Top reasons SmartDraw is the ideal project chart (Gantt

chart) software:
 Automatic Drawing
Click simple commands and SmartDraw builds your Gantt chart for you, automatically.
 Automatic Formatting
Add or remove tasks, change start or end dates, and SmartDraw realigns and arranges all
the elements so that everything looks great.
 Quick-Start Templates
Dozens of professionally-designed Gantt chart examples for common projects make you
instantly productive. Simply choose the template that is most similar to your project, and
customize it to suit your needs.
 Microsoft Project® Compatible
Need to share your Gantt chart with Project users? No problem. Export your chart to a
Microsoft Project file with a single click.
 Free Support
Got a question? Call or email us. SmartDraw experts are standing by ready to help, for
free!

What project charts are and how they help you:

A Gantt chart (commonly known as project chart) is used extensively by project managers and
other people involved in scheduling. While it is similar to a timeline in that it deals with time and
events, the format and purpose of a Gantt chart is very different. The Gantt chart is a table with
one task for each row and time in the columns. The unit of time chosen depends on the length
and detail of the product, but some common units are weeks, quarters, months, and years.
Usually there is a column at the left listing the tasks, then columns for start date, end date, and
duration, followed by the columns for time. Each task has a bar extending across the time
columns, representing the duration of the task. Milestones and critical path lines may also be
used to add further detail to the chart. Milestones are important checkpoints or deadlines
represented by small symbols in the time columns. Critical path lines connect task bars to
indicate a dependence of one task upon another's completion or commencement.