activities on the critical path in red (or a custom color). Critical path is determined from the float values in the data source:

  • Activities with zero float are marked as critical.
  • Float threshold is configurable (e.g., activities with float ≤ 2 days may also be flagged).

Phase banners and section bands

Add named horizontal bands that group activity rows visually by phase, discipline, or package:

  1. In Properties → Bands, add a band.
  2. Set the Label, Background color, and the Row range (start row to end row, or by a field value).

Phase banners appear as a colored header bar spanning the full width of the Gantt, above the rows in that group.


Today line and data date line

MarkerDescription
Today lineA vertical line at today's date. Enabled/disabled and styled independently.
Data date lineA vertical line at the schedule's data date (status date). Important for baseline vs. actual comparisons.

Both markers show a tooltip with the exact date on hover in interactive outputs.


Multiple bars per row (lane policy)

PolicyDescription
One bar per activitySingle bar per row. Standard mode.
Stacked (baseline + actual)Baseline bar rendered below the actual bar on the same row.
Separate rowsBaseline and actual rendered on separate rows with indented labels.

Layout and print options

OptionDescription
Row heightFixed height in pixels per row.
Bar heightFraction of row height. Default 0.5.
Milestone shapeDiamond (default), circle, or square for milestone activities.
Assumptions boxFree-text box appended below the chart for notes, assumptions, and qualifications.
Page break controlGantt automatically breaks across PDF pages with the timescale repeating on each page.