Map Metra

Program 5: Gantt chart, baseline and progress

Part 5 of the Program series. Track a construction programme: style the Gantt chart, set a baseline, see slippage against it, enter percent complete, and run the programme health check in Map Metra. Everything shown can also be done by asking the Map Metra connector in Claude or ChatGPT.

How to

  1. 1

    Design

    Switch the toolbar to Gantt, and choose Design. Set the colours for task bars, critical bars, milestones and summary bars.

  2. 2

    Setting a baseline

    A baseline is a snapshot of the programme's dates, so you can compare progress against the plan. Back on the Project toolbar, choose Baseline, then Set baseline now.

  3. 3

    Tracking slippage

    Now the external walls take three days longer than planned. Every activity that follows is pushed out, and the Finish column shows each one running three days late, against the baseline.

  4. 4

    Updating the baseline

    The Baseline menu also lets you re-baseline, to overwrite the snapshot with the current dates, or clear it altogether.

  5. 5

    Progress

    Enter the percent complete for each activity. Site establishment, the topsoil strip and bulk fill are finished, and the slab is sixty percent done.

  6. 6

    Filtering

    Filter, on the Gantt toolbar, can show incomplete activities only, so finished work drops out of the way. Choose All activities to show everything again.

  7. 7

    Health check

    Health checks the programme against good scheduling practice. It looks for circular logic, open ends, negative lags, constraint conflicts, and activities with too much float, and lists each one to fix.