Get Organized with GanntProject
This week, I found a product that will help you organize your thoughts and make your life and job more seamless. Let’s look at a “project scheduling and management tool” called GanttProject, which is another project brought to us by Sourceforge.
After you download and open GanttProject, a box will appear with various tutorials to help you get started. You can close that box at any time, or you can read through however many of them there are. I could not find any good videos in English on GanttProject; but if you speak French, I think I saw some videos in French. They do provide this slideshow to help you get started though.
Since there aren’t any good videos in English, I am going to bullet point what you can expect and where to go. I provided you with some screen shots to make it easier to follow along.
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GanntProject Task Properties
- GanttProject Task Properties
Resources
- In the main window, there are two tabs. When you open GanttProject, it will open to the Gantt tab. Click on the resources tab.
- Right Click in the left window > Select New Resource > Fill out information.
- To edit information right click in the added resources name > select human properties.
- In side of human properties, to select days off you must click ‘Add.’
- To send an e-mail, right click > select ‘send e-mail’
Task Properties
- To get to the screen you see pictured > click the right arrow below ‘Resources’ > A new task will appear.
- Right click task > Select ‘Task Properties’ (Give the project a name, change the dates that you have to work on it, etc)
- Right click above your new task property (on Name/Begin Date/End Date) > you can add or delete categories.
- Right click the calendar section > select chart options (Change the calendar’s look and feel)
Now, let’s look at the menu bar and see what you can do with GanttProject.
Settings
- Edit > Settingsa. FTP > Here you can set up access so that other members of your team have access to your Gantt Project.b.Resource Role > If you want to change the possible titles in GanttProject main window’s Resource tab, you can do so here.c. Languages > For those who don’t speak English, they can change their default language here.d. Project > Here, you can set up basic information about the project, such as a default Web site that is associated with the site.
Project
- Export: Export as a JPEG, PNG, HTML, or other type of file.
- Import from either a Txt file or a Microsoft project file.
- Web server > Save to a server. This will allow you to save it as an XML file.
Other Notable Features
- View > PERT chart (If you want to view your project as a PERT chart)
- Resources > Import resources (As any type of file)
