🚨 New SmartSuite Feature: Gantt Chart 🚨

For every tool user, updates and feature releases are always exciting. Recently, SmartSuite, a top-tier no-code automation platform, announced the roll-out of their newest feature — Gantt charts which have been widely embraced by professionals aiming to organize and automate their processes seamlessly.

The Gantt charts also come along with a novel field type dependency system, taking data coordination within the platform to a whole new level. This post aims to walk you through this new feature, how you can leverage it to better optimize your projects, and how it complements the mission of GAP Consulting — helping you get organized and automated.

Before diving in full steam, it’s good to note that automation has rapidly become a cornerstone in building anything in the no-code space. It significantly enhances efficiency, and as Gareth, the owner at GAP Consulting, points out, every no code platform operates on the same fundamental building blocks of automation. It's about understanding the platform and applying these principles effectively.

Gantt charts are a perfect representation of how these fundamentals are put into play. Using detailed Gantt charts in campaign management, for instance, will redefine how you manage all stages of your marketing campaigns. Gantt charts sync everything from the stages of your campaign, the connected tasks, due dates, and more, giving you a comprehensive view of your campaign from start to finish.

The Gantt chart view, built at the 'granular' or task level in this case, is based on three main components; assigned tasks, status of tasks, and task priority. It also crucially requires a 'Due Date' field, a unique feature type in the SmartSuite no-code tool. The 'Due Date' gives tasks a start and end date range which other platforms often lack.

The synchronizing of dependent tasks is perhaps one of the most impressive functionalities of the Gantt chart. You can make tasks interdependent on each other, setting them precisely within established date ranges, rules, and dependencies. Once you assign a task to be dependent on another, the platform automatically reschedules the related tasks to ensure the smooth flow of the campaign process. This dynamic dependency setting is available in all views, including grid view, for maximum convenience.

Interestingly, the Gantt Chart view displays your campaigns, stages, and tasks in a visually appealing hierarchical order. On the Gantt Chart, you can assign precedents and successors, making complex task dependencies effortlessly manageable. For instance, you can visually indicate that both task 5 and task 6 are dependent on task 4 and show how they are expected to flow within time limits, leading to a high level of precision and order in task management.

The Gantt chart goes further by allowing real-time updates and task modification. You can move tasks around, collapse and expand between tasks and stages while simultaneously changing dates. You can manually update information both on the Gantt chart timeline and within the data fields, providing options to suit every user's preference.

Although the Gantt Chart is a great addition, there is still room for improvement. The ability to collapse the chart at various group levels is a much-desired feature. Currently, it's an all-or-nothing affair — you can collapse all or none. Hopefully, an enhancement will be made soon by the SmartSuite team.

In a nutshell, the Gantt chart feature in SmartSuite adds more efficiency to managing various tasks in any campaign or project. Even though today's exploration was on campaign management, the principles are the same across the board. As long as you understand the basic building blocks of automation, you can maximize the potential of the Gantt chart feature in your workflow.

Share your thoughts with us in the comments section and let's keep building!