What is the Tableau Gantt Chart?
Tableau Gantt chart is a visualization tool that displays the duration of events or activities over a while. It displays each separate mark (also known as a horizontal bar) that displays the duration of the activities in proportion to the size of the bar. This chart is helpful for displaying multiple information, such as project management activities with milestones, project schedules, start/end dates of the activities, and dependencies across the different activities. It provides users with a holistic view of the different activities, thereby ensuring that any conflicts can be resolved on time.
A basic Tableau Gantt chart is shown below. The Gantt chart displays different tasks/activities spread across different timelines that provide a good understanding of the overall tasks and any dependencies if they exist.
In the next section, we will go through the features of a Tableau Gantt chart.
Table of Contents
Key Takeaways
- Tableau Gantt chart displays the duration of events or activities over a while in the form of horizontal bars in proportion to the duration of the events.
- This chart is useful to display multiple information such as project management activities with milestones, project schedule, start/end dates of the activities, and dependencies across the different activities.
- Tableau Gantt chart has different visual features such as task duration, start date and end date for each activity, different phases in a project, milestones, dependencies between the activities, and logical flow of the tasks.
- While the Tableau Gantt chart is a useful tool for high-level project overview, it comes with a few cons such as limited project details and difficulties in interpretation for complex and large datasets.
- Ensure you have evaluated the pros and cons of the Tableau Gantt chart before you recommend using it in your visualization.
Features
The key features of the Tableau Gantt chart are outlined below:
- Display visualization of tasks or activities along with their durations, i.e., time to complete
- Show the Start Date and End Date for each activity in a horizontal bar.
- Visualize the different phases in a project, milestones, dependencies between the activities, and logical flow of the tasks.
- Apply visual customization to view the different color coding, labels, and tooltips.
- Option to include user interactivity such as filtering and data drill-down.
In the next section, we will go through the step-by-step process of creating a Gantt chart with Tableau.
How to create a Gantt chart with Tableau?
To create a Gantt chart with Tableau, follow the instructions outlined below:
Step 1: Navigate to the Data Source tab. Import the dataset into Tableau using the File – Open feature.
Step 2: Click on the New Worksheet icon to open a new worksheet in Tableau.
Step 3: Right-click on the Data pane. Choose Create Calculated Field.
Step 4: Provide a valid name to the calculated field. Specify the logic to populate the values.
It will create a calculated field “Duration.”
Step 5: Drag the attributes to the Rows and Columns section in the view.
Step 6: Click on the down arrow next to Start in the Columns section and choose Exact Date.
It will create different marks in the view. You can also adjust to Tableau Gantt chart minutes to show your project timelines.
Step 7: Drag the Category to the Color and Duration to the Size in the Marks card.
Step 8: Sort the Task/Activities for display.
Step 9: Additionally, sort the categories to display as per the Start date of the different categories.
Note that the Tableau Gantt chart template is not natively available in Tableau, although it provides a Gantt Bar Marks type. You will also notice that the Tableau Gantt chart overlaps, and by applying different color coding, you can create a differentiation.
Examples
In this section, we will go through different examples that demonstrate the Tableau waterfall chart.
Example #1 – Tableau Gantt chart with milestones
In this example, we will create a Tableau Gantt chart with milestones using the Gantt chart dataset. The Gantt chart dataset contains the different project phases along with the list of activities associated with each project phase, as well as the start date, end date, duration, and milestone details.
To create a Tableau Gantt chart with milestones, follow the instructions below:
Step 1: Navigate to the Data Source tab. Click on File – Open. Use the File Navigator to import the Gantt chart dataset into Tableau.
Step 2: Click on the New Worksheet icon. Navigate to a new worksheet.
Step 3: In the new worksheet, drag End Date to the Columns section and Phases and Tasks to the Rows section, respectively.
Step 4: Click on the down arrow next to the Year(End Date), and from the context menu, choose Exact Date.
Tableau will create different marks in the view as shown below.
Step 5: Drag the Progress Status to the Color and Duration to the Size on the Marks card.
Step 6: Drag the Milestone Date to the Columns section.
Step 7: Click on the down arrow next to the Milestone date in the Columns section and choose Exact Date from the context menu.
The visualization below will be created with two different axes, i.e., one for the milestone date and the other one for the end date.
Step 8: Expand the Milestone Date shelf on the Marks card and change the Marks type from Automatic to Shape.
Step 9: Click on the Shape and choose a shape from the available options.
You will see the chosen shapes on the Milestone Date axis, as shown below.
Step 10: Right-click on the End Date axis and choose Tableau Gantt chart Dual Axis from the context menu.
You will notice that the visual now has a Tableau Gantt chart dual axis of Milestone Date and End Date in the view.
Step 11: Right-click on the Milestone Date axis and choose Synchronize Axis from the context menu.
Now, both the axes are synchronized, as visible below.
Step 12: In the Milestone Date, remove all the dimensions and measures, as highlighted below.
It will update the visualization.
Step 13: Right-click on the Milestone Date axis and select Edit Axis.
Step 14: On the Edit Axis window, navigate to the Tick Marks tab. Choose Major Tick Marks and Minor Tick Marks as None.
Step 15: Similarly, navigate to the General tab. Remove the Axis Titles.
Step 16: Expand the Milestone Date, click on Color, and click on More colors.
Step 17: From the color palette, pick a screen color and click on OK.
You will see the milestones in the Tableau Gantt chart.
Step 18: Add Milestone name to the Label in Milestone Date shelf.
Step 19: Right-click on 14 nulls. Choose Hide Indicator.
Step 20: Sort the values of the Project tasks and phases.
Now, your Tableau Gantt chart is ready for display.
Example #2 – Tableau Gantt chart with multiple dates
This example focuses on demonstrating a Tableau Gantt chart with multiple dates using the Project with multiple dates dataset. The dataset contains different project phases applicable to teams along with the completion %.
To create a Tableau Gantt chart with multiple dates, follow the step-by-step instructions below:
Step 1: Import the Project with multiple dates in Tableau using the File Navigator.
Step 2: In a new worksheet, drag the Start date to Columns. Drag the Project Phases and Teams to Rows section.
Step 3: Right-click on the Start Date and select Exact Date from the context menu.
You can see the Tableau chart has now different marks in the view.
Step 4: Drag the Completion % to Color and Duration to the Size. Do it on the Marks card.
Step 5: Sort the chart as per the project phases.
Step 6: Double click on the Sheet 4. This will open an Edit Title window.
Step 7: On the Edit Title window, provide a meaningful name for the sheet.
Now your Tableau Gantt chart with multiple dates is ready for view.
Example #3 – Tableau Gantt chart for project timeline with multiple phases
In this example, we will create a Tableau Gantt chart for the project timeline with multiple phases using the project timeline with multiple phases dataset. The project timeline with multiple phases contains hypothetical project details such as Project phases, activities, start date, end date, status, team responsible, and duration of the activities.
To create a Tableau Gantt chart for a project timeline with multiple phases, follow the steps outlined below:
Step 1: Navigate to the Data Source tab. Import the project timeline with multiple phases using the file navigator in Tableau.
Step 2: Open a new worksheet in Tableau.
Step 3: In the new worksheet, drag the Project End date to Columns. Drag the Project Phases and Project Activities to Rows section.
Step 4: Click on the down arrow next to the Project End date in the Columns section and choose Exact Date from the context menu.
You will see different marks created in the view in the Tableau.
Step 5: Drag the Status to Color and Duration to Size on the Marks card. It will create a Tableau Gantt chart in the view.
Step 6: Sort the order of the Project Phases and Project Activities in the view. Also, you can provide a valid name to the sheet. In this case, we have provided the name of the Tableau Gantt chart for the project timeline with multiple phases to the sheet.
Your Tableau Gantt chart is ready for collaboration and visualization.
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
| • Tableau Gantt chart is easy to interpret and quite useful for visualizing the different phases of a project or activities. • It helps the user to understand the dependencies between different tasks or activities. • It helps you to also visualize the duration of different activities and thereby plan your tasks better. • You can further customize the appearance of the chart for effective visualization. | • Tableau Gantt charts provide limited information associated with tasks or activities and for detailed information, they may not be ideal. • The addition of too much information to a Gantt chart may create difficulties in interpretation and clutter the chart. • For large datasets, you may observe performance challenges in a Gantt chart. • The customization options are limited compared to the options available in a typical project management application. |
Important Things to Note
- Tableau Gantt charts may not be ideal if you are looking for a details project analysis. Consider using project management software for a detailed view of the project or activities.
- Too many details in a Tableau Gantt chart may clutter the chart, making it difficult to read and interpret.
- Ensure you frequently update the datasets to keep the Gantt chart up to date.
- Gantt chart requires the dataset in a specific format for creating the task visualization. Ensure your dataset adheres to those formats.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
While the Tableau Gantt chart doesn’t inherently show dependencies between tasks, however, you can use Tableau features like connecting lines or arrows to map the dependencies between the tasks.
Yes, you can filter or drill down into specific periods in your Tableau Gantt chart. To drill down, click on a bar and choose options such as View Data or Explain Data to get detailed insights.
You can share your Tableau Gantt chart with others using different options. These include:
Publishing the visual into Tableau Public
Export the visual into image or PDF format
You can also deploy the visual into the Tableau server for the licensed version
Tableau Gantt charts are compatible with different data sources including:
Excel, CSV, Tableau public files, MS DB Access, Text files, Statistical files, Spatial files, JSON files, etc.
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