The Gantt chart

You can use the Gantt chart in Heritage Process Portal to act on process instances to bring them back on track.

The Gantt chart contains the following pages:
  • Gantt View page
  • Set Path page
    Important: For the Set Path page to be visible, both of the following prerequisites must be fulfilled:
    • Projected path management must be enabled for the business process definition.
    • You must be authorized to work with projected paths.
    If at least one of these prerequisites is not fulfilled, you see the Diagram page instead of the Set Path page.

Prerequisites

To work with the Gantt chart, the following prerequisites apply:
Business process configuration
The business process definition must be configured in the following way:
  • To see or change a projected path, and to see future tasks on the Gantt View page, projected path management must be enabled for the business process definition.
  • To see the traversed path and the projected path that is based on historical data on the Set Path page, autotracking must be enabled for all parts of the business process definition. If autotracking is not enabled, the traversed path is not shown and the projected path is based on the longest (also known as pessimistic) path through the process instance.
Authorization
To act on a process instance, you must belong to a security group that is assigned to the following Heritage Process Portal action policies:
Table 1. Required authorization for actions in the Process Performance instance dashboard
Actions on instances Required action policies
  • Act on the instance in the Gantt View and Set Path pages
  • Change task dates
  • Change the projected path
  • Save the changes
  • ACTION_VIEW_PROCESS_DIAGRAM
  • ACTION_CHANGE_CRITICAL_PATH
  • ACTION_CHANGE_INSTANCE_DUEDATE
  • View the projected path in the Gantt View page
  • View the instance diagram with the projected path in the Diagram page
  • ACTION_VIEW_PROCESS_DIAGRAM
  • ACTION_VIEW_CRITICAL_PATH
  • View completed tasks and tasks in progress in the Gantt View and the Diagram pages
  • ACTION_VIEW_PROCESS_DIAGRAM
  • Change the instance due date
  • ACTION_CHANGE_INSTANCE_DUEDATE

Gantt View page

Use the Gantt View page to get an overview of the tasks in a process instance. The tasks are represented by bars in the Gantt chart. If the instance contains subprocesses or linked processes, the tasks from these elements are also shown as bars in the chart. The today, due date, and estimated completion lines help you determine whether an instance that is in progress is on track for completion.
  • For tasks up to the today line, the chart shows the path that was taken through the tasks. The color of the task bar indicates the task status.
  • For future tasks after the today line, the chart shows the projected path through these tasks. There are several routes, or paths, that can be followed to complete a process.
    • If distinct paths from start to end nodes are found, projected paths can be displayed on the diagram.
    • If autotracking is enabled, the path is based on historical data for the process snapshot, otherwise the longest (pessimistic) path through the process instance is displayed.
    • If the projected path contains parallel paths, only those tasks that are on the longest path through the instance are shown in the Gantt chart.
    The planned durations and due dates are used to determine the longest path. When you change the due dates or durations of the tasks in the projected path, the longest path might change, and different tasks are subsequently shown in the projected path. You can override the projected path by using the Set Path page.
To resolve issues with the process instance, you can act on the process instance as a whole or on the individual tasks in the instance.
Actions that you can take on the process instance
  • Zoom in on the diagram to better see individual tasks that are close together on the timeline.
    Restriction: If the planned duration of the process is less than 25 minutes, the zoom slider is not enabled for the Gantt View page.
  • Change the due date for an instance that is in progress by clicking Process Due Date.
  • Adjust the due dates, durations, and priorities of several tasks at one time by clicking Batch Modify.
    Restriction: If the process instance contains a group of parallel tasks, you might not be able to change individual tasks within the group in the Batch Modify window.
The Gantt View page includes the following sections:
Tasks in the process instance
How a task is displayed depends on the state of the task. A task can have one of the following states:
Completed tasks
The colors of these tasks indicate whether they completed on track or they were overdue. The bar width indicates the total task time, which includes both the time spent working on the task and the wait time before the work began.

Reworked tasks are indicated by an extra bar on the chart; a bar is added every time that the task is reworked. A reworked task is a task that is performed multiple times. The reason for the rework might be because the work on the task does not meet the completion criteria. For example, if the work on a task requires an approval, and the approval is rejected, then the work on the task must be repeated one or more times until it is approved.

Actions that you can take
  • See the task details by clicking a task bar.
Tasks in progress
The colors of these tasks up to the today line indicate whether they are on track, at risk, or overdue. The due date of the task determines bar width. Reworked tasks are indicated by an extra bar on the chart; a bar is added every time that the task is reworked. A reworked task is a task that is performed multiple times. The reason for the rework might be because the work on the task does not meet the completion criteria. For example, if the work on a task requires an approval, and the approval is rejected, then the work on the task must be repeated one or more times until it is approved.
  • If the work on the task is on track, the bar width indicates the amount of time between the start date and the due date.
  • If a task passes the due date, but its duration to date is less than the historical average total completion time, the bar width indicates the average total completion time. The due date marker is shown at the planned due date. The task is overdue.
  • If a task takes longer than both the due date and the average total time, the bar width indicates the time that the task has taken to date plus 10% of the average total time. The additional time is shown as gray space on the future side of the today line. The due date marker is shown at the planned due date. The task is overdue.
Actions that you can take
  • Change the due date of a task that is in progress by dragging the due date marker to a new date.
  • See the task details by clicking a task bar. From the task details, you can change the due date of the task.
Future tasks
The bar width is determined by the planned duration or due date of the task. If this information is not available, the historical average duration for tasks of the particular type determines the bar width. If historical data is not available, the default task duration is 2 hours.
Actions that you can take
  • See the task details by clicking a task bar. From the task details, you can change the due date of the task. Subsequent tasks are automatically rescheduled.
  • Change the flow through the future tasks on the Set Path page.
Activity stream
The stream contains the comments that were posted and the documents that were attached while work was being done while the process instance was being worked on. The stream comments can help you to identify past issues with tasks in the instance.
Actions that you can take
  • Comment on an existing post.
  • Post a comment or attachment for today by clicking the + (plus) icon.

Set Path page

Important: To see this page, projected path management must be enabled for the business process definition, and you must be authorized to work with projected paths. If at least one of these prerequisites is not fulfilled, you see the Diagram page instead of the Set Path page.

There are several routes, or paths, that can be followed to complete a process. If distinct paths from start to end nodes are found, projected paths can be displayed on the diagram. If autotracking is enabled for the process, the Set Path page displays the path that is most commonly taken through the process. This path is based on a sampling of the historical process instances for the snapshot of the process. You can filter these historical process instances by using a search filter. In addition, the path that has already been traversed is shown in blue. If autotracking is not enabled for the process, the Set Path page displays the longest (pessimistic) path through the process instance.

Actions that you can take
  • Change the projected path through the instance by changing the time period on which the historical data is based.
  • Create a custom projected path by clicking the Set path icon and choosing the new path. Your changes are automatically reflected in the projected path on the Gantt View page. If the instance contains parallel paths, the custom path might affect the longest path through the instance and, therefore, the tasks that are shown in the Gantt chart. The custom path is applied to the process instance only after you click Save.
  • Undo changes to the path by clicking Reset.
Parent topic: Resolving issues with process instances by using the Gantt chart