How to prepare a Gantt chart in Excel?

Gantt chart enable the user(s) or a team to create and share a visual planning regarding a project or event you are managing to your colleagues or management. By doing this, you will increase the chance on finishing the project in a more efficient way, which will increase the companies effectiveness.

Therefore, Gantt charts are seen as a very effective project management planning tools, especially when more than 1 person is involved in the success that follows after succeeding of a project. The total of all elementary project components can be called “the work breakdown structure of the project”.

This is how it looks like in a Gantt chart:

As you can see, the difference between the list of activities, and the Gantt chart that shows the work breakdown structure, are the following advantages:

• Simplifying the complexity of a project;
• Synergy effect among all team members, and making it more effective;
• Every stakeholder is on the same page;
• Determining milestones and deliverables according a fixed time schedule;
• Creating team productivity;
• Making everything visual and manageable.

Advanced Gantt charts additionally demonstrate the reliance (i.e., priority) connections between deliverables (which shows a liability as well for all team members). Gantt charts can be applied to show current project status by informing the percentage of successful completion of the project, and a vertical “Today” line can be implemented here as well.

Gantt charts allow you to schedule activities and resources and are helpful when you are planning and tracking various business processes. For example, you can have a list of activities on the left and a suitable time scale along the top in order to see the following at a glance:

List of activities that are needed to be done

• Beginning and ending of activity;
• Time that is available per activity;
• The liability between 2 ore more activities;
• The whole project’s start and end dates.

For example, here you can see a generic Event Gantt chart, which structures the following activities:

1. Determine host event
2. Pick a budget
3. Pick a location
4. Pick a date
5. Make a guest list
6. Choose a theme
7. Send out invitations
8. Order equipment
9. Plan the food menu
10. Line up extra hands
11. Execute last minute orders
12. Help with thank you notes
13. Prepare some games
14. Follow up RSVP stragglers
15. Make the goody bags
16. Plan take away gifts
17. Assign photographer
18. Clean up
19. Prepare food
20. Complete groceries
21. Quick cleaning sweep
22. Set up party space
23. Pick up the cake
24. Designate honoree