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Gantt Charts Project Management Using Excel [Part 1 of 6] Posted on June 16th, 2009 in Charts and Graphs <http://chandoo.org/wp/category/visualization/> , Featured <http://chandoo.org/wp/category/best-of-phd/> , Learn Excel <http://chandoo.org/wp/category/excel/> - 93 comments *Starting this week we are starting a new series of posts on project management using Microsoft excel <http://chandoo.org/wp/project-management/>.* I have been working in various projects in the last 6 years and almost in all cases we have been using excel to manage, measure and track various aspects of project. These posts represent few of the things related to project management using excel that I have learned over the years. <#>*Part 1: Preparing & tracking a project plan using Gantt Charts* Team To Do Lists Project Tracking Tools <http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/06/25/todo-lists-project-tracking-tools/> Project Status Reporting Create a Timeline to display milestones <http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/07/09/project-milestones-in-timeline/> Time sheets and Resource management <http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/08/05/excel-time-sheets-project-management/> Issue Trackers & Risk Management <http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/09/08/issue-trackers/> Project Status Reporting Dashboard <http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/10/06/project-status-dashboard/> Bonus Post: Using Burn Down Charts to Understand Project Progress <http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/07/21/burn-down-charts/> Excel, because of its grid nature provides a great way to prepare and manage project plans. In this part of the project management using Microsoft excel series we will learn how to prepare and track a project plan using gantt chart in excel. Preparing a project plan Not all project plans are same. But most of the project plans have a list of,

* All activities / phases of project * Planned start date of the activity * Planned duration of the activity From tracking perspective, we can add the following, * Actual start date of the activity * Actual duration of the activity * % of the activity completed as of date As you can see, excel provides a great way to manage such plan. Look at an example project plan made in excel. Gantt Chart - Excel - Project Plan But the above plan is more or less static. Using Excels features we can make a dynamic gantt chart that can, * Update the Gantt chart when dates change * Display a separate bar that will grow based on the % completion of each activity * Highlight current week / day in a subtle way In essence, we will create something like this: Steps for preparing an Gantt Chart 1. First make the above layout in a new excel sheet 2. Then we will add several columns in the end, one for each day (or week or month) of the project 3. We will also designate 3 cells say $N$5, $Y$5, $AL$5 where we will maintain the following values, 1. In cell $N$5, a selection option that will change the plan between planned and actual dates 2. In cell $Y$5, a symbol that we can use to display finished portion of work 3. In cell $AL$5, where we can enter the current week (or day or month) 4. Now we will do some conditional formatting <http://chandoo.org/wp/2008/03/13/want-to-be-an-excel-conditional-formatting -rock-star-read-this/> (ahem!) that will highlight a particular cell in the grid, 1. If $N$5 has Planned and cell is between planned date and planned date + planned duration 2. Else, cell is between actual date and actual date + actual duration 5. We will also write formulas <http://chandoo.org/excel-formulas/> in all the cells (same formula pasted over the entire range) which displays a symbol like solid rectangle. For finding out if we should fill in the symbol or not, we use the % completed column of the gantt chart. Figuring out this formula is part of your home work. ;) 6. Finally we will adjust formatting like column widths, fonts, colors etc. and freeze top row so that it is easy to scroll and still know what you are looking at. Once you prepare such plan it is easy to track, find out the status of individual activities and take necessary corrective actions as needed. Download Excel Gantt Chart Template and Make your own project plan Feel free to download gantt chart project plan template

<http://chandoo.org/img/pm/gantt-chart-project-management-template.zip> and make your own project plans using Microsoft Excel. /Download 7 Gantt Chart Templates and 17 other Project Management Templates for Excel *Click here* <http://chandoo.org/wp/project-management-templates/>/ What next? In the next part of this series we will understand how to manage day to day activities of projects using to do lists <http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/06/25/todo-lists-project-tracking-tools/> in excel. Resources for Project Managers Check out my Project Management using Excel page <http://chandoo.org/wp/project-management/> for more resources and helpful information on project management. Your Thoughts and Suggestions Do you work alot on project management activities? Do you find this content useful? share your feedback and experiences through comments. Project Management Templates for Excel <http://chandoo.org/wp/project-management-templates/> <http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=PointyHairedDilbert&loc=en_US> *Spread some love, It makes /you/ awesome!* <#> <#> <#> <http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&winname=addthis&pub=pointy-haired-dil bert&source=tbx-250&lng=en-US&s=delicious&url=http%3A%2F%2Fchandoo.org%2Fwp%2F20 09%2F06%2F16%2Fgantt-charts-project-management%2F&title=Free%20Excel%20Gantt%20C hart%20Template%20and%20Tutorial%20-%20Project%20Management%20Using%20Excel%20%5 BPart%201%20of%206%5D%20%7C%20Chandoo.org%20-%20Learn%20Microsoft%20Excel%20Onli ne&ate=AT-pointy-haired-dilbert/-/-/4e494c1d4732ece3/1&frommenu=1&uid=4e494c1ddb f1bb50&ct=1&pre=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.in%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26source%3Dweb%26cd %3D2%26ved%3D0CDcQFjAB%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fchandoo.org%252Fwp%252F2009%25 2F06%252F16%252Fgantt-charts-project-management%252F%26rct%3Dj%26q%3Dhow%2520to% 2520prepare%2520gantt%2520chart%2520in%2520excel%26ei%3DvktJTpD1IIq0rAeNvYzXAw%2 6usg%3DAFQjCNEWmGIoW-vtGJdnz_gQt84UvandSQ%26cad%3Drja&tt=0> <http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&winname=addthis&pub=pointy-haired-dil bert&source=tbx-250&lng=en-US&s=stumbleupon&url=http%3A%2F%2Fchandoo.org%2Fwp%2F 2009%2F06%2F16%2Fgantt-charts-project-management%2F&title=Free%20Excel%20Gantt%2 0Chart%20Template%20and%20Tutorial%20-%20Project%20Management%20Using%20Excel%20 %5BPart%201%20of%206%5D%20%7C%20Chandoo.org%20-%20Learn%20Microsoft%20Excel%20On line&ate=AT-pointy-haired-dilbert/-/-/4e494c1d4732ece3/2&frommenu=1&uid=4e494c1d 0f178c84&ct=1&pre=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.in%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26source%3Dweb%26 cd%3D2%26ved%3D0CDcQFjAB%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fchandoo.org%252Fwp%252F2009% 252F06%252F16%252Fgantt-charts-project-management%252F%26rct%3Dj%26q%3Dhow%2520t o%2520prepare%2520gantt%2520chart%2520in%2520excel%26ei%3DvktJTpD1IIq0rAeNvYzXAw %26usg%3DAFQjCNEWmGIoW-vtGJdnz_gQt84UvandSQ%26cad%3Drja&tt=0>

<#> Posts & Navigation * Interview With Presentation Zens Garr Reynolds on Charting & Telling Stories <http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/06/15/interview-garr-reynolds-presentation-zen/> * Are you focusing on F word or S word? [Charting Principles] <http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/06/17/focus-on-story-not-formatting/> * Go Back to Home Page <http://chandoo.org/wp/> * * *Have an Excel Question? <http://chandoo.org/forums/>* Tags: charts <http://chandoo.org/wp/tag/charts/>, downloads <http://chandoo.org/wp/tag/downloads/>, gantt charts <http://chandoo.org/wp/tag/gantt-charts/>, Learn Excel <http://chandoo.org/wp/tag/excel/>, Microsoft Excel Conditional Formatting <http://chandoo.org/wp/tag/conditional-formatting/>, Microsoft Excel Formulas <http://chandoo.org/wp/tag/formulas/>, plan <http://chandoo.org/wp/tag/plan/>, pm <http://chandoo.org/wp/tag/pm/>, project management <http://chandoo.org/wp/tag/project-management/>, screencasts <http://chandoo.org/wp/tag/screencasts/>, spreadsheets <http://chandoo.org/wp/tag/spreadsheets/>, tutorials <http://chandoo.org/wp/tag/tutorials/>, visualizations <http://chandoo.org/wp/tag/visualizations/>

Trackbacks & Pingbacks * Pingback by *MogBlog Blog Archive Excel Gantt chart template <http://www.mog-blog.com/excel-gantt-chart-template/> * on June 17, 2009 @ 10:48 pm <#comment-66478> * Pingback by *Team To Do Lists - Project Tracking Tools using Excel [Part 2 of 6] Pointy Haired Dilbert: Charting & Excel Tips Chandoo.org <http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/06/25/todo-lists-project-tracking-tools/> * on June 25, 2009 @ 10:04 am <#comment-67566> * Pingback by *Best month ever [blogging updates] Pointy Haired Dilbert: Charting & Excel Tips - Chandoo.org <http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/07/01/best-month-ever/> * on July 1, 2009 @ 9:46 am <#comment-68522> * Pingback by *Project Management: Show Milestones in a Timeline [Excel Template and Tutorial] Pointy Haired Dilbert: Charting & Excel Tips - Chandoo.org <http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/07/09/project-milestones-in-timeline/> * on July 9, 2009 @ 10:03 am <#comment-69476> * Pingback by *Burn Down Charts - Download burn down chart excel templates, learn how to make one using this tutorial Pointy Haired Dilbert: Charting & Excel Tips - Chandoo.org <http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/07/21/burn-down-charts/> * on July 21, 2009 @ 10:29 am <#comment-70895> * Pingback by *Excel Timesheet Templates, Resource Management Templates - Project Management using Excel Spreadsheets Pointy

Haired Dilbert: Charting & Excel Tips - Chandoo.org <http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/08/05/excel-time-sheets-project-management/> * on August 18, 2009 @ 9:17 pm <#comment-74236> * Pingback by *Issue Trackers, Risk Management using Excel - Project Management Tools [Part 5 of 6] Pointy Haired Dilbert: Charting & Excel Tips - Chandoo.org <http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/09/08/issue-trackers/> * on October 5, 2009 @ 12:22 pm <#comment-79390> * Pingback by *Project Status Dashboard, Project Status Report using Excel - Templates and Downloads Pointy Haired Dilbert: Charting & Excel Tips - Chandoo.org <http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/10/06/project-status-dashboard/> * on October 6, 2009 @ 10:14 am <#comment-79505> * Pingback by *Plantillas en Excel para crear diagramas de Gantt El blog de Octavio Mora <http://octaviomg.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/plantillas-en-excel-para-crear-di agramas-de-gantt/> * on November 11, 2009 @ 4:53 am <#comment-84731> * Pingback by *Best of Pointy Haired Dilbert 2009 Pointy Haired Dilbert: Charting & Excel Tips - Chandoo.org <http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/12/30/best-of-pointy-haired-dilbert-2009/> * on December 30, 2009 @ 2:53 pm <#comment-89681> * Pingback by *schlossBlog #314 VisualPM: Dashboards im PM <http://www.bernhardschloss.de/blog/?p=1118> * on January 8, 2010 @ 9:30 am <#comment-90422> * Pingback by *Group Project Activities to Make Readable Gantt Charts - Excel Gantt Charts Pointy Haired Dilbert: Learn Excel Online Chandoo.org <http://chandoo.org/wp/2010/02/11/group-project-activities-in-gantt-charts/> * on February 11, 2010 @ 9:59 am <#comment-93522> * Pingback by *Automatic Rolling Months in Excel, Dynamic Rolling Months in Excel using Formulas Pointy Haired Dilbert: Learn Excel Online - Chandoo.org <http://chandoo.org/wp/2010/04/06/rolling-months/> * on April 6, 2010 @ 9:47 am <#comment-100191> * Pingback by *A Learning Goldmine Analytically Speaking <http://azartisan.com/analyticalmu/2009/09/11/a-learning-goldmine/> * on June 9, 2010 @ 12:58 am <#comment-110695> * Pingback by *Alternative to Gantt Charts - A Gantt Box Chart Project Management Chandoo.org - Learn Microsoft Excel Online <http://chandoo.org/wp/2010/07/09/gantt-box-chart-proposal/> * on July 9, 2010 @ 8:55 am <#comment-115554> * Pingback by *7 Links and One Question for You Chandoo.org - Learn Microsoft Excel Online <http://chandoo.org/wp/2010/07/23/7-links-for-you/> * on July 23, 2010 @ 8:37 am <#comment-117903> * Pingback by *Best of Chandoo.org 2010 Chandoo.org - Learn Microsoft Excel Online <http://chandoo.org/wp/2010/12/30/best-of-chandoo-org-2010/> * on

December 30, 2010 @ 8:51 am <#comment-155932> * Pingback by *220 Excel Tips, Tutorials, Templates & Resources for You Chandoo.org - Learn Microsoft Excel Online <http://chandoo.org/wp/2011/01/20/220-ms-excel-tips-resources/> * on January 20, 2011 @ 9:24 am <#comment-164537> * Pingback by *Reflective essay: A letter to a (ever so slightly) younger me Yash <http://www.nuuonline.co.uk/Yashblog/wordpress/?p=93> * on May 24, 2011 @ 6:04 am <#comment-203085> * Pingback by *Free Gantt Chart Templates Smartlife <http://smartlifeblog.com/free-gantt-chart-templates/> * on June 8, 2011 @ 5:15 pm <#comment-204745> * Pingback by *??? Project Management Template Chapterpiece.com <http://www.chapterpiece.com/project-management/2010/06/19/free-project-mana gement-template/> * on August 12, 2011 @ 10:39 am <#comment-207949> Comments 1) *marco * June 16, 2009 <#comment-66259> ninja =) 2) *Bruno@Brasil * June 16, 2009 <#comment-66296> Superb! 3) *AlexJ * June 17, 2009 <#comment-66345> Chandoo, One concern with this approach is that it is often very important to display the Planned and Actual schedules superimposed on each other (not available here). Also, it is not uncommon to save multiple benchmarked versions of the plan along with current re-plan, and to display multiple versions of the plan simultaneously. This leads me to the thought that the Gantt chart you present will be very effective for a certain class of project, but not for others (ie. where Primavera or MS Project are more appropriate for their power). Can we identify those cases? Also, it is very clear that Excel is a critically important tool for schedule analysis even when the high-power tools are used. Some of the best uses are for data export/import and graph analysis that far surpass the big boys in flexibility. 4) *Chandoo <http://chandoo.org/wp> * June 17, 2009 <#comment-66354> @Alex I like your point. I have thought about it when writing this post, but I didnt mention the exact method to achieve it here. One reason is I wanted to keep the series and this tutorial simple and yet share powerful ideas. I think excel based gantt charts are less powerful when you compare with MS project or some other project management tool. But excel has one

great advantage that almost everyone in the workplace has it. This is particularly true for large and complex projects where there are several tasks and plans always change. For eg. in MS Project, you can specify dependencies of a particular task and the gantt and schedules will be arranged automatically. I am sure we can do this in excel too, but it would be too many functions and scaling it would be an issue. 5) *rohit1409 * June 17, 2009 <#comment-66385> Thankyou Sir for great works done by you, I have a point .. I used the following formula to shade the weekly cell and then used conditional formating.. I found the INDEX formula bit complicated.. though i didnt make provision for % done.. =IF($M$7=Planned,(IF(AND(H$8>=$C9,H$8=$E9,H$8<=($E9+$F9-1)),2,"))) The value 1 & 2, I have assigned with shades of my choice.. (to which email I can send you my file)..your comments please Regards Rohit Chadha 6) *Pankaj Verma * June 18, 2009 <#comment-66543> Chandoo, Could you please share link to an excel file for download instead of zip file. The Zip file hits the firewall roadblock. 7) *Chandoo <http://chandoo.org/wp> * June 18, 2009 <#comment-66651> @Rohit: Thanks for sharing your formula. Can you upload the file on skydrive and leave the url here that way everyone can see your work.. :) @Pankaj: You can download the .xls file from here http://cid-b663e096d6c08c74.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Public/gantt-chart-proje ct-management-template.xls 8) *Sanjoo * June 21, 2009 <#comment-67009> nice 9) *Sal Paradise * June 29, 2009 <#comment-68157> One concern with this approach is that it is often very important to display the Planned and Actual schedules superimposed on each other (not available here). Im sure it wouldnt be difficult to finagle the conditional formatting to outline the target, and fill in the actual (or vice versa), or some other form of formatting that will superimpose the two. The alternative, of course, is creating a graph that does the same, and shows actual versus projected 10) *Chandoo <http://chandoo.org/wp> * June 29, 2009 <#comment-68164>

@Sal: I agree. Excel 2003 has a limitation on the number of 3 conditional formats applied on a range of cells. Also the formats stop if true. Excel 2007 none of these limitations. We can use that to show planned and actual both on the grid along with % completion. 11) *Jon * July 1, 2009 <#comment-68540> Ive been playing (learning) with this and took cognisance of the need to show planned and actual on the same graph. I used the following formula in the cell =IF(AND(J$8>=$E9,J$8<=($E9+$F9-1),$E9=$C9,J$8<=($C9+$D9)) This got the same effect without the need for a 3rd conditional format. however id like to use that 3rd conditional format to colour the text ? based of the %complete column. Could Index be used ? ill try upload the file later but im at work now. Thanks 12) *jon * July 1, 2009 <#comment-68541> hmm timed out and didnt upload properly ill update later when i get time 13) *Chandoo <http://chandoo.org/wp> * July 2, 2009 <#comment-68649> @Jon: Cool, thanks for sharing your formula. However the formula is not working. I think it missed the other two parameters and only specifies the parameters for AND(). If possible, please upload your file somewhere or email it to me at chandoo.d @ gmail.com so that I will be able to upgrade the version in the post. 14) *jon * July 2, 2009 <#comment-68689> thanks for getting back. i tried to update again last night but it didnt work( and i didnt want to look like i was spamming :) ) http://cid-8d9d5762da62b814.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/Copy%20of%20gant t-chart-project-management-template.xls I looked at the comments from the other users and also noticed that the %complete line shows 100% even if its only 90% in column G. Please note i have only changed Rows 9 and 10. After having a play i came up with the following formulas. in the cell formula i have (note addition of the -1) =IF(AND(H$8>=$E9,H$8<=($E9+$F9-1),$E9=$C9,H$8<=($C9+$D9)) -and=H$8=$AL$6 This frees up the 3rd conditional format. I was hoping to reflect the % complete by changing the colour of the ? based on the %s and colours in columns AO and AP and was hoping Index could do this. your advice would be greatly appreciated :) 15) *jon * July 2, 2009 <#comment-68691> (really doesnt like the way im typing this so ill try without the paragraphs. It should read -)

Please note i have only changed Rows 9 and 10. After having a play i came up with the following formulas. in the cell formula i have (note addition of the -1) =IF(AND(H$8>=$E9,H$8<=($E9+$F9-1),$E9=$C9,H$8<=($C9+$D9)) -and=H$8=$AL$6 16) *jon * July 2, 2009 <#comment-68692> grr in the conditional format formulas i have =AND(H$8>=$C9,H$8<=($C9+$D9)) 17) *Chandoo <http://chandoo.org/wp> * July 9, 2009 <#comment-69474> @Jon Thanks for such an elegant solution. I am trying to update the template and provide another download. I will do it this weekend. 18) *Kelly * July 13, 2009 <#comment-70015> Im feeling very inadequate after reading through these posts (and the tips above). I am a project manager that is trying to get an old fashioned (defunked) program under control by making everything uniform. I thought I was doing well with my chart, until it came to learning actual/planned, conditional formatting, and the formulas needed. Ive been able to figure out a lot of what Im doing on my own, but Ive hit a wall with this last part. Can you please explain what the two different colors on the chart represent (light blue, dark blue) and the difference between the proposed and actual bars? Ive probably taken on more than I should have with a gantt chart, but Im too far along to give up now. Besides, itll drive me crazy until I figure it out. THANK YOU in advance for any help you can lend. 19) *Chandoo <http://chandoo.org/wp> * July 13, 2009 <#comment-70017> @Kelly: Welcome to PHD and thanks for your comments. The spreadsheet uses slightly intricate formulas to show planned or actual gantt chart. The dark blue bars are that. The light blue ones are the portion of work that is finished. This is based on the % complete values you enter. I am not sure if my answer is helping you. Let me know if you want more help. 20) *Espri * July 17, 2009 <#comment-70467> Hi Chandoo Fantastic stuff! How can I change the colors of the cells? I want to change the light blue one. 21) *Chandoo <http://chandoo.org/wp> * July 17, 2009 <#comment-70471> @Espri Welcome to PHD and thanks. You can change the light blue color (actually it is white, due to the blue background it looks like light blue) by selecting the entire grid and changing the font color. :) 22) *Ta * July 28, 2009 <#comment-71695>

Hi, everyone, I just found the very interesting web that open my eye on excel. Can I learn how to create the box with world plan and actual inside. Also I notice there is a legend sheet, what is that? Thanl You. 23) *Clive * July 30, 2009 <#comment-71870> Hi, Im an Excel noob so apologies in advance if the following statements seem foolish. Im wondering if the following could become part of the tutorial. Im currently planning a home extension & will be the de facto project manager. Is it possible to include budgets as a % of total build cost, contractors quotes against actual payments to them, etc. Wont go into too much detail yet in case this sort of enquiry is inappropriate to the thread. Thanks, Clive 24) *Sundeep * July 30, 2009 <#comment-71969> This is really great stuff easy tool to use. One quick question How do i change the grid to display 52 weeks or say 35 to 52 weeks. I am no excel guru so any help is welcome. 25) *Chandoo <http://chandoo.org/wp> * August 3, 2009 <#comment-72300> @Ta: welcome to PHD. you can learn about adding validation drop down list to a cell by reading this article: http://chandoo.org/wp/2008/08/07/excel-add-drop-down-list/ @Clive: Very good idea. I havent really dedicated a whole post to cost aspect. Since cost is directly proportional to effort I left it out. I will be discussing about effort estimation as part of the 4th installment of this series (will be posting it this week). Meanwhile, you can edit the downloadable workbook on this post and add budget details as well. You might want to take a look at the burn-down charts post here: http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/07/21/burn-down-charts/ and may be use it to indicate budget burn down too. @Sundeep: Welcome to PHD. You can easily add more columns.If you are familiar with how excel formulas (and conditional formatting) work then it should be fairly easy. Otherwise spend a few minutes reading articles on conditional formatting (here: http://chandoo.org/wp/tag/conditional-formatting/ ) and formulas (here: http://chandoo.org/wp/tag/formulas/ ) and then try it. Good luck. 26) *DES * August 12, 2009 <#comment-73332> Hi, Thanks for the site. Is there a way to add milestones to the chart with no duration (similar to MS Project) like start, or meeting, or other no duration events? 27) *Sree <http://www.kalas3.blogspot.com> * August 18, 2009 <#comment-74174> Great post! I am trying the project management on excel. Thanks for the tips. 28) *Study Management <http://www.pmpathway.com> * August 25, 2009

<#comment-74937> Great stuff. This info post helps me lot. thanks so much for sharing 29) *Brian * September 2, 2009 <#comment-75842> Not to put a damper into this series of post but using excel as a project management tool (other than unique one/few time use needs) is really a poor idea. Excel is a poor mans database and should only be used with cost reporting for regularly used reports. Even then I do not think it is a great idea. Dont get me wrong I use it all the time for project management. Not because I want to use excel to create the reports let alone collect the data. It is because my company is to cheap and ignorant (of the processes) to buy the software to do project management functions more effectively in less time. Excel is used in way to many cases instead of a properly designed database by us Finance/Accounting professionals. 30) *Steve * September 4, 2009 <#comment-75981> I needed a quick & inexpensive way to build a decent-looking Gantt chart and this fit the bill perfectly. Thanks for posting it. 31) *Chandoo <http://chandoo.org/wp> * September 6, 2009 <#comment-76242> @Brian: I disagree with you on using excel as a project management tool is really a poor idea. part. While excel cannot fulfill a large scale projects management needs, it works very well for day to day project management stuff be it maintaining issue logs, change logs, listing and tracking activities, reporting, analyzing. It is simple to learn and easy to work with. I have used MS project and a handful of agile software project management tools, but I find excel quite simple and intuitive compared to these complicated tools. However, excel has a ton of limitations too. To start with, there is no straight forward way to do even the simplest project management activities using excel. You have to make templates, created models and charts before starting to use it for a real project. That is where this series comes in to picture. My experience is very small and limited. From what I have seen, excel seems like a decent fit when the other choice is learning a complex tool or paying money through nose. But, I am sure you have different experiences and thus different opinion. :) @Sree, Study and Steve.. thank you :) 32) *Brian * September 8, 2009 <#comment-76412> @Chandoo: I partly agree with your statement that is why I said (other than unique one/few time use needs) in my message. I should of added as I did in another post except for small and simple projects. The problem with excel is scalability and multiple users of the same info. Excel is great for making personal logs and list that very few people will use (and have limited amounts of records and fields). I will also say excel is fine for creating very simple schedules. This I agree with, which my post probably did not convey. However, when a lot of people start using the same sheet, then you run into a whole host of problems. Excel is only there to help one do your

job better. My point is you need to look at the alternatives which includes total life cycle cost , creation time, and who will use the information. Spending a little time looking at better ways to do things (which includes taking into consideration everyones fully burdened hourly rate) instead of defaulting to excel can save you a lot of money in the long run. There is no point in recreating the wheel if there is software that cost a firm what they pay for 2 or 3 hours of your time. 33) *Jae * September 9, 2009 <#comment-76512> This is an excellent series and perfect for this situations where (even though you have access to some fancy and more complicated software) once this is set up it can be used as a template for those smaller projects (like the ones I always seem to get) Thank you for the time you put into this presentation! Certainly we can all agree that there can be changes made to suite each of our needs but thats the neat thing about itadd/remove away alter as you likemake it your own Having said that Chandoo I sent you and email to inquire about Pivot Table usage with regards to some portion of this Thanks again for the awesome presentation! Sincerely, Jae 34) *CS * October 25, 2009 <#comment-82234> ..Follow-up to question regarding the colours and the legend sheet Could you explain exactly how the legen sheet is used and what (and where) the link is between the two sheets And about the colours, I managed to change the colors related to the actual element of the grid by selecting the entire grid and changing the font color, but how do I change the color linked to the planned part of the grid thanks for a great series! 35) *ben <http://fatandconfused.blogspot.com> * October 27, 2009 <#comment-82510> Hi, Really liking this, however the %s seem to have very little impact aside from 0 and 100. is their a way to make them reflect the %? Hope that makes sense. Basically if i put 25% or 75% in the amount of area covered is exactly the same. Thanks Ben 36) *Chandoo <http://chandoo.org/wp> * October 27, 2009 <#comment-82513> @CS: legend sheet is used to define the symbols used in filling the gantt chart completion bars and labels for Planned and actual words. The

color is same for both planned and actual. You can edit these colors from conditional formatting dialog. If you are not familiar with conditional formatting, read up this article: http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/03/13/excel-conditional-formatting-basics/ @Ben: I am using a variety of charts called as in-cell charts. That is why may be you are seeing bars in jumps. You can replace the in-cell charts with traditional bar charts so that you can get more fine grained bars Also, try with more duration than 2 days (say 30 days) and you should see bars of varying lengths. 37) *Joe Samek * November 2, 2009 <#comment-83587> How easy would it be to also incorporate a Budget section showing a vertical bar chart presenting the target budget and actual costs incurred in implementing the project? It would be a nice addition to this or the dashboard template. 38) *Chandoo <http://chandoo.org/wp> * November 2, 2009 <#comment-83632> @Joe.. this is very easy to do. Infact you get a gantt chart template (template #1) in the project management bundle that has a vertical bar chart showing activity completions. You can easily configure this to show budget vs. actual spend per activity. See more here: http://chandoo.org/wp/project-management-templates/ 39) *Nicole * February 2, 2010 <#comment-92743> I realize this may be very basic but I cannot seem to figure out how to highlight the week column. Some assistance please. 40) *jon * February 3, 2010 <#comment-92769> Nicole as far as i can remember its in Format Conditional Formatting 41) *Fakhar * February 28, 2010 <#comment-95668> Dear Chandoo, Today I started this Project Management Series but realized that even after reading Chandoos blog I cant independently prepare Gantt chart as I say this because Chandoo is our hero and champion of novices and non-professionals like me and his blogs are not meant only for MVPs. So my request is please explain the above steps like, how we arrive at % done, how you created the graphs, how you created the combo boxes & lists etc., in laymen terms that is, the hallmark of Chanoos blogs, as you explained in an excellent way the conditional formatting and formulas so that even a layman like myself can prepare a gantt chart after reading your blog and say long live Chandoo. Thanks and kind regards Fakhar 42) *Jamie Regan * March 19, 2010 <#comment-98061> I dont understand the difference between actual and % Complete. In any plans I have, I have a Plan and a % complete. If the Plan changes, as long as youve followed a process to justify that change, I dont see the need to keep the original plan and then have a new plan,

which I assume is what the Actual is being used for here. 43) *Chandoo <http://chandoo.org/wp> * March 19, 2010 <#comment-98071> @Jamie Very good point. I have used Actual vs. Planned view as some times in projects even though plans change, managers (and sponsors) stick to original view and want to ask for justifications for schedule slippages. I have seen this happen in several of the projects where I worked. If you follow agile methodologies or similar ideas in project management, this should not be a problem, otherwise you may want to have actual and planned view of gantt to find differences. 44) *Ashu * April 6, 2010 <#comment-100175> hi chandoo, this series of yours is very cool. i saw the template which is quite flawless. however, when i tried to make my own, i couldnt. i am simply very poor at using excel. please help me out. it is quite urgent for me.. thanks a ton.. :) 45) *pratik * May 17, 2010 <#comment-106667> hi chandoo, i like ur work but i want to know the tracking system how to done in ASP.NET if u knw about ASP.NET den plz tell me on my email and u have any example of this den also send me. and i request all my friend who read this comment if u know den u also tell me Thank You 46) *liewi * June 22, 2010 <#comment-112798> hi chandoo, just a line to say thanks a lot dude! thats very helpful. 47) *Chris * July 9, 2010 <#comment-115640> Love the chart, one thing; Id like to change the planned and actual start days from weeks to days. So for example Activity 1 has a planned start date of 1 and actual of 1 I would like to change to: Activity 1 has a planned start date of 7/9/10 and actual of 7/9/10. How can this be done without breaking the formulas?? Thanks, Chris 48) *Chandoo <http://chandoo.org/wp> * July 10, 2010 <#comment-115712> @Chris Thanks for the comments :) You can easily change everything from numbers to dates. Make sure you have changed the numbers in top row to dates of successive weeks as well. It might take sometime to figure out how this works, but you should be able to do it easily without writing drastically new formulas.

49) *Naveen Agrawal * August 29, 2010 <#comment-124640> Awesome 50) *sierra * September 29, 2010 <#comment-130477> beep beep ;) 51) *Anil * October 7, 2010 <#comment-131825> Dear all; see i too want to change the start date format to 1/10/10, I had followed what Chandoo is suggesting, but not successful pls I thin the Dur is the problem.. Pls help tks Anil 52) *James * October 31, 2010 <#comment-136657> This is an excellent chart and am very impressed witht eh feaures, on question, I am a maintenance planner and use MSProject i see this as a bit of a step forward to me if it could schedule in hrs. We have a lot of daily shutdowns that i would like to schedule in a minimun on 30Minute units. Do you think it would be poss to do ??.. Regards James 53) *Josu * November 16, 2010 <#comment-141058> Fantastic chart! Thank you! But when I try to include this into another Excel book, the chart doesnt work propertly. Chandoo, is there any way to integrate this in a different Excel book? thanks again! 54) *x-Project Management Software <http://xprojectmanagement.com/> * January 20, 2011 <#comment-164507> Thank your for your great chart. Is it possible to introduce your chart in our blog at: http://xprojectmanagement.com/ ? This would be helpful for our readers. Best regards, Hong 55) *Chandoo <http://chandoo.org/wp> * January 20, 2011 <#comment-164543> @Hong: you can link to this page with an excerpt and a small image of the chart. I hope that is ok. 56) *Ajunka * January 24, 2011 <#comment-166369> Thank you! Its a pleasure to visit this Web site.

57) *Gantt Chart Excel <http://www.chartgantt.com/> * February 1, 2011 <#comment-170263> Hi, Excel is an excellent tool for creating and managing projects when used correctly. Thanks 58) *Cliff * February 7, 2011 <#comment-173119> Great series ChandooIve bought the set and looking for some help to understand an issue I have run into In Project Management Dashboard 2 (created 10/13/2009): Can you explain the Ongoing Activities 5 calculation you are using? If you put in the number of weeks in the Plan Gantt chart as being 4 you only list 4 activities when I see 6 are highlighted in the Plan Gantt Chart with 1 being 100% completed. My expectations are that 5 activities should be ongoing. (Activities 2-6 with Activity 1 not being shown) Ive tried changing the Index calculation with no luck and tried understanding whether the Named lists are off, but to no avail Cheers Cliff 59) *Chandoo <http://chandoo.org/wp> * February 8, 2011 <#comment-173286> @Cliff Thanks for your comments. I have answered your question via email. 60) *chuan * February 11, 2011 <#comment-174449> Hi, may I know how do I apply the circular reference to have the highlighting of current week or day? Thanks! and your spreadsheet have been of great use to me. Thanks again! 61) *ERly * February 14, 2011 <#comment-175958> Hi chandoo! thanks for this. What does your legends indicate? How do I show actual vs. planned timeline?THanks! 62) *Joe K * March 15, 2011 <#comment-184460> Hi, Great job! I always knew that I knew only 1% of the power of excel. Do you have a version of the worksheet which displays in days rather than in weeks? Will we be able to display weekends & holidays too? 63) *Dave * March 31, 2011 <#comment-188938> Not much use for me. For me It is important to have dates showing, but I could not get that to work. I could not view the planned and actual at the same time, and I needed something that allowed me to compare how things were doing at a glance, and this does not allow it. I think if you go by weeks, then it will be OK, but for those of us that need to work to set dates and dont have the time to compare the week number to a calendar, then sorry, I dont see this being much use, sorry 64) *Dave * March 31, 2011 <#comment-188941> Never mind, got the date thing to work.

Is it possible to view the planned and the actual at the same time? 65) *Danile * April 16, 2011 <#comment-192958> I loved the approach but have hit a wall. .. I am helping a friend implementing a gantt chart I have just downloaded your templates but she needs a cell per week, and in each cell the numbers of days worked in that week. The project is for a few years!. So the bars would go from one bar to 5 bars. I want to align them all so that it looks like a continuous bar with the bars in the first cell aligned to the right if there are less than 5, and the one at the end of the line aligned to the left if less than 5. This cannot be done by conditional formatting as the alignment is not part of the conditional formatting tools ( I am using 2003 for that project, but checked 2007, the alignment is also not a conditional formatting option). I then thought of adding spaces for the days that are not worked, either to the left or to the right using if in the formula. The spaces do not have the same width as the font I tried. Im sure there is an easy way but cannot see it! Thanks! 66) *Lucian Ioan * April 26, 2011 <#comment-195559> It is looking great what you are achieving with Excel but this one is limited at a certain point regarding project management. You can not handle working calendar and all king of scheduling mechanisms if you have these needs. Here is a comparison between spreadsheets and dedicated project management tools: http://www.rationalplan.com/projectmanagementblog/upgrade-from-spreadsheets-to-p roject-management-software/ 67) *Priya * April 28, 2011 <#comment-196575> Hi Chandoo, Thanks for all these great stuff. I made my own chart with planned and actual dates and colored it with conditional formatting. Now I am thinking how to highlight a date which crosses over two months example planned start date is from 28 April to 4 May. It does not work if I repeat dates after 31st for the next month. Please help. 68) *Amy <http://www.EasyProjectPlan.com> * May 18, 2011 <#comment-201753> I use EasyProjectPlan http://www.EasyProjectPlan.com EasyProjectPlan is an Excel Gantt Chart that syncs with Outlook and Microsoft Project 69) *wrigglewords <http://wrigglewords.com> * June 21, 2011 <#comment-205817> thx for sharing this template., very usefull for developing my software., thx :D i already download it.. 70) *aliuolabisi * June 24, 2011 <#comment-206079> can anybody teach me how i can prepare a progress measurement table

71) *Matt * July 19, 2011 <#comment-207405> Hi, just going back to Jon solution Im struggling to get a third CF that will show the border/lines associated with the current week No on the Planned part of the Gantt. Does that make any sense like: colour Thanks, fantastic blog 72) *tpmbrian <http://www.tpmplus.co.uk> * August 9, 2011 <#comment-207858> Hi, I have quite some experience of project management, and would make the following comments. For a large complex project you use Excel at your peril because you should first establish dependancies after you have identified the tasks, then assign resources and evaluate durations in real world calendars, however you can share your MS-Project with Excel users using Paste Link to distribute the calculating engine of MSP. On one project I managed, we took 9 months out of a 3 year project by evaluating the critical path, and doing some re-structuring. Also, I always plan using what % needs completing. Whilst reporting what has been done (actual) is easy you can do nothing about it, it is what still needs to be done that can be managed (nothing to do with Excel or MSP :-) )HOWEVER for relatively simple projects, without complex dependancies everyone seems to use Gantt charts, and Excel is excellent at that, so if you can plan using a Gantt, you can use Excel just keep questioning what is really happening and dont mistake the precision of Excel for the accuracy of the real world. Excellent that the capabilities of Excel are being shared, so keep it up. RSS feed for comments on this post. <http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/06/16/gantt-charts-project-management/feed/> TrackBack URI <http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/06/16/gantt-charts-project-management/trackback/>

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