Gantt Chart

The Schedule group on the DVD Cons tab lets you build and maintain a construction programme inside Excel instead of moving to MS Project. It is aimed at planning engineers, site managers and planning staff who must submit a schedule to the client or supervision consultant but want the numbers to stay in their own workbook.

This page covers building and drawing the schedule. Tracking, reporting and analysis (EVM, Baseline, Lookahead, Snapshots) live on Advanced Scheduling.

Commands in this group

Command	What it does
Gantt Tpl	Opens the GanttChart.xlsx template with the standard column structure already set up
Gantt Chart	Draws the Gantt bars to the right of your task table
Auto Calc	Toggles CPM recalculation whenever you edit Duration / Start / Finish / Predecessors
Auto Draw	Toggles automatic redrawing of the chart after each recalculation
Setup	General Settings, Calendar Setup and Column Visibility for the schedule sheet
Update Status	Adds 5 columns — PV / SV / SPI / Δ Finish / Status — to the schedule sheet
Header Language	Flips column headers between Vietnamese ⇄ English
Constraints 🔒	Sets MSO / SNET / FNLT / Deadline date constraints on selected activities
Export XML (P6/MSP) 🔒	Exports the schedule to an MS Project XML (MSPDI) file
Import XML (P6/MSP) 🔒	Imports a schedule from MS Project / Primavera P6 into a new sheet

🔒 = PRO feature. Gantt Chart and Update Status need a valid DVDAddin account (Standard or PRO; Trial covers them); the rest are free.

Building a new schedule

1. Create the data structure. Go to Schedule → Setup → Gantt Tpl to open the template workbook with the correct Activity ID / Task Name / Duration / Start / Finish / Predecessors columns. If the consultant already produced the programme in MS Project or P6, use Import XML (P6/MSP) instead of retyping it.
2. Enter the activity list — task names, durations and predecessor logic. FS / SS / FF / SF relationships with lag are supported and survive the round trip through XML export.
3. Declare the working calendar. Click Setup → Calendar Setup, pick the working days of the week and add the public holidays (see Work Calendar). Skip this and every finish date comes out earlier than reality.
4. Turn on Auto Calc. From then on, editing a duration or a predecessor shifts the whole downstream chain; the Excel status bar confirms with Auto Calc: ON.
5. Draw the chart. Click Gantt Chart. The window asks for three things: Chart scale (Month / Week / Day), Column width (24 for Month, 12 for Week by default; disabled when you pick Day) and Start column (for example AD, or leave blank to let the add-in choose). Click Draw.
6. Turn on Auto Draw so the chart repaints about 0.7 seconds after you stop typing, using the same scale and start column.
7. Pin the contractual milestones with Constraints: select the activity rows, choose a Type (MSO / SNET / FNLT / Deadline) and a Date, then click Apply. Green constraint cells pass, red ones conflict.
8. Track it. Each reporting cycle, update % complete and click Update Status for an instant PV / SV / SPI / Δ Finish / Status readout.
9. Submit. When the client wants an MS Project or P6 file, click Export XML (P6/MSP); the recipient imports it via File → Import → Microsoft Project XML.

Example

600 m² materials warehouse, built from the template, six-day working week:

Activity ID	Task name	Duration	Predecessors	Start	Finish
NK-010	Site clearing and setting out	4	—	05/10	08/10
NK-020	Excavation and blinding concrete	6	NK-010	09/10	15/10
NK-030	Rebar and footing pour	8	NK-020	16/10	24/10
NK-040	Steel frame erection	12	NK-030	26/10	08/11
NK-050	Roofing and cladding	10	NK-040	09/11	20/11
NK-060	Floor slab, finishes, handover	9	NK-050	21/11	30/11

Turn on Auto Calc, click Gantt Chart with Chart scale = Week, Column width = 12, Start column = AD. When the client asks to shorten Steel frame erection from 12 days to 9, you edit one cell — the whole downstream chain and the chart shift three days earlier by themselves.

Tips and caveats

• Drawing the Gantt overwrites the previous chart area and cannot be undone with Ctrl+Z — save the file before the first draw on important data.
• Do not run the command while the cursor is blinking inside a cell (cell edit mode) — Excel rejects the operation and the chart will not update.
• Auto Draw only works while Auto Calc is on. Both toggles are stored in the user registry, so they survive an Excel restart — if dates start moving unexpectedly, check these two buttons first.
• When pasting hundreds of rows, switch Auto Calc off and back on afterwards; on schedules with several hundred activities, switching off just Auto Draw is usually enough to keep typing smooth.
• Never rename the standard columns by hand. For an English version for an international consultant, use Header Language — the add-in still recognises the sheet after the flip.
• Changing anything in Setup does not repaint an existing chart; click Gantt Chart once to see the effect.
• Run Auto Calc once before Export XML so the dates on the sheet are the latest calculated result.

See also

• Advanced Scheduling — EVM, Baseline, Lookahead, Snapshots and recovery planning.
• Work Calendar — the working days and holidays shared by every scheduling command.
• Gantt Chart — every field of the draw dialog in detail.
• Constraints — how hard and soft date constraints behave.