Advanced Excel – Gantt Chart

Gantt charts are broadly in use for undertaking planning and monitoring. A Gantt chart supplies a graphical illustration of a schedule that helps to plan, coordinate, and observe particular duties in a undertaking. There are software program functions that present Gantt chart as a way of planning work and monitoring the identical corresponding to Microsoft Undertaking. Nevertheless, you possibly can create a Gantt chart simply in Excel additionally.

What’s a Gantt Chart?

A Gantt chart is a chart through which a sequence of horizontal strains exhibits the quantity of labor finished in sure intervals of time with relation to the quantity of labor deliberate for these intervals. The horizontal strains depict duties, job length and job hierarchy.

Henry L. Gantt, an American engineer and social scientist, developed gantt chart as a manufacturing management device in 1917.

In Excel, you possibly can create a Gantt chart by customizing a Stacked Bar chart kind with the Bars representing duties. An Excel Gantt chart usually makes use of days because the unit of time alongside the horizontal axis.

Benefits of Gantt Charts

Gantt chart is steadily utilized in undertaking administration to handle undertaking schedule.

• It supplies visible timeline for beginning and ending particular duties.
• It accommodates a number of duties and timelines right into a single chart.
• It’s a straightforward method to perceive visualization that exhibits the quantity of labor finished, the remaining work, and schedule slippages, if any at any level of time.
• If the Gantt chart is shared at a typical place, it limits the variety of standing conferences.
• Gantt chart promotes on-time deliveries, because the timeline is seen to everybody who’s concerned within the work.
• It promotes collaboration and crew spirit with undertaking completion on-time as a typical objective.
• It supplies a sensible view of the undertaking progress and eliminates undertaking finish surprises.

Preparation of Information

Organize your information in a desk within the following approach −

• Create three columns – Activity, Begin and Period.
• Within the Activity column, give the names of the Duties within the undertaking.
• Within the Begin column, for every Activity, place the variety of days from the Begin Date of the undertaking.
• Within the Period column, for every Activity, place the length of the Activity in days.

Notice − When the Duties are in a hierarchy, Begin of any Activity – Activity_g is Begin of earlier Activity + it’s Period. That’s, Begin of a Activity Activity_h is the Finish of the earlier Activity, Activity_g if they’re in a hierarchy, that means that Activity_h relies on Activity_g. That is known as Activity Dependency.

Following is the info −

Making a Gantt Chart

Step 1 − Choose the info.

Step 2 − Insert a Stacked Bar chart.

Step 3 − Proper click on on a bar representing Begin sequence.

Step 4 − Click on the Fill icon. Choose No Fill from the dropdown record.

Step 5 − Proper click on on the Vertical Axis (Classes Axis).

Step 6 − Choose Format Axis from the dropdown record.

Step 7 − On the AXIS OPTIONS tab, within the Format Axis pane, test the field – Classes in reverse order.

You will note that the Vertical Axis values are reversed. Furthermore, the Horizontal Axis shifts to the highest of the chart.

Step 8 − Make the chart interesting with some formatting.

• In Chart Components, deselect the next −
  • Legend.
  • Gridlines.
• Format the Horizontal Axis as follows −
  • Alter the vary.
  • Main Tick Marks at 5 day intervals.
  • Minor Tick Marks at 1 day intervals.
• Format Information Collection to make the Bars look spectacular.
• Give a Chart Title.

Your Gantt chart is prepared.