Gantt Chart Template for Excel

I placed answers to most of the questions that I get asked in a Help section within the Gantt chart worksheet. You are welcome to contact me if you have other questions, but please take a look through the Help first.

In the professional version of the Gantt Chart Template, template rows have been included at the bottom of the worksheet(s) that give you different ways of entering the dates and durations for the tasks. You can even use different methods within the same gantt chart as shown in the image below (the inputs have green backgrounds).

Figure 2. Various ways to enter task dates and durations.

• Working Days (default): The new version of the gantt chart lets you choose the duration of a task by entering the start date and the number of work days (excluding weekends and holidays). This is a critical feature for creating a project plan when you are creating dependent tasks.
• Duration: Enter the number of calendar days for a task. Some projects use 7-day work weeks, or require Saturdays or Sundays to be work days, so this option allows you to handle these cases.
• End Date: Choosing the end date can be useful when you have a deadline that forces you to complete a task by that date.

Also notice that in the professional version, the Start and End dates are formatted to show the week day. This helps you avoid starting or ending on a weekend, without having to consult a calendar.

The time-span displayed in the gantt chart is fixed (8, 11, or 3 months, depending on which gantt chart worksheet you use). But, the slider bar makes it easy to scroll through your entire project. The horizontal scroll bar simply adjusts the first date shown in the chart.

This approach lets you scroll through a project that spans many months and years. In Excel 2007, you can add columns to increase the time-span that is displayed.

Scroll bar for changing the range of dates displayed.

Version 2.2 introduced a brand new option for creating task dependencies. Normally, if you want to make a task start after the completion of another task, you would enter a formula for the Start date like =enddate+1 or =WORKDAY(enddate,1,holidays), where enddate references the End date of the Predecessor task. That isn't too hard, but you can tell by just looking at the gantt chart that there is a dependency defined.

We're experimenting with a new approach, where you create dependencies by referencing the WBS number of up to 3 Predecessor task(s). If you reference the WBS using a formula as shown below, the reference will remain correct even after you insert new tasks. But, if you really want to, you can enter the WBS number manually, as long as you enter the number as text, by adding an apostrophe before the number like '1.2 instead of just 1.2.

Figure 3. Creating task dependencies by referencing Predecessor tasks.

This approach is very new, and I didn't want to add confusion for those that are familiar with the free or older versions, so the Predecessor columns (D-F) are hidden by default. The template rows that provide the necessary formulas are also hidden. So, if you want to experiment with this new method, just unhide all the rows and columns, and copy the rows from the template rows at the bottom of the gantt chart.

In the pro version, a worksheet has been added where you can list holidays and other non-working days that you want to exclude. As long as you don't leave any blanks between the dates or delete row 10 (see below) you can copy/paste, insert/delete, sort, or append to the list.

Figure 4. Various ways to enter task dates and durations.

Automatic Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) numbering makes it easy to copy/paste or move rows around, without having to redefine all of the task numbers. You can also use Excel's grouping and outlining feature to hide or show groups of tasks. See my article on Grouping and Outlining in Excel for an explanation of how to use Excel's "Group and Outline" feature for expanding or contracting groups of items.

How do I easily move data from the free gantt chart to the pro version? There is no automated import/export feature (mainly because of the ability to use custom formulas to define dependencies). But, you can copy and paste the WBS, Task, and Task Lead, and that will give you a good start. First, add rows to the new version to mimic the outline in your old version. After you have copied the WBS/Task/Lead data to the new gantt chart, you will need to step through each task to define the start date, end date, duration and dependencies.

Can I add columns to the Gantt chart? This is one of the most frequently asked questions about the pro version of the gantt chart. The answer is a most definite yes. For example, you could add a column for indicating the number of people associated with each task, the budgeted cost, actual cost, etc.

How do I make a task precede another task by N days? In the gantt chart template, if you want to create a task that will automatically precede (start before) another task by a certain number of work days, you can use a formula for the start date such as =WORKDAY(reference_date, number_of_days, holidays), where "number_of_days" is a negative number of days and "reference_date" is a reference to the start date of the task you want to precede. "holidays" is a named range in Gantt Chart Template Pro. This same technique will work for making a task start N days after another date (using a positive number_of_days).

• Can I increase the number of columns displayed in the Gantt Chart if I'm using Excel 2007?
• Can I enter and display dates in UK format (dd/mm/yy)?
• Can I import tasks into Microsoft Project?
• Green cells are inputs, but why do some contain formulas?
• How do I use the Percent (%) Complete?
• Why is the red line marking Today's Date not showing up?
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