[[PageOutline]] Trac is strong in basic, individual and small-team task management but lacks features for heavy-duty project management ''a la'' Microsoft Project, Project Manager Workbench, etc. This page discusses those missing features and how they can best be realized. = Gantt Charts = As discussed in [http://groups.google.com/group/trac-users/browse_thread/thread/83c0b6a248040542?hl=en two] [http://groups.google.com/group/trac-users/browse_thread/thread/3084796acbc7233c/3f393a18f99cfebd?hl=en&tvc=2#3f393a18f99cfebd threads] on the Trac Users mailing list, a fundamental requirement for project management is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gantt_chart Gantt chart] to show [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work_breakdown_structure work Breakdown Structure] (WBS). Trac has three Gantt chart plugins: [wiki:FlashGanttPlugin FlashGantt]:: seems complex and stale. [wiki:GanttChartPlugin GanttChart]:: is a very simple Gantt chart implemented in a formatted text region. It is manually edited, not data-driven. [http://willbarton.com/code/tracgantt/ TracGantt]:: has potential but has some funky fields (e.g., Due to Assign) that don't seem to be appropriate to what we want to do with a Gantt chart. There is a [http://www.viewpath.net/Website/ganttcharts/googlegadget.aspx Google Gadget Gantt chart] which might be leveraged for the visualizations once the data is made available. = Requirements = == Gantt Chart Components == In its most basic form, a Gantt chart shows: Tasks:: Self-contained units of work Dependencies:: Relationships between tasks that constrain when they can be done Milestones:: Dates by which one or more tasks must be completed It may also show resource assignments and progress in tasks. It often includes a "today" line to show where a project stands. (If the project is on schedule, all tasks to the left of ''today'' are complete and any task that spans ''today'' has a progress bar to the right of ''today''.) A Gantt chart may also show slack time for tasks, how much they can slip before affecting the overall schedule. == Component Data == Each Gantt chart component or feature requires data to support it. For Trac-based project management, this data is often in addition to the core ticket data. === Core Fields === Core ticket fields include: * type (bug, task, enhancement, etc.) * time (when the ticket was created) * owner (who is working on it) * reporter (who wrote the ticket) * milestone (what milestone this ticket is part of) * status (new, assigned, ..., closed) * summary (short description) Core milestone fields include: * name * due (date and time) * completed (treated as a Boolean: open or closed) * description === Additional Data === For a simple Gantt chart, we may use the following ticket fields: * owner (the resource assigned to the task) * milestone (when the task is due) * summary (short description) In addition, a task must have: * estimate (expected work require to complete task) * percent complete * dependencies It may also prove useful to note that a resource may not be applied 100% to a task. === Timing === While Gantt charts typically show percent complete, this can be computed from hours remaining vs. total estimate or hours worked vs. total estimate. We will not, necessarily, store percent complete. It is intuitive for display and analysis but difficult for data entry. === Dependencies === There are four general types of dependencies for tasks: 1. Task B may have to ''start after'' task A. That is, B can't begin until A is done, perhaps because it uses a product of task A as a raw material. 1. Task A may be ''composed of'' tasks B, C, and D. That is, tasks B, C, and D are subtasks of task A. 1. Task A may have to ''start with'' task B (but they may end independently). For example, auditing someone's work may start when their work starts but may involve analysis and reporting after that work is done. 1. Task A may have to ''end with'' task B (though they may start independently). Each of these relationships has an inverse relationship in the other task. 1. If B ''starts after'' A, then A ''ends before'' B. 1. If A is ''composed of'' B, C, and D, then B, C, and D are ''part of'' A. 1. If A ''starts with'' B, then B also ''starts with'' A. 1. If A ''ends with'' B, then B also ''ends with'' A. While generally useful, the ''starts with'' and ''ends with'' dependencies are somewhat more esoteric than the others and implementation may be deferred. ---- Draft garbage below this line. Still working with it... dependencies (mastertickets does this fine) recording of available resources (people in hours/week) scheduling to show given all of the above when tasks are expected to be done a way to show the schedule = Features = A Gantt plugin for Trac should analyze ticket dependencies and produce an interactive, explorable Gantt chart showing task progress and project status. By "project", I mean a set of related milestones. Perhaps a software project has a Design Phase, an Alpha Release, a Beta Release, and a General Release. Each would be a milestone with a target date and tickets to complete the work for that milestone. There must be a way to specify which milestones to include either listing explicitly or by giving a pattern or substring filter. The chart should be able to show all tickets (though that may be a very complex chart) or alternately all those tickets matched by a (query | report) or any other ticket group provider. A "chart these" button on a report page would be very nice. The chart should support interactively "folding" groups of tasks to hide detail. Tasks in the chart should be links to the tickets they represent. To effectively display project progress, tickets must have estimated and actual times as in the TimingAndEstimation plugin. Each task's bar in the chart should show actual hours. The chart should have a Today line It is also desirable to have loop detection to error-proof the tool used to create dependencies. It would be nice to be able to choose an As Late As Possible or As Soon As Possible algorithm for laying out tasks. The chart (or an accompanying report or tool) should aid in resource leveling by (at least) showing overcommitted resources. = Related Work = MasterTickets TimeingAndEstimation TracHours = Disclaimer = The bulk of this page was prepared by Chris Nelson who makes no claim to be a certified project planner or anything of the sort. It is based on his understanding of project management after 25 years of software development.