Gantt LWC - Defining Task Duration

This article will help you understand how best to use Duration, Start Date and Finish Date columns.  

What is Task Duration?

Duration refers to the length of time a project task is expected to take.

Inspire Planner supports the following Duration units:

• hours (h)
• days (d) - this is the default duration unit
• weeks (w) - this is 5 business days, even when "weekends as working days" is TRUE in Project settings
• months (mo) - this is 20 business days, even when "weekends as working days" is TRUE in Project settings
• years (y) - this duration unit is only supported in the Gantt Lightning Web Component (LWC) - this is 240 business days, even when "weekends as working days" is TRUE in Project settings

To define the Duration unit, simply append the letter that represents your desired duration unit. For example, '1w' to represent 1 week or '2h' to represent 2 hours. The default Duration unit is in days so if you simply enter a number without a unit, Inspire Planner will interpret the duration in days.

Define Task Duration

You can define the Duration of a task by simply entering a value under the Duration column along with your desired duration unit. Double click on the blank cell beside the task under the Duration column and enter the duration. You can use the up and down arrows to increase or decrease duration.

When you define a task duration, you will notice that the Finish Date automatically adjusts according to the duration from the Start Date.

Alternatively, if you define a Start Date and Finish Date, the Duration automatically populates based on the number of days between the Start and Finish Dates. 

 

To create Milestones, set the task duration to 0 days.

The Parent Task start date will automatically be set to the earliest start date of its subtasks. Likewise, the Parent Task finish date will automatically be set to the latest finish date of its subtasks. The Parent Task duration is the length of time between the Parent Task start and finish dates. When you adjust the duration, start date, finish dates or predecessor relationships of project tasks, they automatically update the values of the parent task.

Please note the following: 

• You need to define the Task Start Date, Finish Date and Duration for child tasks in order for the roll-up on the Parent Task to work properly.
   
• The UI only supports up to a maximum of 15 years duration. This means that if you have child tasks that roll up to the parent task and the total duration exceeds 15 years, the Parent Task Duration will cap at 15 years. However, the "Actual Duration" field in the project detail will still display the total duration for the entire project.
   
• Milestones contribute 1% to the overall % Complete of a Parent Task. For example, if a Parent Task has five child tasks and one of them is a milestone, completing the four non-milestone tasks will bring the Parent Task to 99% complete. The remaining 1% is tied to the milestone. Even if there are multiple milestones under the same Parent Task, they still contribute a combined total of only 1%.
   
• Milestones are excluded from the Project’s % Complete calculation, as only tasks with a duration are considered.
   

• Milestone tasks don’t move when non-working days are added to the project calendar. But if a milestone is linked to another task (a predecessor), it will shift based on that task’s updated schedule. To prevent a milestone from moving when its predecessor changes, add a ‘Must Start On’ or ‘Must Finish On’ constraint to the milestone task.