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You can use Visio Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) charts at the beginning of a project to organize tasks, establish time frames, and illustrate dependencies. PERT charts are also useful in communicating the path that you plan to take to accomplish a specific goal. For example, you might use a PERT chart to outline the steps required for your department to meet its two-year revenue objectives.

This articles describes how to:

• Create a PERT chart structure
• Add information to a PERT chart
• Refine a PERT chart
• Create a hierarchical summary of a project

For instructions about adding annotations to a PERT chart and improving the way a chart looks, see Prepare Visio 2002 schedule diagrams for presentation.

In a PERT chart, each node (rectangular shape) represents a task, and the connections between tasks indicate dependencies.

Create a PERT chart structure

In a PERT chart, each project task or step is represented by a node (a rectangular shape divided into sections where you can record task data). The first step in creating a PERT chart is to place a node for each task onto the drawing page. By connecting the nodes, you indicate the order in which the tasks must be completed and the dependencies between them.

To create a PERT chart structure

1. In Visio, on the File menu, point to New, point to Project Schedule, and then click PERT Chart.
2. From the PERT Chart Shapes stencil, drag a PERT 1 or PERT 2 shape onto the drawing page to create the first node.
3. Drag a second PERT 1 or PERT 2 shape onto the drawing page to create the second node.
4. Drag a Dynamic connector shape onto the drawing page.
5. Click away from the connector, to see which end has an arrowhead, select the connector, and then drag the end without the arrowhead to the middle of the first node until a red box appears around the entire shape.
   
   
6. Connect the end of the connector with an arrowhead to the second node the same way.

   The shapes are connected dynamically, which means that the shapes will stay connected at the closest available points when you move them.

7. Continue dragging and connecting node shapes until each of your project tasks, or steps, is represented by a node.

Add information to a PERT chart

After the PERT chart structure is in place, you can add task information to the nodes and to the connectors between the nodes.

To add task information to a node

1. Click a node to select it.
2. Type the name of the task that the node represents.

3. The name that you type replaces the words "Task Name" in the node.

4. Click one of the node's subdivisions to select it, and then type the text that you want to replace the existing text.

   Note   Use the default text in a node subdivision only as a guideline for the type of information you might add. For example, in the subdivision of the PERT 2 shape named Scheduled Finish, you can type the task's duration, or any other text pertinent to the task.

5. Repeat Step 3 until you have replaced all of the default text in each node.

Tip   To delete the default text and leave a node's subdivisions empty, select a subdivision, and then press the SPACEBAR.

To add text to a connector

1. Click a connector to select it.
2. On the connector, type the text that you want to see.

Refine a PERT chart

After you create a PERT chart, you may have to revise it. The following table describes how to change the existing structure of a PERT chart and the data it contains.

Create a hierarchical summary of a project

Before you begin to schedule a project, you may want to brainstorm about the project's tasks and create a picture of how the tasks relate to one another. You can use a specially designed shape on the PERT Chart Shapes stencil to quickly create a hierarchical task summary.

Using the Summarization structure shape from the PERT Chart Shapes stencil, you can map the relationships between the tasks in a project.

To create a hierarchical task summary

1. In Visio, on the File menu, point to New, point to Project Schedule, and then click PERT Chart.
2. Drag a Summarization structure shape from the PERT Chart Shapes stencil onto the drawing page.
3. Drag a second Summarization structure shape onto the drawing page and place it beneath the first shape.
4. Drag the control handle from the second shape, and glue it to a connection point on the bottom of the first shape.
5. Continue dragging Summarization structure shapes and gluing their control handles to shapes higher in the hierarchy until you've documented all the tasks that your project involves.

Note   To present the hierarchical task summary to colleagues, see Prepare Visio 2002 schedule diagrams for presentation for tips about how to improve the diagram's appearance.