Gantt chart (form)

Article
05/05/2014

Applies To: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Feature Pack, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012

Use this form to display a graphical overview of the current schedule for the selected operations resource or production order. You can also use Gantt chart functionality to manually reschedule the production.

Opening the form

You can open a Gantt chart from several different forms in Microsoft Dynamics AX. The following table shows the purpose of the Gantt chart when it is opened from each form.

Path	Purpose
Click Production control > Common > Production orders > All production orders.	Displays the job load on operations resources or operations resource groups that are scheduled for the selected production order.
Click Production control > Common > Production orders > Planned production orders.	Displays the job load on operations resources or operations resource groups that are scheduled for the selected planned production order. Note To schedule jobs, you must select the Finite capacity field and the Job scheduling option in the Scheduling method field in the Master plans form.
Click Organization administration > Common > Resources > Resources.	Displays the job load that is scheduled for the selected operations resource.
Click Organization administration > Common > Resources > Resource groups.	Displays the job load that is scheduled for the selected operations resource group.
Click Organization administration > Common > Resources > Gantt charts.	Displays the job load that is scheduled for the resources that are included in the selected Gantt chart.

Gantt chart functionality is also available for hour forecasts in Project management and accounting. Click Project management and accounting > Common > Projects > All projects. Select a project, and then click Hour forecasts. Click Scheduling > Gantt chart.

Navigating the form

The following tables provide descriptions for the controls in this form.

Buttons

Button	Description
Resource view or Order view	Switch between the resource view and order view. The resource view groups the jobs by operations resource. The order view groups the jobs by production order.
Get latest	Refresh the Gantt chart to display the latest available data.
Validate	View an Infolog that displays how the changes that you make to the chart affect the existing schedule. The Infolog either confirms that the changes can be made without causing scheduling errors, or gives information about the scheduling errors that are caused by the changes. The program runs the following validations: The job sequence must remain the same. All jobs on a production order must be performed on operations resources that belong to the same site. An overlap job must have the same start date and start time as the first job of the two jobs that overlap. All jobs that are connected to a particular operation must be in the same operations resource, except when an operation spans more than one operations resource. When an operation spans more than one operations resource, the jobs in each resource must be scheduled in parallel, and must have the same start date and start time and the same end date and end time. When an operation spans more than one operations resource, all resources must belong to the same operations resource group. Jobs that belong to secondary operations must be scheduled in parallel with the corresponding jobs that belong to the primary operation. Additionally, they must have the same start date and start time and the same end date and end time as those jobs.
Save	Save the changes that you make to the Gantt chart data.
Undo	Reverse the last unsaved change that you made to the Gantt chart data.
Setup	Open a menu, and select one of the following forms: Setup Views Colors You can enter settings for the Gantt chart in the selected form.
Setup	Open the Gantt chart setup form, where you can define settings that determine what information to display in the Gantt chart, and how to display the information.
Views	Open the Gantt chart views form, where you can define the grouping criteria for the information that is displayed in the Gantt chart.
Colors	Open the Gantt colors form, where you can select the colors to use and define what the colors represent in the Gantt chart.
Print	Print the Gantt chart.

Working with the visual features

When you select a job in the table, the other jobs that are related to the order are also selected. Likewise, when you select a project, other activities that are related to the project are also selected. The relationship among jobs or activities is also reflected in the links that connect the jobs and activities. You can use the following visual features to customize the way that information is displayed in a Gantt chart.

Order view and resource view

You can use the order view to display the jobs that are scheduled for a production order. Alternatively, you can use the resource view to display the jobs that are scheduled for a particular operations resource. When you use the chart, you can switch between the different views.

For example, you can group all operations by order, regardless of the operations resource, and then sort the operations by start time. This can be useful if you want to see how a set of orders flows through various resources before you reschedule the orders because a customer changes a delivery date.

You can set up the detailed criteria for the different views in the Views form.

Sorting order for data

The fixed sorting order for the data that is displayed is as follows:

Data type, either order, planned order, or project
Order number
Operation or activity number
Job type
Operations resource number for primary operations
Priority
Operations resource number for secondary operations
Start date and time

Histogram

When you view a production order or an operations resource, you can display the resource load in a histogram. The histogram displays the load relative to the available capacity. To view the histogram, right-click a resource, and then select Show histogram.

Navigating to the main Microsoft Dynamics AX forms

When you work in the table, you can right-click a job, and access the following information and forms:

Information – Open the Job %1 form, where you can view details about the selected job. This information is updated to display the latest changes that are saved in the Gantt chart.
Open job scheduling form – Open the Job scheduling form, where you can create and run job scheduling.
Go to production – Open the Production orders form, where you can view details about the production order.
Go to operation – Open the Route form, where you can view information about the operation.
Go to job – Open the Jobs form, where you can view or change details about the job.

Visibility of working times and nonworking times

When you select a job, working times are displayed in the color white in the calendar grid. Nonworking times are displayed in the color gray. These colors cannot be changed. You can see which times are available and unavailable for job loading.

Working in the Gantt chart

You can use the following features to facilitate the rescheduling activities in the chart:

In the timescale at the top of the chart, right-click, and then select Timescale interval. In the dialog box, enter dates to define the time interval to display in the grid.
In the timescale at the top of the chart, right-click, and then select Timescale unit. Click to select the unit of time that you want to display in the chart.
In the timescale at the top of the chart, right-click, and then select Grid to display a demarcation of time in the chart. The grid markings are aligned with the timescale unit that you select:
- Minutes are demarcated by hours.
- Hours are demarcated by days.
- Days are demarcated by weeks.
- Weeks are demarcated by months.
- Months are demarcated by years.
In the timescale at the top of the chart, you can select and drag the timescale grid to resize the scale that is displayed. To increase the size of the scale, drag to the right. To decrease the size of the scale, drag to the left.
In the timescale at the top of the chart, right-click, and then select 3D layout to display the timescale in three-dimensional format.
In the chart, right-click, and then select Number of units. In the Number of units dialog box, in the Number of units field, you can specify the minimum amount of time that you can move a job by. The default value is 1. The time unit is seconds and cannot be changed.
In the chart, right-click, and then select 3D layout to display the job load in three-dimensional format.
In the chart, right-click, and then select Zoom. You can select the percentage that you want to magnify the chart by.

Completion bar

In the chart, you can use a completion bar to display the progress of an operation. The progress is based on reported times compared with standard times. You can select whether to show or hide the completion bar. Click Setup > Setup > Production, and then select or clear the Completion check box.

Using colors in the chart

You can use colors to enhance the visual effect of the job data that is displayed in the chart. You can set up a color scheme in the Colors form.

Note

The light green color that is used to indicate a job and the dark green color that is used to indicate a selected job cannot be changed.

Scheduling features

You can perform the following scheduling activities by using the Gantt chart:

Reschedule an operations resource.
Reschedule a job or operation.
Reschedule an order.
Cancel scheduling changes.

For more information, see Schedule production by using a Gantt chart.