Join us for an introductory demo of the new Portfolio Gantt chart feature in Method Grid. We’ll show you how it’s structured, how it works and how it enhances your knowledge and project management. We will also take a look at the past year of Product updates to the Method Grid app. There will be […]
Introducing our new portfolio Gantt charts for scheduling, monitoring and managing your entire project portfolio.
You can now manage multiple project grids in one holistic portfolio Gantt, giving you full 360-degree visibility of all your projects across your portfolio.
If you would like to schedule a training session with our customer success team, please contact us.
TLDR – Quick Overview
Too long didn’t read? Here’s a quick overview for you:
You can now view a portfolio level Gantt chart from any folder in your account
Use the folders to organise your account and your portfolio Gantt
Grid Gantt start dates have been replaced with grid constraint dates: the constraint type is ‘start no earlier than’
All grids in your account will now have a ‘start no earlier than’ date set and items with durations will schedule themselves based on this
The top item in all your Gantt charts is now the grid
In portfolio Gantts you can create cross project (grid) dependencies between any Gantt items in any project (grid)
Important Changes in Grid Gantts
To support portfolio Gantt views and cross project (grid) dependencies, some changes to the grid Gantt were necessary:
Previously, the top items in a grid Gantt were your stages (stages > elements/gates > tasks), the top items in all Gantt charts are now grids (grids > stages > elements/gates > tasks). This enables grid to grid and cross grid dependencies.
Previously, grid Gantts used a grid start date. The start date was used to schedule items in the grid Gantt that had durations and no constraints i.e. items would be set to start on this grid (project) start date. The grid start dates are now set as the ‘start no earlier than’ constraint date on grid items e.g. if your grid Gantt previously had a start date of 1st Jan 2024, that grid item will now have a constraint date of 1st Jan 2024 and the constraint type of ‘start no earlier than’. This will retain the project start date for your scheduling and you can now edit a grid’s constraint date/type in the same way as other items in the Gantt. New grids and cloned grids will have this constraint date set to the date they were created or cloned. As all grids in your account will now have a ‘start no earlier than’ date set, any items with durations in your grids will automatically be scheduled to start on that date.
The grid start date at the top of your grid Gantt charts has been replaced with an account start date. This is the global start date for your account. Your grid and portfolio Gantt charts will use this as their default starting date when scheduling items that have durations and no constraints (only if there is no grid constraint date overriding this, see item 2 above) . Architect members (admins) can set/edit your account start date in your account settings.
Viewing the Portfolio Gantt
Portfolio Gantts can be opened from any folder in Method Grid. Folders enable the simple categorisation of your grids and this categorisation is now used by your portfolio Gantt charts. For example, if you have a folder called “Clients” that contains sub-folders for each of your clients, you can view that portfolio of grids by opening that folder and clicking on the Gantt button:
Portfolio Gantts will display the grids in the folder your are viewing as well as its sub-folders:
Portfolio Gantts can be opened and viewed by any internal member with at least view access to that folder. External members do not have access to portfolio Gantts, they can only access project (grid) Gantts in the grids to which they have access. Internal members will only see the grids in the selected folder and its sub-folders to which they have at least view access. Grids to which members do not have access will not be available in their portfolio Gantt, unless they have a cross grid (project) dependency to a grid they do have access to, in which case both these grids will then be shown in order to visualise and understand the holistic schedule view.
Note: In some cases, there may be too many items in the folder to effectively open a portfolio Gantt view. If this is the case, you will see a message explaining that a portfolio Gantt cannot be opened for this folder, you can then move down the folder tree and open the portfolio Gantt for a folder with fewer items.
Note: If you do want to view the portfolio Gantt for your entire account, you can open the main grid library folder and click the Gantt button. The portfolio Gantt will try to load every grid in your account. If there are too many items to reasonably show this Gantt chart, you will see a message explaining this.
The portfolio Gantt has all the tools you’re used to working with in grid level (project) Gantts, you can:
There are four new data columns that are unique to the portfolio Gantt i.e. they are not shown in the grid Gantt, these are:
Folder – The folder the grid is in.
Grid Label – The grid labels assigned to the grid.
Grid Type – Whether the grid is a master or non-master grid.
Grid State – Whether the grid is active or archived.
Each of these new columns can be filtered and sorted in the usual way.
Note: The portfolio Gantt will load all the grids in the folder and its sub-folders, including master grids and archived grids. Once loaded, the Gantt chart will then automatically apply a filter to hide master grids and archived grids. To show these grids, you can either clear all filters or adjust the grid type and grid state column filters.
Note: Grid (project) Gantts also have unique data columns e.g. the element label data is only shown on the grid Gantt.
You can now create dependencies between projects (grids) in your account. You can create dependencies between any items in the Gantt e.g. grid (project) to grid (project), stage to stage, stage to element, gate to element, task to stage, task to task etc. etc. To do this:
Open the portfolio Gantt at the appropriate folder level to see the grids you wish to create dependencies between
Click and drag the dependency connector between the items, or
Enter the item order number in the relevant predecessor or successor cell
You can also configure the dependency in the same way as grid Gantts i.e. change the dependency type, lead or lag.
Note: To create dependencies between grids or to configure any scheduling in a grid, you must have at least edit access to the grids.
When cross project (grid) dependencies are present, your Gantt charts will always load these grids in order to visualise and understand the holistic schedule view. In a grid with cross grid dependencies, you will only be able to edit the schedule of the grid you are currently viewing, the items from the dependent grid will be view only. To work with cross project (grid) dependencies you must be viewing the portfolio Gantt containing those grids. Also, in a grid with cross grid dependencies, you will only see the element labels for the grid you are viewing, the labels from any dependent grids are not shown.
When you clone a folder that has cross grid dependencies, then the dependencies between the grids in the folder being cloned will be kept and dependencies to grids outside of the folder being cloned, will be removed. You can learn more about cloning folders here.
Account Start Date
Members with architect (admin) access can set/edit the account start date in your account settings. To do this:
Click your profile image in the main navigation (bottom left)
Select account settings
Select date and time
Set the required start date
Note: Setting or changing your account’s start date will schedule all items in your account that have a duration to start on this date unless the item has an existing constraint.
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