Sequence diagram ideas for review, revision, and approval process

Question

I need to make a diagram for completion-review-revision-approval process of technical drawings. The diagram needs to show both the process milestones (completion-review-revision-approval) and also their schedule distributed on weeks.

However I cannot imagine graphically how can I show both the milestones and the schedule.

For example, there are 3 drawings lets say:

Drawing A will be - completed between Week 1-3 - reviewed between Week 3-4 - revision between Week 4-5 - Approved on Week 6

Drawing B will be

• completed between Week 1-4
• reviewed between Week 4-5
• revision between Week 5-6
• Approved on Week 7

Drawing C will be

• completed between Week 3-5
• viewed between Week 5-6
• revision between Week 6-7
• Approved on Week 8

As you can understand, the milestone dates of drawings are distributed into the weeks and intersecting with each other. For example, while the revision of Drawing B is going on, Drawing A is already approved.

Normally we show these process with Gantt chart but I am looking for alternative cool ideas.

I hope explanation of my question is clear to you.

Thanks.

Answer 1

From a graphic design perspective, it's good to keep in mind that what is familiar is what communicates most easily. People don't like finding they have to decode something that ought to be instantly intuitive. That said...

Since you have dependencies in this process (a drawing can't be approved until it's been reviewed and revised, all drawings must be approved before the process is complete), you could represent it with a simple critical path or PERT diagram (not necessarily like the one below).

The boring old, standard old Gantt chart can also be spiffed up a bit, perhaps along these lines, using a different color set for each track, or using color to represent each of the different processes on the various document timelines.