Business Tools Blog

Last week I showed you how to create a Timeline in excel.  Today, I will show you how to create a Simple Gant Chart. (A Gant Chart is a visual depiction of a project schedule)

The right tool to produce a Gant Chart is Microsoft Project, but if you just need a quick chart, Excel can do the trick.

1.  Create your data

• Column A is the Task Name
• Column B is the start date
• Column C is the end date
• Column D is the number of days the task took to complete (column C-B)
• Column E is the number value of the start date, it references column B and is formatted as a number
• Column F is the number value of the end date, it references column C and is formatted as a number

2.  Create your chart

• Highlight cells A1:B9
• INSERT >> CHART
• In the Chart Wizard, select Bar Chart, then click the picture of the stacked bar
• Click Next

3.  Add the Days to Complete in column D to the Source Data

• Click Add
• In Name, type “Days to Complete” or reference cell D1
• In Values reference cells D2:D9
• Click Next

4.  Uncheck the “Show Legend” box

5. Add a Title on the Title Tab, then click “Finish”

Your chart looks like this:
 

6.  Change the order of the Y axis so that Task 1 is on top

• Double click on the Y axis
• Check both the “Categories in reverse order” and “Value (Y) axis crosses at maximum category”

7.  Format the background

• Double click on the outside of the gray area
• Select Border=None and Area = None
• Click OK

8.  Make the first bar in the stack invisible

• Double click on the “Start Date” data series
• Select Border=None and Area = None
• Click OK

9.  Change the start date of the chart to the start date of the first task

• Double click on the X axis
• Change the “Minimum” to the start date
• Change the “Maximum” to a few days past the highest number in the end date column

10.  Manually change the bar colors

• Double click on the bar that you want to change
• Change the Area color to blue
• Click OK
• Repeat for each bar that you want to manually change

Your Gant chart now looks like this:

I saved the template at the BusinessToolsBlog Shared Files Google Group.  Feel free to download.