gantt_chart tutorials in details

8/7/2019 Gantt_chart Tutorials in Details

1/13

Copyright e-skills UK Sector Skills Council Ltd 2000-2008 1

Briefing document: How to create a Gantt chart usinga spreadsheet

A Gantt chart is a popular way of using a bar-type chart to show theschedule for a project. It is named after Henry Gantt who created his

chart in 1910 although it is said that he took the idea of someoneelse whod produced a chart much earlier! But because his idea wasthe first one published, it was named after him.

The chart represents the tasks within a project and shows when theyshould begin and end. It can also be used to show relationships

between tasks dependencies, for example, where one task isdependent on the completion of another. It is also possible to

represent tasks that can be carried out at the same time, depending

on resources. For example, if you are working in a team, it might bethat someone can be working on the audio whilst someone else workson the video. The chart provides a very visual way of showing the

progress of a project, and allows you to check at any time what should

be happening.

This briefing document will introduce you to making a project plan foryour website using a simple spreadsheet.

Step 1: Select your software program

Any spreadsheet program can be used for creating a Gantt chart. The

program were going to use in the example is MS Excel. Open Exceland immediately save your spreadsheet into your My Documents area.

Call it Project Plan.

Step 2: Creating the tasks

The first column in the spreadsheet will list all the tasks you need to

do in your project. For this example we are going to use research(into existing sites), audience (researching the audience for your

website), design (what the website will look and feel like), images(what images you will include), audio (creating the audio content),

video (filming and editing the video), content (writing the text),integration (bringing everything together) and evaluation (user

testing and collecting feedback). Enter the names in the first column.Your spreadsheet should look like Figure 1 below.


2/13


Figure 1: Listing the tasks

Step 3: Defining the start dates

This is where you have to start planning your project! You need todecide when each task is going to start. This might depend on your

deadline that is, the date you need to deliver your final website.

Supposing you have seven weeks to deliver your project, and youregoing to start on 1st September 2008. The first thing you will need to

do is carry out research into existing websites, and some research into

your audience type. So these two tasks need to be done first.Realistically we will start with research into websites on 1st September

and research into audience two days later, 3rd September.

To enter the start dates, begin by defining the second column for thisvariable (a variable is something that has a changing value so in this

case its the different dates that tasks in the project will start on).Enter Start Date in the first cell of column B (make it bold by

highlighting it and choosing bold from the toolbar). Right click on the Bat the top of the column, and select format cells. Choose date and

then select which format you would like your date to appear as. Ihave chosen the 01.09.08 format, but you can choose a different

format.

Every time I enter a date in this column, it will appear in the same

format, even if I type in 1 September. See figure 2 for the steps inthis process and what you should see when you enter the dates.


3/13


Figure 2: Entering the start dates

1. Select format cells after right clicking

the top of the column (so the wholecolumn is selected).

2. Select date and choose the

format you would like the date toappear in. I have selected the

format 01.09.08.

3. Every time I enter a date, even if I

write it as 3 Sep, it will change to theselected format.


4/13


Continue to enter realistic dates for when you think you will start the

different tasks in the project. Go back to the priority list generated inBriefing Document: How to manage a simple project for help

with this. If you find you have underestimated the time taken for aparticular part of the project, you can change the start date in your

spreadsheet later. I have generated dates that I think are realistic.

Figure 3: All the start dates added

I have calculated that I need tostart the design one week after

the project starts. Images willneed to be sourced quite early

too. Audio will take about a week,and so will the video. Content

writing starts shortly after thevideo begins. Integration is a big

job, and that cant happen untileverything else is ready. I have

left over a week for integration,and evaluation starts just six

weeks after the project start date.That gives me a week for

evaluation as the project needs toend mid-October.

Step 4: Working out the time line

The next thing to do is work out how long each task will take. You can

also add a column here that shows how much has already been doneand what is left. So supposing it was the 11th September, and we were

on schedule. We could show in our chart what has been completed andwhat is still outstanding. The way to do this is to have two columns

column C will be Completed and column D Remaining. Enter thesetwo headings in the two columns.

On September 11th, this is how my project is going:

Research have done 3 days but need 2 more, so enter 3 underCompleted and 2 under Remaining

Audience have done 4 days and its all finished, so enter 4under Completed and 0 under Remaining


5/13


Design have done 3 days and need another week, so enter 3under Completed and 7 under Remaining

Images started yesterday so Ive only done one day and willneed another 2 days, so enter 1 under Completed and 2 underRemaining.

Audio I havent started and I think it will need a week, so enter0 under Completed and 7 under Remaining.

Video I havent started that either, and I think it will need 10days, so enter 0 under completed and 10 under Remaining Content another task not started, so 0 under Completed and

this will take 3 days, so 3 under Remaining

Integration a big task, but Im not starting it for a while, so 0under Completed and 10 under Remaining

Evaluation right at the end, so 0 under Completed and 7 underRemaining.

Enter this data into the spreadsheet. It should look like Figure 4.

Figure 4: The Completed and Remaining data entered

Step 5: Making a chart

Select the cells A10 to D10. The cells will turn blue. Whilst they areselected, click on the Chart Wizard icon on the toolbar (it looks like a

three-dimensional chart). See figure 5.


6/13


Figure 5: Selecting the cells to use with the Chart Wizard

When the Chart Wizard opens, select Bar and find the stacked bar

option (the box on the right side of the wizard tells you which optionyou have selected). See figure 6.

Figure 6: Selecting the stacked bar chart option


7/13


Click, Next, Next and Finish and you should have something that looks

like Figure 7.

Figure 7: The stacked bar chart

This isnt quite what a real Gantt chart looks like, so we need to carryout some formatting to make it easier to read and use.

Step 6: Making the stacked bar chart into a Gantt chart

Double click on the blue section of the top bar, and a dialogue box

headed Format Data Series will appear. Click None for Border andNone for Area and click ok. See figure 8.

Figure 8: Formatting the data series


8/13


You should have something that looks like figure 9.

Figure 9: After formatting the start date data series

Next we are going to format the axes. Double click on the vertical axis(the one that lists all the tasks) and the Format Axis dialogue box will

open. Select the Scale tab along the top. Select the Categories inReverse Order checkbox. See figure 10.

Figure 10: Changing the task order

Next step click on the Font tab along the top and select font size 8in the right hand box. See figure 11.


9/13


Figure 11: Formatting the font size

Click ok. Your chart will appear with the Research task at the top ofthis axis and the Evaluation task at the bottom and the labels will be

smaller this fits with the order in which the tasks are carried out on aGantt chart.

The next step is quite complicated, because we need to find some

General numbers that correspond to the dates of our project timeline. In your spreadsheet, click on the cell that shows the start date of

the first task 1st September 2008. Select Format and Cells. Whenthe Format Cells dialogue box opens, select General. A number

appears in the small box on the right. Make a note of it. In this

example, its 39692. See figure 12.

Now we need to find the same number for the date the project should

be finished lets say the 19th October. To find what this date is, enter19th October at the bottom of the Start Date column, highlight it, then

select Format, Cells and General. The number in this case is 39740.Again make a note of it. See figure 13.


10/13


Figure 12: Locating the project start date general number

Figure 13: Locating the project end date general number


11/13


Now were going to format the horizontal axis, which is now at the top

of the chart. Double click on it to bring up another Format Axis box.Select Scale and a series of boxes with numbers in will appear. Were

going to put some new numbers in the boxes. In the box labelledMinimum type the general number for the project start date

39692. In the box labelled Maximum type the general number for

the project end date 39740. In the Major unit, were going to typein 4 this means the chart will show us every four days along theaxis. The Minor unit will be 1 which means 1 day.

Also make sure the Category (X) axis crosses a maximum valuebox is checked. See figure 14.

Figure 14: Formatting the horizontal axis

Next, click on the Alignment tab, last one at the top. You will see a

box under Orientation on the left side. Highlight the 0 that is inthere and type in 45. Click ok. The dates at the top of your chart

should now be aligned at an angle of 45

o

to the axis. See figure 15.


12/13


Figure 15: Realigning the text in the horizontal axis and itsresult

Were nearly there! A couple more formatting tasks and we havecompleted our Gantt chart. Click on the horizontal axis at the top and

bring up the Format Axis box again. Select Font from the tabs,choose font size 8 and make it bold. Click ok. The dates across the

top axis will appear smaller and clearer.

The last step is to sort out the box with the data labels, which isshowing Start Date. This box is called the legend. Double click on it

to bring up the Format Legend dialogue box. Click on the Placement

tab, and select bottom. See figure 16.

Figure 16: Formatting the legend


13/13


When you click ok, your chart will now have the legend box at the

bottom. Finally, highlight the words Start Date and click delete toremove it.

You can make your Gantt chart larger by dragging it out from the

corners. To remove it from the spreadsheet program, you can

highlight it, copy it and paste it into a word processing program, suchas MS Word. Make sure change the Page Setup in Word to landscapeto accommodate the chart.

It should look like this:

You have used some advanced formatting functions within MS Excel tocreate this chart. Now you can create your own chart for your project

and use it to monitor your progress. If anything changes in the

project schedule for example, a task being finished faster than you

expected, or something taking longer than expected just change thevalues in the Completed and Remaining columns and the chart willautomatically change. You can then copy and paste the new one into

MS Word if you want to keep a record.