The Gantt module is all you need to manage your project or portfolio. Use it to prepare and visualize your project schedule or roadmap, monitor and control the execution, and generate reports by aggregating your task data or using advanced export features.

The Gantt module includes four key elements:

  • Customizable task list (Work Breakdown Structure - WBS) that presents almost any Jira or built-in fields as columns with aggregated data.

  • Timeline with tasks and dependencies that visualizes your work items and includes auto-scheduling.

  • Resources panel that shows your resources’ workload.

  • Infobar that highlights the most important information related to your project, e.g. Overdue tasks, Critical path, Dependencies, and Milestones.

Use the Gantt to show you project schedules or to visualize your product roadmap:

Example of the Gantt module visualising the sub-Boxes: 

Main features 

The table below lists the main features of the Gantt module:

Feature

Description

Box switcherNavigate between Boxes, change the currently viewed Box or narrow the scope to a Sub-Box.
Scenario mode

Try different variants of your plan, compare the results, and find the best one.

+ Add task

Use this option to add tasks by:

      • Creating new tasks in the Host platform (the Host platform is the Jira instance you are currently using)
      • Importing tasks (requires BigTemplate App)
      • Cloning existing tasks

Use this option to access the scope definition page:

    • Manage scope definition
Data

Add the following features to all tasks within the Box scope:

      • Organize tasks—change the order of your tasks in an ascending or descending way, based on fields added as columns using the Column Views Gantt
      • Period mode—enable auto-scheduling or plan your task manually
      • Baselines—create and display time baselines for your tasks
      • Task grouping — group your tasks and count tasks in each group
      • Re-sync—re-trigger the full synchronization of your Box (requires Box Admin security role)

View Gantt drop down

Change the view options to include more information in the Gantt chart or show additional features:

      • Layout—adjust the row height so that you can fit more tasks on the screen and show a larger portion of your schedule. You can also add grid lines to distinguish between dates.
      • Baselines—set project baselines to compare initial and actual schedules
      • Critical path—highlight tasks on the critical path that determine project duration
      • Period warning—show the position of parent tasks calculated based on its children tasks
      • Progress—show task progress directly on the taskbar
Taskbar

Show task information using labels added to the task on the timeline or change the task colors based on status or manually:

Dependency

Visualize two types of dependencies using Gantt:

      • Strong dependencies
      • Soft dependencies
Show / Hide Resources

Use the Resources panel to see the workload of each resource (assignee).

When enabled, an additional icon with Resources settings will appear:

Effort modes:

      • Original estimate
      • Remaining estimate

Aggregations:

      • Daily
      • Weekly
      • Monthly

Export Gantt

Export your work as:

      • MS Project: MPP, XML, PDF
      • MS Excel: XLSX
      • CSV
      • PDF image

Export requires the BigTemplate App.

Column Views GanttCustomise the task list to display available fields as columns. You can save your Column View and mark it as favorite.
Column configurationConfigure the columns the way you need. Configuration options depend on the type of field added to the view.
Manage Column ViewsAdd or remove columns within the task list. When you add or remove fields the current Column View is modified but will not be saved automatically.
Filters

Add your favorite filters to the header and filter the list tasks to see only the items which you are interested in. There are two types of filters:

Search Box

Use the search box to filter out unwanted information. Choose between two modes:

      • Text search
      • JQL
Timeline zoomZoom in and out, move to the current date, or fit all your tasks on the timeline.
Timeline settings

Show additional elements on the timeline:

Task structure

Indent and outdent your tasks manually or move them up and down the list. The manual structure might be in conflict with the active structure builders in which case a warning will be displayed.

Deleting tasksYou can delete the tasks from the list in which case the task will be also removed from the connected tool (in case of being connected with Trello or other Jira).
Infobar

Show more information about your tasks:

Mini-map

Enable a mini-map to navigate through the whole timeline with a single click.

Editor Slider

Allows you to carry out operations bulk operations on tasks:

  • Delete (the trash icon)
  • Create/Delete a baseline for selected tasks
  • Change the Period mode
  • Convert to Milestone
  • Set up manual color

For an individual task, you can also move it within a tree (indent, outdent, move up, move down) and access the Edit pop up. 

Editing Tasks

Inline Editing

You can use inline editing to change the following fields (once they are added to the column view):

  • Summary
  • Story Points
  • Progress

Double click (left mouse button) on the field to be edited.

Right Click - Edit

  • Right click on:
    • a tasks in the task structure on the left
    • a task on a timeline on the right (anywhere except the task key)
  • Select "Edit"

When you click "Edit" a pop-up window appears, allowing you to modify the Task.

If the task is based on a Jira issue, the "Configure Fields" option at the top right lets you select visible fields. Other items (such as sprints or components) can't be edited in this way.

The pop-up depends on the type of task. If you try to edit a Basic task you will get an appropriate pop-up.

Editor Slider

  • Select a task from the tree on the left by clicking on it (anywhere except the Key). 
  • Task is highlighted in blue and an Editor Slider panel appears in between the task tree and the timeline.
  • Click on the three dots
  • "Edit"

  

Redirection to a Connected Tool

When you click on the Issue Key (either in the Column view or on a timeline) you will be taken to the connected tool (for Jira, it will be the Jira issue screen). 

Constraints:

  • Basic Tasks don't exist in any connected tools, so Key doesn't function as a link
  • For the Project, the Key will take you to the Project screen 
  • For a Sprint, you will be taken to the Issue search displaying all the sprint issues. 

Delete

This action removes the task completely. If it was based on a Jira issue, the task will be deleted from a Jira Project. If you just want to exclude a task from a Box, go to Box Configuration > Tasks > Scope definition to narrow down the scope.

If the task had any children nested under it within the tree:

  • Tasks nested directly under it will have one less 'indent'
  • Structure present under this task (other nesting) will be preserved

You can delete a task in the following ways:

  1. Right-click on a task and select "Delete" from the pop-up menu. 
  2. Click on a task to select if from the Task structure on the left. Select "Delete" from the Editor Slider panel. 
  3. Remove the task directly in the connected tool. 

Convert to Milestone

Convert a task to a milestone / convert a milestone into a task.

Milestones can be interpreted as:

  • Markers of reaching an identifiable stage in any task or the project
  • Software release life cycle states

On the timeline, Milestones are represented as diamonds that do not have any duration (start and end date are the same). If you convert a task into a milestone and then revert it back into a task, the previous task duration will be lost - task duration will be one day because a Milestone doesn't have duration.

Keep in mind, you can't convert a task if it has other items nested underneath it.

To see the pop-up menu, right-click on a Task (either in the Task structure on the left or on the timeline - don't click on the Key). 

Task Color

Task colors can be displayed in two modes:

  • Status based colors
  • Manual colors

View settings can override task color (in both status and manual modes). In particular, the "Overdue" and "Critical Path" views require overriding the task color setup to show critical information).

More information can be found on the following page. 


Period mode

Period mode of all tasks

To change the Period mode of all tasks click the Data drop-down at the top > Period mode and select one of the four options

Period mode of a single task

Make sure the change won't cause a conflict (upper-level task being set to bottom-up and tasks nested under it being set to top-down).

If the Task has children, you can include them in the change:

  • Right-click on the Task (either in the Task structure on the left or on the timeline on the right - don't click on the Key)

  • Click on the Task row to select it and use the Editor Slider panel in the middle

Period mode of a selected group of tasks

  • Select the tasks using the multi-select mechanism
  • Use the Editor Slider panel in the middle

Baseline

Baseline for all tasks

Use the Data drop-down at the top

Baseline for a single task

If the Task has children, you can include them in the change:

  • Right-click on the Task (either in the Task structure on the left or on the timeline on the right - don't click on the Key)

  • Click on the Task row to select it and use the Editor Slider panel in the middle

Baseline for a group of tasks

  • Select the tasks using the multi-select mechanism
  • Use the Editor Slider panel in the middle

Task Structure

You have several ways to organize the task structure. 

  1. Automated Task structure based on Structure builders.

  2. Drag-and-drop mechanism
    You can select a single task (or multiple tasks) and move it by clicking on the icon on far left.

    If you move a task that has children nested under it, the whole structure (task + all its children) will be moved.

  3. Keyboard shortcuts

    Keyboard shortcuts are unavailable in the Cloud version of the App. To find out more about Cloud-related App limitations go to the following page.

    • Move up Shift+↑
    • Move down Shift+↓
    • Indent Shift+→

    • Outdent

      Certain operations are too complex to be carried out for the whole group. If you have selected the tasks and the Editor Slider has the arrows greyed out, you won't be able to carry out the action using shortcuts.

  4. Editor slider
    • Select the tasks using the multi-select mechanism

    • Use the Editor Slider panel in the middle

      Certain operations are too complex to be carried out for the whole group. If you have selected the tasks and the Editor Slider has the arrows greyed out, you won't be able to carry out those actions for the group.

  5. Right-click
    You can select a single task (or multiple tasks). Then, right-click on the Task (either in the Task structure on the left or on the timeline on the right - don't click on the Key). 

    Certain operations are too complex to be carried out for the whole group. Unavailable actions are greyed out.