A client wanted the Gantt chart to identify the remaining work performance period and mark the contract completion date. Here’s a look at how you do that.
Curtains are static regions on the Gantt chart that are shaded to highlight the breadth of various time periods, such as permitting delays, acquisition delays, holiday shutdowns and the remaining work performance period.
In addition to shading periods, the scheduler can insert an indicator, such as a colored triangle, on the Gantt chart to mark the contract completion date. Combining a curtain and a contract completion-date marker provides stakeholders with all the pertinent information about project leeway and expectations.
This P6 Professional article demonstrates how to shade a work performance period and mark a contract completion date.
Demonstration
We have in Figure 1 our demonstration project.
This schedule has progressed through the data date of February 25, 2029. The contract concludes on May 11, 2026. We want to mark this deadline on the Gantt chart and shade the remaining work performance period leading up to it.
Deadline Marker
We begin by marking the contract completion date with a colored triangle symbol. To do this, we first create User-Defined Fields (UDFs) to mark and label this deadline. In Figure 2, we have created the Deadline Start and Deadline Finish dates; they are just one date, but the Bars dialogue requires you to specify both a start and a finish date.
The UDF named label in Figure 2 is a text data type that stores the marker label. In Figure 3, we added three columns to the activity table: Deadline Start, Deadline Finish and Deadline Label.
Our marker information will be stored in these columns on the Project Complete row, Figure 3. We populated the Deadline Start and Deadline Finish fields, Figure 3, with the same date, May 11, 2029, at 5 p.m. The Deadline Label field is simply the text “Deadline.”
Now that our marker date and label are specified, we are ready to define the marker in the Bars dialogue. We select View | Bars to open the Bars dialogue and define our Deadline bar, as shown in Figure 4.
The Timescale is User Dates; User Start Date, Deadline Start; User Finish Date, Deadline Finish, Figure 4. The filter is All Activities, but we only populated the Project Complete milestone row in the activity table, so that is the only relevant task for the Bars definition. In Figure 4, Bar definition bottom details, we choose the Bar Style tab and enter the Shape, Color and Pattern for markers at each start and finish date, which are the same.
We then select the bottom details Bar Labels tab, Figure 5, and add our deadline label UDF and the Finish date, both positioned to the right of the marker.
We need to adjust the Milestone label so it does not interfere with our Deadline marker labeling. In the Bars dialogue and list of bar definitions, we select the Milestone bar definition and choose Bar Labels in the bottom details, Figure 6.
Because the current project finish date is before the deadline, we must label the Finish date and Activity Name positions on the left, as shown in Figure 6. Figure 7 shows the Activity Table and Gantt chart focusing on the Project Complete milestone and deadline marker.
The Gantt chart labeling in Figure 7 looks good; no label conflicts. But the relationship lines are amiss; they connect to the deadline marker and not the Project Complete milestone, which is not right. The mystery is why?
The answer is that your position in the list or stack of bar definitions matters. It turns out that bar definitions higher in the stack have the relationship lines connect to them. At present, the deadline marker is higher than the Project Complete milestone, so the relationship lines will connect to the deadline marker.
The solution to our relationship lines problem is to lower the Deadline marker definition in the Bars stack and position it below the Milestone Bars definition, Figure 8.
Now our relationship lines on the Gantt chart look correct, Figure 9.
That concludes the insertion of our Deadline marker. And moving forward, it is not necessary to display the three columns in the activity table with the marker information, as this information is readily available on the Gantt chart.
Curtain
Next, we want to add a curtain to shade the remaining work performance period. To do this, we right-click on the Gantt chart (star stamp 1), then left-click (stamps 2 through 4), to choose Attachments, Curtain and Add Curtain from the pop-up menu.
In the Curtain Attachment dialog box, we (1) click the start date field ellipse, (2) select February 25, 2029, on the calendar, (3) adjust the timestamp to 12 am, and (4) choose Select, Figure 11.
We repeat this process for the finish date in Figure 12, setting it to May 11, 2029, at 5 p.m.
The curtain’s dates are set. Now we need to choose a suitable color shading. In Figure 13, we (1) click the color field, (2) choose orange, (3) click define custom color, (4) lighten the color shading and (5) click OK to save our color changes.
Figure 14 displays the schedule with the deadline marker and the light-orange-shaded remaining work performance period.
The last step is to label the curtain. In Figure 15, we (1) left-click a task (and not a WBS element, which won’t work), (2) right-click on the Gantt chart in the same row as our selected task, (3) left-click on Attachments, and (4) left-click to choose Text.
We type in the concise label “Remaining Performance Period” in Figure 16.
Finally, we (1) left-click on the text box outline’s right vertical line, then drag right to make our label a single line, and (2) left-click anywhere inside the text box and drag it to locate it over our Remaining Performance Period curtain, Figure 17.
The final Activity Table and Gantt chart, with the Deadline marker and Remaining Performance Period curtain, are displayed in Figure 18.
The Gantt chart in Figure 18 clearly shows the Remaining Work Performance Period with light-orange shading and the deadline, a light-blue triangular marker labeled “Deadline” with a date and timestamp. From Figure 18, we learn that our project is currently scheduled to conclude slightly later than the baseline finish but before the deadline and well within the Remaining Work Performance Period.
Summary
A curtain is useful for highlighting and showing the breadth of the Remaining Work Performance Period, while the Deadline marker, with its labeling and date, provides a definitive expected completion date. The deadline marker on the Gantt chart is positioned on the same row as the finish milestone.
Depending on whether your deadline is after the current finish date, you will have to adjust the positions left/right of the deadline marker and the finish milestone, respectively. The shading tends to become darker when you print the schedule to a PDF, so you will have to experiment with your color settings and PDF printouts to achieve your preferred curtain color lighting.