Volume 27: The Gantt Chart & Other Tools to Use for Construction Projects
Gantt charts have been helping plan projects for over 100 years. They work best on highly organized projects that are scheduled linearly, where one phase follows the completion of another.?That makes them the ideal tool for construction project management.
Why Gantt Charts?
General contractors use Gantt charts to break the project into phases, organize tasks, link task dependencies and assign their crew and the subcontractors on the job site.?
Once teams break ground, they use the Gantt chart to track progress, allocate resources and manage costs to deliver the project on time, within budget and meeting quality standards.?
ProjectManager has powerful Gantt charts that link all four types of task dependencies to avoid costly delays and can filter for the critical path, which identifies essential tasks. Once the project plan and schedule are done, set a baseline to capture the plan and compare it to actual progress and costs in real time to help keep projects on track.
More Construction Project Management Tools
Once the project plan has been set in the Gantt chart it can be viewed in ProjectManager across multiple project views. Subcontractors can use task lists to focus on their work, giving general contractors transparency into that work.
Before the project has been approved, use kanban boards to manage the bidding process. This visual workflow tool is ideal for tracking the bidding processes from start to finish.?
ProjectManager’s kanban boards are customizable. Name columns after stages of the bidding process and then use kanban cards to attach documentation as it moves bid solicitation, bid submission, contract formation and project delivery.
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Keep Stakeholders Informed
Throughout the execution of the construction project, it’s critical to monitor and control work to keep stakeholders informed. General contractors do this by generating status reports and other project documentation that captures progress, costs and more.
Once you’ve set a baseline in ProjectManager’s Gantt chart, the software tracks planned effort against actual effort in real time. There are customizable reports on status, workload, timesheets and more that teams can filter to show only the information you want to see.?
There’s also a real-time dashboard that collects live data and displays it on easy-to-read graphs and charts. It’s like having an instant status report. Plus, there’s no time-consuming and complicated setup as with lightweight alternatives.
Free Resources
If you’re not ready to upgrade to construction project management software, there are over 100 free project management templates available for immediate download on the ProjectManager site. There are also eBooks, guides and more. Below is a sampling of the free construction resources you can use right now.
ProjectManager is online construction project management software that connects teams in the office, on the job site and anywhere in the world. Share files, comment at the task level and stay updated with email and in-app notifications. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.