Which date field to use to populate Gantt chart?

[stan255]

My team is transitioning to use Gantt charts to visualize our project timelines. There are a few visualizations that we'd like but I'm unsure on which date field should I use to populate the Gantt chart.

1. Launch date (a vertical line that goes straight down the calendar indicating when the project is going live)

2. Start date - project (a date that will determine the start day of all tasks in the project)

3. Start day - tasks (start date for tasks will be determined by this start day and start date of project. For e.g. if start date for project is 1st Jan and start day for task is 1, then the start date for task should be 2nd Jan).

4. End date - tasks (how long does it take to complete a task - 1 day, 5 days, etc)

I understand this might be a complicated question so any help would be greatly appreciated!

[J_Mas · Accepted solution]

Gantt charts display using the Planned Start / End Dates. You have the option to switch to Projected Dates instead and also to have a visual indicator (green triangle) display when the Actual Dates occur. If you're at the Task level, you can also choose to have a visual indicator (red pin) display any Commit Dates.

Other than that, I don't think you're able to change the dates on a Gantt chart. You can't use your own custom date fields. If you haven't already, check out this article for some more Gantt chart details: Configure how information displays on the Gantt Chart.

[stan255]

Thanks, @J_Mas.

I will be creating a Template that the team will use for all future projects. Is there a project start date field that is used to calculate all the tasks start date?

[J_Mas]

I'm not sure I understand the question. But if your tasks don't have any predecessors set, then they should inherit the value in the project's Planned Start Date for that task's Planned Start Date. If you're building your Gantt Chart at the project level, you'd be utilizing these fields:

project:plannedStartDate

project:plannedCompletionDate

project:actualStartDate

project:actualCompletionDate

If you're building your Gantt Chart at the task level, you'd utilize these fields:

task:plannedStartDate

task:plannedCompletionDate

task:actualStartDate

task:actualCompletionDate

task:commitDate

[stan255]

Thanks, @J_Mas. I`ll test it out with those fields. Appreciate your help here.