Creating Gantt Chart Roll-Up Views

How to roll-up many tasks into a simple Gantt chart

Often with a project that has many tasks and phases, it is necessary to simplify the view of the project by rolling-up many of the detailed tasks into a summary task for the purpose of simplifying and focusing the schedule presentation.

OnePager Pro, an add-in for MS Project, can do this easily for you using its virtual summary task feature. You can download a free trial of OnePager Pro to try it out.

This article shows an example of a Microsoft Project file with many tasks all at the same level that would be difficult to discuss from the Microsoft Project file view shown below:

With OnePager Pro you can quickly prepare a project view of this project with rolled-up summary tasks to focus the schedule conversation.

1. Launch OnePager Pro out of Microsoft Project using “Flag20” to control the which task/milestone markers you want to show on your Gantt chart. Give your project view a name:
   
   
2. Click the Create new project view button to import your data from Microsoft Project and create your first Gantt chart.
   
   
3. For the first virtual summary task in the Pre-Planning swimlane, select all the task markers with your mouse, right-click on one of them and select Make virtual summary task from the list in the context menu. The following will result:
   
   
4. Next, repeat this process as many times as necessary to achieve the level of roll-up desired. In the example, the remaining swimlane tasks were summarized but milestone markers were not. After performing this step, the project view will resemble the one below:
   
   
5. Finally, adjust the size of the project view by getting rid of the empty rows by cropping the project view with the control on the OnePager Pro tool bar and move the milestone markers to where you want them. When these functions are finished, the project view will look like the figure below:
   
   

This article shows how OnePager Pro can take a large number of tasks and summarize them into a summary roll-up presentation. As a continuing benefit, OnePager Pro with its ability to take snapshots during the course of a project, permits the project manager to monitor actual schedule against baseline and prepare clear and accurate schedule visualizations for project status presentations.

Using OnePager Pro will allow you to create dynamic, informative project presentations with the click of a button, and it eliminates the need to rebuild your presentation by hand every time your project schedule changes.

Get started today by downloading a free trial or attending one of our demonstration webinars.