Gantt Item Dependencies

Nextedy GANTT extends Polarion’s work item linking functionality by allowing you to visualize and manage task dependencies directly on the Gantt chart. Dependencies are derived from work item links, with full support for advanced dependency types. The behavior and types of dependencies can be fully customized via configuration properties, including optional mapping to specific link roles. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Dependency Links
• Advanced Dependency Types
  • Enable Dependency Types
  • Hide gantt_dependency_metadata    
  • Video Examples
  • Examples of different dependencies

Dependency Links

The dependency links are derived from the work item links. This is controlled by Widget Parameter > Dependency Role 

Dependency Role - select what Work Item link roles should be used to detect Depends-on relationships. If empty, no dependencies will be shown. If you select multiple link roles, the first role is used when creating new links.

If you do not want to let the user create dependency links, put following property to Widget Parameter > Advanced > Gantt Config Script parameter:

    gantt.config.drag_links = false;

Advanced Dependency Types

Starting with Gantt version 2.7.0, you can configure Nextedy Gantt to manage advanced dependency types:

"finish_to_start" - the target task can't start before the source task ends (but it may start later).

"start_to_start" - the target task can't start until the source task starts (but it may start later).

"finish_to_finish" - the target task can't end before the source task ends (but it may end later).

"start_to_finish" - the target task can't end before the source task starts (but it may end later).

Note: If dependencies are not loaded due to limit or hiding, they are completely ignored by the gantt as if they didn't existed.

Enable Dependency Types

Keep just FINISH_TO_START

You can enable these advanced dependencies using a Project/Global administration page > Configuration Properties

nextedy.gantt.default.advanced_dependencies=true

Hide gantt_dependency_metadata    

When using Advanced Dependency Types, Gantt stores this meta-information in the custom field called: "gantt_dependency_metadata"

This custom field shall be hidden to the end users, to do so, make sure this custom field is hidden in Form Configuration

Optional

If you want to map the different dependency types to different link roles in Polarion, you can configure the link role mapping in Configuration Properties.

Put the following lines in Project / Repository Administration > Configuration Properties and adjust them accordingly.

nextedy.gantt.workitems.linkRoles.start_to_start=your_SS_depends_on_role_id
nextedy.gantt.workitems.linkRoles.start_to_finish=your_SF_depends_on_role_id
nextedy.gantt.workitems.linkRoles.finish_to_finish=your_FF_depends_on_role_id
nextedy.gantt.workitems.linkRoles.finish_to_start=your_FS_depends_on_role_id

Note: You can specify multiple link roles (for example due to the fact that you have different dependency roles for different work item types. I.e. the configuration holds comma-separated list of link role ids.

nextedy.gantt.workitems.linkRoles.finish_to_finish=dependency_feature_ff,dependency_task_ff

Advanced Dependencies Off

The link is switched automatically to Finish-to-start

Advanced Dependencies On

The link type is kept (in this case, Start-to-start)

Examples of different dependencies

"finish_to_start" - the target task can't start before the source task ends (but it may start later).

"start_to_start" - the target task can't start until the source task starts (but it may start later).

"finish_to_finish" - the target task can't end before the source task ends (but it may end later).

"start_to_finish" - the target task can't end before the source task starts (but it may end later).

Note: When you have a specific dependency type selected, but the rules of dependency are violated, it shows as a red-dotted line under the wrongly located task on the Gantt Chart.

As you can see, the dependency selected here is "start_to_finish", but the target task ends before the source task starts, which is a dependency constraint violation.

To remove this line and avoid dependency issues, you should move the task corresponding to the selected dependency rules.

For any assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out by submitting a ticket here.