Mapping Start and Due Dates to Estimates

We have a new feature in the IntelliGantt Web Part, the ability to map start and due dates, that I'd like to highlight with an actual use case. A few customers have asked if its possible for one task list within SharePoint to contain both current and estimate start/due dates and do a comparison between the two.

Let's go to an example. Here is a task list with the standard Start Date and Due Date columns defined. To this we also added EstStart and EstDue, short for Estimated Start Date and Estimated Due Date.




All the data we need is there, but it can be difficult to spot delta's between current and estimate values in this view. So what we've done is create a single SharePoint page with two IntelliGantt Web Parts added to it. The top one shows the current Start Date and Due Date and the bottom one shows the EstStart and EstDue dates.




Even though you see two IntelliGantt Web Parts, the underlying data is coming from the same task list. What we did was configure the second IntelliGantt Web Part to use the estimated start/due date columns and specify which view to use-- the 'Estimates' view. Doing so ensures that when anyone visits this page, this will be the initial presentation they see.

The mapping is done by going into the web part editor and opening the 'IntelliGantt Mapping' category:




The other adjustment we did was to set the initial view on the bottom IntelliGantt Web Part:




By doing so we can craft the columns to display so that the estimates show up. This is possible because the IntelliGantt Web Part adapts its task list display to match the viewable columns defined in your SharePoint list view.

This result is you can view two complete charts of the same data and quickly identify discrepancies-- like all the tasks within the 'Extra' folder taking an extra bit of time.

Now Supporting SharePoint Online in Office 365

Just a quick note that we have validated our IntelliGantt Web Part for SharePoint Online in Office 365. The folks at Microsoft we're kind enough to let us work with the beta and, after a couple hops and a skip (but no jumps!) we had the sandbox version up and going.

We could even put the web part into the Project Management category, which we are excited about:




And here it is running within our teamdirection.sharepoint.com site, which is 100% fully SharePoint Online within Office 365.




The really cool thing is you get complete web part editor backpage support so configuring the IntelliGantt Web Part is a snap. And for consultants setting up Office 365 sites for their clients, don't forget about our branding features.