These exercises will introduce you to the variety of uses of Gantt Charts. For more information on Gantt Charts please see the file named Tech Plug In T11: Creating Gantt Charts with Exce

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P L U G – I N

T11Creating Gantt Charts with Excel and Microsoft Project

Introduction Many people and organizations today have a new or renewed interest in project management. Until the 1980s, project management focused primarily on providing schedule and resource data to top management in the military and construction industries. This tracking of a few key project parameters is still an important element, but today’s project management involves much more.

In 1917, Henry Gantt developed the famous Gantt chart as a tool for scheduling work in factories. A Gantt chart is a standard format for displaying project schedule information by listing project activities and their corresponding start and finish dates in a calendar format. Managers drew Gantt charts by hand to show project tasks and schedule information, and this tool provided a standard format for planning and reviewing all the work on early military projects.

Today’s project managers still use the Gantt chart as the primary tool to communicate project schedule information, but with the aid of computers, it is no longer necessary to draw the charts by hand.

Today, most people use project management software to create versions of Gantt charts that are more sophisticated and allow for easy updates of information. They can also show dependencies in some format using project management software.

This plug-in focuses on:

1. How to create a Gantt chart using Microsoft Excel (see Figure T11.1). 2. How to create a Gantt chart using Microsoft Project, a more sophisticated tool, designed

for project management (see Figure T11.2).

1. Explain a Gantt chart.

2. Describe the main steps involved in creating a Gantt chart using Excel.

3. Describe the main steps involved in creating a Gantt chart using Microsoft Project.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

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Creating Gantt Charts with Excel Microsoft Excel can easily be used for scheduling and resource management, with columns to track planned and actual start and finish dates. Excel is a practical solution for a small project in a small organization since many businesses have access to Excel and therefore do not have to buy any additional tools.

This section is written with the expectation that you possess some basic knowledge of the concepts presented in Plug-In T2, “Basic Skills Using Excel 2016.”

Excel does not offer Gantt as a chart type, but it is fairly easy to create such a chart by using a stacked bar chart. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Start with a new workbook and enter the task data, as shown in Figure T11.3. Column A contains the task descriptions; column B, the start date for each task; and column C, the number of days to complete the task. Column D contains formulas that determine the end date for each task. For example, the formula used in our example (e.g., Figure T11.3) in cell D4 is = B4 +  C4.

2. Create a stacked horizontal bar chart. You can either select from the Recommended Charts option on the Charts ribbon, or choose the Insert Column or Bar Chart. Choose the 2-D Stacked Bar Chart option.

3. A blank chart appears in your spreadsheet. To select the data, right-click anywhere inside the blank chart, and then choose Select Data. The Select Data dialog opens as shown in Figure T11.4.

FIGURE T11.1

Gantt Chart in Excel

FIGURE T11.2

Gantt Chart in Microsoft Project

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FIGURE T11.3

Project Tasks

4. Under the Legend Entries (Series) section, click on the Add button. The Edit Series dialog box opens. The first series to add will be the label containing the start date. Under the Series Name, select cell B3. Under the Series Values, select cells B4:B13, the range of cells containing the various start dates. Click OK.

5. Another series is needed; therefore, click on the Add button. This series will be the duration. When the Edit Series dialog opens, select cell C3 for the Series Name, then select C4:C13 for the Series Values.

6. Edit the labels by selecting the Edit button under the Horizontal (Category) Axis Labels section. The Axis Label dialog opens. Select cells A4:A13, the various task names. Click OK. Click OK again to close the Select Data Source dialog box.

FIGURE T11.4

Select Data Dialog Box

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7. Remove the chart’s legend by selecting it and pressing the Delete key or the Backspace key, since the legend is not needed for a Gantt chart. You may need to adjust the chart’s height (or change to a smaller font) so that all x-axis labels are visible.

8. Since you do not want to see the Start data series, select that series (by default it should be a blue color) by clicking on any one of the data items, right-click, and select Format Data Series. The Format Data Series dialog opens. Select the Fill icon on the upper right, select Fill, and select No Fill. Choose the Border and select No Line. Click Close. The start dates are gone, but the durations are visible; this is more like a Gantt chart, as shown in Figure T11.5.

9. You need to now reverse the order of the y-axis labels. Right-click on any one of the labels, and then select Format Axis. The Format Axis dialog opens. Under the Axis Options tab, click on the Values in reverse order. Click outside of the chart. Your chart now should look like Figure T11.6.

10. Apply other formatting as desired. For example, you can add grid lines and a title. If you adjust your project schedule, the chart will be updated automatically. If you use dates outside the original date range, you will need to change the scaling for the y-axis.

You now have a very functional Gantt chart; you can clearly see when various tasks begin and end, as well as when tasks overlap. Suggestion: use Microsoft Project for all this.

FIGURE T11.6

Categories in Reverse Order

FIGURE T11.5

Gantt Chart with Durations

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Creating Gantt Charts with Microsoft Project This section provides you with a basic introduction to Microsoft Project, a powerful project management software tool that can help manage schedules and resources and track project progress. Microsoft Project, with its familiar Microsoft Office user interface, is one of the most widely used project management software applications available.

Although the use of project management software can enhance and support the project management function, project management software should not be used in lieu of becoming familiar with the project management concepts presented in this textbook. This section is written with the expectation that you possess some basic knowledge of project management concepts.

MICROSOFT PROJECT BASICS Microsoft Project is a Microsoft Office application, so it has many elements similar to other Office titles such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. To begin using Microsoft Project, start the application by clicking on the Start menu, All Programs, and select Microsoft Project, which is located in the Microsoft Office folder by default. The application will open with the screen shown in Figure T11.7.

As you can see, elements of the user interface should be familiar, specifically, the menu bar and the toolbar (see Figure T11.7). Depending on settings specific to your computer, your opening screen may not appear exactly as shown, but the differences will be minor.

The Project Guide is an interactive interface element in Microsoft Project that helps you work through your project from the standpoint of project management processes and goals. This complements the existing menus and toolbars, which allow you to approach your project plan from a strictly feature-oriented point of view. Although a great option, we will not be using it in this plug-in.

To turn off the Project Guide, click the Close button in the Project Guide pane, or click View from the menu bar, and then select Hide Project Pane.

CREATING A PROJECT FILE The Microsoft Project workspace is called the view, and the view that comes up by default when you first open Microsoft Project is the Gantt chart. The Gantt chart is a combination view; it has a task table on the left side and the chart with Gantt bars on the right.

You can create a new project from one of the many templates included in Microsoft Proj- ect. These templates reflect various types of product, service, or activity projects in different industries and are based on widely accepted industry standards for projects of these types. FIGURE T11.7

Microsoft Project Interface

Menu Bar

Tool Bar

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Although template helps you start your project more quickly, for this plug-in you will use the blank project to create your Gantt chart. To do this, follow these steps:

1. On the File menu, click New. The New Project task pane appears. 2. Under New, click the Blank Project link. Microsoft Project creates a new project, and the

New Project task pane is replaced by the Tasks pane of the Project Guide.

Your first decision affecting how your project will be scheduled is whether you want to schedule your project from a start date or from a finish date. Often, you have a finish date in mind, but you can still schedule from the start date and then make sure you hit the targeted finish date. You will get results that are more predictable when you schedule from a start date. To set up your project plan to be scheduled from the project start date and finish date, do this:

1. Click Project, and then select Project Information. The Project Information dialog box appears (see Figure T11.8).

2. In the Start Date box, enter the start date. By default, the Start Date box shows today’s date. 3. In the Schedule From box, click the Project Start Date. 4. Leave the Project Finish Date box as is. Microsoft Project will calculate this date for you

later. 5. Click OK.

SAVING YOUR PROJECT Whether you are creating a new project from scratch, from a template, or from an existing project file, your next step is to save your new project. To do this:

1. Click File, and then select Save As. 2. In the Save As dialog box, choose the drive and folder in which you want to save the new

project. 3. In the File Name box, enter a descriptive name for your project, and then click the Save

button.

FIGURE T11.8

Project Information Dialog Box

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ENTERING TASKS When your project file is set up, you are ready to enter tasks. To enter tasks directly into your project plan, follow these steps:

1. Make sure you are working in the Gantt chart. You can see the name of the current view in the Active View bar that runs vertically along the left side of the view. If it does not say Gantt chart, click View, and then select Gantt chart.

2. Type the name of the task in the Task Name field. For example, a typical task in any project would be Define Scope.

3. Press Enter or your down arrow key to move to the next row. The task name is not recorded, and other commands remain unavailable until you press Enter or the down arrow key. Figure T11.9 displays a few tasks entered into a new project.

Note: By default, the Gantt chart table includes the Task Name, Duration, Start, Finish, Prede- cessors, and Resource Names fields as columns. A natural impulse when entering tasks is to enter project information into each of these fields. The best approach is to enter the task names first, and then the durations if you know them. Leave the Start and Finish fields as they are for now, and let Microsoft Project calculate them for you as you add other project information. The Prede- cessors field will be filled in when you start creating links between tasks. At that point, with dura- tions and links in place, Microsoft Project will calculate the Start and Finish dates. If you then need to constrain the dates, you can edit them as you need. We cover dates later in this plug-in.

Entering Recurring Tasks You might have certain tasks that need to be scheduled at regularly occurring intervals. For example, you might have a project team meeting every Thursday morning.

You might need to gather information and generate a resource management report the first Monday of each month. Instead of entering the same task every week or every month through- out the span of the project, you can enter a recurring task. To do this, follow these steps:

1. In the Task Name field, click the row below where you want the recurring task to appear. 2. From the Insert ribbon, click on the Insert tab, then choose Task, and then Recurring Task. 3. In the Recurring Task dialog box, type the name of the recurring task in the Task Name

field, for example, “Testing” (see Figure T11.10). FIGURE T11.9

Project Tasks

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4. Under Recurrence Pattern, specify how often the task is to be scheduled, that is, daily, weekly, or monthly.

5. Specify the details of when the task is to take place during that frequency; for example, every other Thursday or every Monday, as in Figure T11.10.

6. Under Range of Recurrence, specify when the recurring task is to begin and end. 7. When finished, click OK. The recurring task is marked with a recurring task indicator. It

is represented with a summary task with all occurrences of the task as subtasks.

Copying Tasks You can copy one or more tasks to use as the basis for other tasks. The following list describes the various copy techniques:

■ Copy a single task name. Click in the Task Name field, and then click Copy Cell on the Standard toolbar. Click the Task Name field in a blank row, and then click Paste.

■ Copy multiple adjacent task names. Click the first task name you want to select, hold down the Shift key, and then click the last task name. All task names between the first and last are selected. Click Copy Cell. Click the first Task Name field where you want the selected tasks to be pasted, and then click Paste.

You can also simply drag to select the tasks. If you want to copy the selected tasks to empty rows directly under a particular task, drag the fill handle in the lower right corner of the cell into those empty rows.

■ Copy multiple nonadjacent task names. Click the first task name you want to select, hold down the Ctrl key, and then click any additional task names you want to add to the selection. Click Copy Cell. Select the Task Name field where you want the selected tasks to start to be added, and then click the Paste button. The tasks are added in the order that you selected them.

■ Copy a single task and its task information. Click the row heading of the task you want to copy. This selects the entire task and its associated information. Click Copy Cell. To add the task into an empty row, select the row, and then click Paste. To insert the task between two existing tasks, select the task below where you want the pasted task to appear, and then click Paste.

FIGURE T11.10

Recurring Task Dialog Box

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■ Copy multiple adjacent tasks and their task information. Click the row heading of the first task you want to copy. Hold down the Shift key, and then click the row heading of the last task. Click Copy Cell. Click the Task Name field where you want the selected tasks to start to be added, and then click Paste.

Deleting Tasks To delete a task that you do not need, do this:

■ Select the row heading, and then press the Delete key. —If you want to delete the entire task, click the indicator. —If you simply want to clear the task name, press Enter or click elsewhere in the view.

Organizing Tasks into an Outline Tasks need to be structured representing the hierarchy of tasks from the broader perspective to the deep and detailed perspective where real work will actually occur.

A task at a higher outline level than other tasks is called a summary task. The tasks beneath that summary task are called subtasks, as displayed in Figure T11.11. Summary tasks typi- cally represent phases in a project. For example, in a new business start-up project, you might have summary tasks for developing the strategic plan, defining the business opportunity, planning for action, and proceeding with the start-up plan.

The subtasks under those phases could be actual tasks that are assigned to resources (we explain resources later). Or they could be another set of summary tasks. Subtasks can be sum- mary tasks to still more subtasks. You can have up to nine outline levels.

All your tasks are initially at the first outline level. To make a summary task, you need to indent subtasks beneath it. The following list describes various outlining techniques:

■ Make a task a subtask. Click the task. On the Formatting toolbar, click Indent (see Figure T11.12). The task is indented, and the task above it becomes its summary task. Summary tasks are highlighted in bold in the table portion of the Gantt chart and are marked with a black bar spanning the summary tasks in the chart portion of the Gantt chart.

■ Create a subtask under a subtask. Click a task under a subtask. Click Indent twice. It is now in the third outline level, as a subtask of a subtask.

■ Move a subtask to a higher level. Click a subtask, and then click Outdent (see Figure T11.12).

Next to each summary task is a symbol, such as or . The lighter symbol indicates that there are hidden subtasks for this summary task. Click the symbol, and the subtasks appear. The darker symbol indicates that the subtasks are currently displayed. Click on the symbol, and the subtasks will be hidden.

Subtasks

Summary task

FIGURE T11.11

Summary Tasks and Subtasks

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Adding Supplementary Information to Tasks You can annotate an individual task by adding notes. You can also provide documentation or references in support of a task by linking it to other documents or websites.

To add a note to a task, follow these steps:

1. From the Task ribbon, click the task, and then click Task Information from the Properties tab. 2. Click the Notes tab. 3. In the Notes area, type a note. Figure T11.13 displays a note explaining where to get further

documentation if someone needs it. 4. When finished, click OK.

SCHEDULING TASKS Although there are many knowledge areas (including scope management, cost management, and resource management) that contribute to successful project management, time manage- ment is most related to development of your project schedule—your road map for completing tasks, handing off deliverables, passing milestones, and finally, achieving the goals of your project in a timely manner.

FIGURE T11.13

Annotating a Task

FIGURE T11.12

Indent, Outdent, and Subtask Buttons

Outdent Indent

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To develop an accurate and workable schedule that truly reflects how your project will run, you need to:

■ Set task durations. ■ Identify dependencies, or the relationships, among tasks. ■ Schedule certain tasks to achieve specific dates when necessary.

Setting Task Durations To create a realistic schedule, enter the amount of working time you believe each task will take to complete, that is, the task duration. As soon as you enter a task, Microsoft Project assigns it an estimated duration of one day, just to have something to draw in the Gantt chart. You can easily change that duration.

Entering accurate durations is very important to creating a reliable project schedule. Microsoft Project uses the duration of each task to calculate the start and finish dates for the task. If you will be assigning resources, the duration is also the basis for the amount of work for each assigned resource.

Any value in the Duration field that is followed by a question mark is considered a duration estimate. Technically, all planned durations are only estimates, because you do not know how long a task takes until it is completed and you have an actual duration. However, the question mark indicates what you might consider an “estimate of a duration estimate.” Estimated dura- tions are calculated into the schedule the same as confirmed durations. They simply serve as an alert that a duration is still somewhat of a guess.

By default, a duration estimate of one day is entered for any newly added task (e.g., 1d?). Use this value as a flag to indicate that the duration still needs to be entered for this task. You can also enter a question mark (?) after a duration, for example, 2w?. Use this value as a flag to indi- cate that the duration is still under consideration and might be changed after you receive more information. When you remove the question mark from a duration, the duration is confirmed.

You can enter a duration in different time period units, such as:

■ Minutes (m or min). ■ Hours (h or hr). ■ Days (d or dy). ■ Weeks (w or wk). ■ Months (mo or mon).

You can use different duration units throughout your plan. One task might be set with a duration of 2w, and another task might be set for 3d. To enter a duration, follow these steps:

1. In the Duration field for each task, type the duration, for example, 1w or 4d. If a duration is an estimate, add a question mark after it, for example, 1w? or 4d?.

2. Press Enter. The Gantt bar is drawn to represent the time period for the task(s) (see Figure T11.14). In addition, the Finish field is recalculated for the task. Microsoft Project adds the duration amount to the start date to calculate the finish date. Note: Whether you type “h,” “hr,” or “hour” in your duration entry, by default Microsoft

Project enters “hr.” You can change which abbreviation of the time unit appears in the Dura- tion field. Click View, then Zoom, and then choose the Duration, to that project file only. If you want it to apply to all new projects you create, click File, Options, Schedule, and choose appropriately.

Establishing Task Dependencies The most typical link is the finish-to-start task dependency. With this link, the predecessor task must finish before the successor task can begin. To link tasks with the finish-to-start task dependency, follow these steps:

1. In the task sheet, select the two tasks you want to link. Drag from the predecessor to the successor task if they are right next to each other. If they are not adjacent tasks, click the predecessor, hold down the Ctrl key, and then click the successor.

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2. On the Standard toolbar, click Link Tasks. 3. The tasks are linked in the chart portion of the Gantt chart. In addition, the Predecessor

field of the successor task lists the task number for its predecessor (see Figure T11.15).

Although the finish-to-start task dependency is the most common, there are four types of dependencies, as follows:

1. Finish-to-start (FS). As soon as the predecessor task finishes, the successor task can start. 2. Finish-to-finish (FF). As soon as the predecessor task finishes, the successor task can

finish. 3. Start-to-start (SS). As soon as the predecessor task starts, the successor task can start. 4. Start-to-finish (SF). As soon as the predecessor task starts, the successor task can finish.

This type of link is rarely used, but still available if you need it.

To apply a task dependency, follow these steps:

1. Select the task that is to become the successor in the dependency you will be setting. 2. On the Standard toolbar, from the Properties tab, click Information. You can also simply

double-click a task to open the Task Information dialog box. 3. Click the Predecessors tab (see Figure T11.16).

Predecessor has successor list Linked task

FIGURE T11.15

Predecessor and Successor Tasks

FIGURE T11.14

Task Durations 

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4. Click the first blank row in the Task Name field, and then click the down arrow. The list of tasks in the project appears.

5. Click the task that is to be the predecessor to the current task. 6. Click the Type field, and then select the type of task dependency: Finish-to-Start (FS),

Start-to-Start (SS), Finish-to-Finish (FF), Start-to-Finish (SF), or None. 7. Click OK.

Overlapping Linked Tasks by Adding Lead Time One way to make your project schedule more efficient is to overlap linked tasks where pos- sible. Suppose you have a task that cannot begin until a previous task is finished. You realize that the predecessor does not actually have to be finished—after it is 50 percent complete, the successor can begin. The successor essentially gets a 50 percent head start, hence, the term lead time.

Lead time is expressed as a negative value. It can be a percentage of the predecessor, for example, −25%. Or, it can be a specific time period, for example, −4d or −1w.

To enter lead time for a linked task, follow these steps:

1. Select the successor task that is to have the lead time. 2. On the Standard toolbar, from the Propert

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