Adding data to the visual - Profitbase/PowerBI-visuals-Gantt GitHub Wiki

To build a Gantt chart in Power BI, you assign fields from your dataset to specific data buckets in the Build visual pane. This guide provides an overview of each data bucket, what type of data it expects, how it impacts the layout of your chart, and links to detailed guides for each feature.

Data Buckets Overview

Category Data Bucket Required? Purpose Detailed Guide
1. Core Fields Tasks and Hierarchy Yes Defines row names and collapsible parent-child groupings
Start Date Yes Sets the beginning (left edge) of the taskbar
End Date Optional Sets the end (right edge) of the taskbar (requires Duration if empty)
Duration Optional Defines task length (requires End Date if empty) Duration
2. Progress Tracking Progress No Draws progress completion fill inside the taskbars Progress
Progress Base No Defines baseline comparison values for progress percentages Progress
3. Baselines & Milestones Planned Start and End Date No Draws thin orange baseline bars under taskbars for plan vs. actual Baseline Formatting
Milestones No Places milestone shapes (diamonds, circles) on specific dates Milestones
Milestone Details No Supplies labels and tooltip text for milestones Milestones
4. Connections & Dependencies Primary Connect To No Draws dependency connector lines from predecessor tasks Manual Dependencies, Dependency Offset
Primary Connect Type No Sets the relationship type of the dependency connector line Manual Dependencies
5. Visual Customization Additional Columns No Renders extra columns in the data grid beside task names Additional Columns
Tooltip Fields No Appends custom fields to the task hover tooltips
Data Labels No Displays fields as text annotations on or next to the taskbars Data Labels
6. Events & Conditions Dynamic Event No Places dynamic vertical event lines across the timeline Dynamic Event Markers
Dynamic Event Label No Captions the dynamic vertical event lines Dynamic Event Markers
Conditions No Supplies values to conditional formatting rules Conditions Bucket

1. Core Fields

These fields are the minimum setup required to render rows and taskbars on your timeline.

Tasks and Hierarchy

  • Suggested Data Type: Text or Category

Add a text field here to display names in the first column of the data grid. Dragging multiple fields into this bucket automatically creates a collapsible hierarchy of grouped tasks (for example, grouping by Phase and then by Task).

Start Date

  • Suggested Data Type: Date or Date/Time

This field defines the beginning point of each taskbar on the timeline.

End Date

  • Suggested Data Type: Date or Date/Time

This field defines the ending point of the taskbar. If you leave this empty, the task will be represented as a milestone shape (such as a dot) on its start date, unless you provide a Duration.

Duration

  • Suggested Data Type: Number

An alternative to using an End Date. If your task starts at the Start Date and lasts for a set length of time (such as 2 weeks), place the duration field here. You can configure the duration unit (ranging from seconds to years) in the Formatting pane.

  • Detailed Guide: For managing task duration metrics, see Duration.

Duration configuration example

2. Progress Tracking

Progress

  • Suggested Data Type: Number (between 0 and 1)

Add a field here to display progress completion fills directly inside the taskbars. For example, a value of 0.5 represents a 50% completed task.

  • Detailed Guide: See Progress for detailed styling options.

Progress tracking bar fill

Progress Base

  • Suggested Data Type: Number or Date

Add a field here to display progress against a target baseline. You can use a single numeric field, or two date fields to define a progress start and end window.

  • Detailed Guide: See Progress for more info about how the Progress Base works.

3. Baselines & Milestones

Planned Start and End Date

  • Suggested Data Type: Date or Date/Time

Add fields here to show when a task was originally scheduled to start and end. This draws a thin, distinct baseline bar directly beneath each actual taskbar, making it easy to track plan vs. actual performance.

Planned versus actual timeline bars

Milestones

  • Suggested Data Type: Date or Date/Time

Add date fields to show milestones on tasks. You can add multiple fields to this bucket if a task has several key dates. Milestones display as distinct shapes (such as diamonds or circles) on specific dates.

  • Detailed Guide: See Milestones for configuration and design options.

Milestone icons on timeline

Milestone Details

  • Suggested Data Type: Any

Fields placed here are matched by position to the dates in the Milestones bucket. They supply the labels or hover tooltip descriptions for those milestones.

  • Detailed Guide: See Milestones to configure milestone text descriptions.

Milestone labels and details example

4. Connections & Dependencies

Primary Connect To

  • Suggested Data Type: Text (Task ID)

Add a task ID or task name reference here to display dependency connector lines. If one task is dependent on another, a line will draw linking the predecessor task to the successor task.

Task dependency lines

Primary Connect Type

  • Suggested Data Type: Text

Specifies the type of relationship and how the connector line behaves.

  • Note: The field must match one of the link codes: FS (Finish-to-Start), FF (Finish-to-Finish), SS (Start-to-Start), SF (Start-to-Finish), or their corresponding long names.
  • Detailed Guide: See Manual Dependencies.

5. Visual Customization & Tooltips

Additional Columns

  • Suggested Data Type: Any

Fields added here will display as extra columns in the data grid on the left side, right next to your task names.

Tooltip Fields

  • Suggested Data Type: Any

Add fields here to include custom data in the popup tooltip that appears when users hover over bars on the chart.

Data Labels

  • Suggested Data Type: Any

Add fields here to display text labels directly on or next to the taskbars. If multiple fields are added, the visual separates them with a divider (such as | or ,).

Data labels on timeline bars

6. Events & Conditions

Dynamic Event

  • Suggested Data Type: Date or Date/Time

Add a date field here to draw vertical event lines across the timeline dynamically based on dates in your dataset.

Dynamic Event Label

  • Suggested Data Type: Text

Provides the descriptive text label printed alongside each dynamic event line.

Conditions

  • Suggested Data Type: Any

Accepts fields or measures to be used in conditional formatting rules (e.g., custom color rules). This bucket feeds calculations to your color formatting without showing the raw data values directly on the chart.