Every date holds — the critical path calculates itself
Structure and timeline in sync, dependencies drawn by hand, buffers and the critical path calculated automatically. Your whole project schedule lives where the work happens.
The schedule goes stale the moment it's finished
When planning and execution live in separate tools, every shift costs nerves — and nobody truly recalculates the consequences.
Detached from the work
The plan sits in Excel or MS Project, the work happens elsewhere. Two truths that drift apart after the very first week.
One shift, nobody recalculates
A task slips — but what that means for every successor and the end date stays inside the project lead's head.
Critical path and buffers invisible
Which tasks have slack and which ones drive the end date — you only find out once it's too late.
No comparison to the original plan
Slippage against the approved plan surfaces in the status report — weeks after it happened.
From work breakdown to a schedule you can trust — in four steps
The same flow PMOs have always known — just without the manual number-crunching.
Structure
The WBS tree becomes the task table: hierarchical, with WBS code, duration, start, end and owner.
Link
Dependencies by dragging between bars or as short text in the predecessor cell — including relation type and offset.
Let it calculate
Forward and backward pass yield buffer, critical path and the four network dates — automatically.
Track
A baseline freezes the state; every later shift shows up as a delta against that target.
Schedule
Structure and timeline — in sync on one screen
On the left the hierarchical task table, on the right the bar chart on a timeline. Both show the same project, always at the same state. Milestones and quality gates stand out clearly from ongoing work packages as their own symbols.
- Configurable columns: WBS code, duration, start, end, predecessor, owner
- Switch the time grid between day, week, month and quarter in one click
- Milestones and quality gates as point symbols without duration
- Colour bars by owner, toggle the today line and labels freely
Dependencies
Capture dependencies as fast as you think them
Drag from the connector of one bar onto the next — the dependency is done. Or type straight into the table row: “6.2; 6.4FF+3” links with relation type and time offset, no dialog needed.
- Link by dragging directly between two bars in the chart
- Predecessor cell as short text: WBS code, relation type and offset in one field
- Circular references are detected and rejected, not silently miscalculated
- Right-click opens details or clears up broken links
Critical path
The schedule shows you what matters on its own
As soon as dependencies exist, the critical path method works through the network: forward and backward pass yield each task's total float. Tasks with zero float are critical — and highlight on demand.
- Critical path highlighted at a glance
- Float corridor on the bar shows the shift range (earliest start to latest finish)
- Detail dialog with the four network dates, total float and critical flag
- Fixed dates stay put as hard anchors and are never scheduled away
Network technique
The classic network view — as activity nodes
If you prefer reading dependencies as a node diagram rather than bars on a timeline, open the standalone network view: each task a node with its four dates, the critical path drawn through. An accidental cycle is named as a concrete chain, not dismissed as “calculation failed”.
- Activity-on-node diagram (CPM) with an absolute or relative time axis
- Metric: how many days until the next critical date — or whether it's overdue
- A circular dependency is shown as a readable cycle chain
- Same critical highlight as the Gantt — one logic, two views
Planning mode
Rehearse schedules before they become binding
In planning mode the Gantt collects your changes client-side and shows how many tasks are affected — only “Save” makes them binding, “Discard” takes it all back. Prefer to commit right away? Switch to live editing.
- Collect several date changes and save them in one step
- The save bar shows the number of changed tasks
- Discard resets the entire draft — risk-free
- Live editing persists every change instantly when you want it
Baseline
Slippage against the approved plan — right in the chart
A baseline freezes all dates at a point in time. In the Gantt it appears as a reference bar beneath the current bar, with the calculated date delta. And the history bar lets you page through every frozen state like a photo album.
- Baseline bar beneath the current bar, with the delta in days
- Two saved baselines can also be compared against each other
- The history bar pages read-only through every plan state
- “Now” returns to the current, editable plan at any time
Network technique, without the effort of network technique
The worry with Gantt and critical path is always the same: too complex, too much upkeep. That's exactly where WORKSPACE.PM comes in.
Nothing to relearn
Familiar scheduling logic by the book: the four network dates, total float, critical path — exactly as you learned it, only calculated automatically.
Your view stays
Columns, today line, dependency arrows, colour by owner — each person sets up the Gantt once, and the choice persists across sessions.
Share without access
The currently displayed schedule as Excel or PDF — for reports, tenders or the client meeting, with no system access needed on the other side.
One timeline you recognise everywhere
The same Gantt component also renders inside the Kanban board — fed from cards instead of project structure. Drag, resize, dependencies, display options: learn it once, operate it the same everywhere.
Common questions about the Gantt & network diagram
What PMOs and project leads want to know before switching.
No. The complete schedule — editable table, bars, milestones, dependencies and network diagram — lives in WORKSPACE.PM. To hand it to third parties, export the currently displayed Gantt as an Excel or PDF file at any time.
Yes. As soon as dependencies exist between tasks, WORKSPACE.PM computes each task's total float via a forward and backward pass. Tasks with zero float form the critical path and can be highlighted on demand.
The cycle is detected and rejected instead of silently miscalculated. The network view shows you the concrete cycle chain — which task points back to itself through which links — so you can resolve it deliberately.
Yes. In planning mode the Gantt collects your changes and shows how many tasks are affected. Only “Save” commits them, “Discard” takes it all back. For instant commits there's live editing.
Yes. A baseline freezes the schedule and appears in the Gantt as a reference bar beneath the current bar, including the date delta. The history bar also lets you page read-only through every frozen state.
Dates that recalculate themselves
Try WORKSPACE.PM free for 14 days — Gantt, network diagram and critical path included. No credit card required.