Scheduling job orders and dependencies
A walkthrough of the schedule Gantt’s data model, dependencies, and subtasks, illustrated with a real five-job sequence: Excavation → Foundation → Structural Framing → MEP Rough-in → Finishing.
What drives the chart
Three records feed the Gantt. Every bar, arrow, and toggle shown below is a direct read of one of these fields.
The schedule Gantt, chained end to end
All five phases of the same demo project, shown in one continuous window. Scroll horizontally within the frame to follow the chain from Excavation through Finishing.
Row height is not fixed — a row with its subtasks expanded, or additional warning text, grows taller than its neighbors. Dependency arrows are measured from the rendered bar itself, not the row, so they remain aligned regardless of row height.
How dependencies work
A dependency defines a finish-to-start relationship between two job orders — for example, Foundation & Footings depends on Excavation & Earthwork, since the latter cannot reasonably begin before the former is complete. A dependency is stored as its own record, independent of either job order, so the prerequisite may belong to a different BOQ bundle entirely.
There are two ways to create a dependency:
Pick it from a list
Available on the job order’s Scope tab. The search covers every job order in the project, not only the current bundle.
Drag it on the Gantt
Drag the handle at the right edge of a bar onto another row to connect the two directly on the chart.
The same rules apply regardless of method: a job order cannot depend on itself, re-adding an existing dependency has no effect, and a dependency that would create a cycle is rejected.
Subtasks
Subtasks appear on the Gantt as a read-only summary; editing continues to take place on the job order’s Scope or Time tab. There are two ways to view them without leaving the chart:
Click the bar
Each status is labeled explicitly rather than conveyed by color alone.
Expand the row’s own toggle
Remains inline within the row, useful for reviewing several job orders without a popup obscuring the chart.