Saquib Ahmad Shuvo
If you are looking for some special tricks to track project progress in Excel, you’ve come to the right place. There is one way to track project progress in Excel in Microsoft Excel. This article will discuss every step of this method to track project progress in Excel. Let’s follow the complete guide to learn all of this.
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Why Is It Important to Track Project Progress?
To maintain the following things, we need a project tracker in Excel.
- Overflow of task
- Distribution of resources
- No fixed priority list
There are also advantages to tracking project progress. These are:
- It gives an overview of the data without getting into too many details
- Resource utilization which is efficient
- Can repeat the process without any hassle
- Capable of jumping from one task to another
Steps for Creating Template to Track Project Progress in Excel
In the following section, we will use one effective and tricky method to track project progress in Excel. This section provides extensive details on every step of tracking project progress in Excel. You should learn and apply to improve your thinking capability and Excel knowledge
Step 1: Create Project Layout
To track project progress we have to follow some specified steps. At first, we want to create a project layout. To do this, you have to follow the following things.
- Firstly, type your required Headline fields for your data. Click here to see a screenshot that illustrates what the fields look like.
- Enter the Project name. Then, input the task name one by one.
- Now, input the responsible person’s name who is responsible for each task.
- Select the range of the cell where we want to input data and then select Date.
- Input the Starting Date of each task.
- Then, input the Due Date of each task.
- Input the spent days by each task.
- Then, calculate the days required by using the following formula in cell G2.
=E2-D2
- Press Enter.
- Next, drag the Fill handle icon.
- Therefore, you will get the Days Required column, as shown below.
- Then, Then, calculate Progress by using the following formula in cell H2.
=F2/G2
- Press Enter.
- To convert the data into percentages click on the Percentage.
- Next, drag the Fill handle icon.
- Therefore, you will get the Progress column, as shown below.
- Then, input the progress status in the Status column.
- Finally, you will be able to get the following output.
Step 2: Build Tracker List for Project
We want to make a tracker that takes off our loads to a great extent as we don’t have to do manual updates on certain calculations. Here, we will use the SUM, AVERAGE, and COUNTIF functions. To do this you have to follow the following things.
- At first, we have to copy some columns from the previous sheet by pressing ‘Ctrl+C’ and go to the Project Progres Tracker sheet, and press ‘Crl+V’ to paste it, as shown below.
- Next, in the remaining column, we have to use the following formula in cell E2.
=1-D2
- Press Enter.
- Next, drag the Fill handle icon.
- Therefore, you will get the Remaining column, as shown below.
- To calculate the overall project completion, we have to use the following formula in cell E16.
=AVERAGE(D2:D13)
The AVERAGE function returns the average of the twelve tasks which is almost 60 percent.
- Press Enter.
- To calculate the total days required, we have to use the following formula in cell J5.
=SUM(C2:C13)
The SUM function returns the combined days of the Days Required column.
- Press Enter.
- To calculate the total days spent, we have to use the following formula in cell J6.
=SUM(B2:B13)
The SUM function returns the combined days of the Days Spent column.
- Press Enter.
- To calculate the overall project progress, we have to use the following formula in cell J7.
=J6/J5
- Press Enter.
- To create a dynamic summary like Task Status, we have to use the following formula in cell J11.
=COUNTIF(F2:F13,"Completed")
The COUNTIF function will return the value by counting the number of cells of the range F2:F13, and the given condition is “Completed”. Using this approach, we will be able to calculate how many tasks have been completed in this project, which is a necessary step to track project progress.
- Press Enter.
- Next, we have to use the following formula in cell J12.
=COUNTIF(F2:F13,"In Progress")
The COUNTIF function will return the value by counting the number of cells of the range F2:F13, and the given condition is “In Progress”. Using this approach, we will be able to calculate how many tasks have been in progress in this project, which is a necessary step to track project progress.
- Press Enter.
- To calculate the percentage of completed tasks, we have to use the following formula in cell K11.
=J11/(J11+J12)
- Press Enter.
- To calculate the percentage of In Progress tasks, we have to use the following formula in cell K12.
=J12/(J12+J11)
- Press Enter.
- Finally, we get the dynamic summary Task Status.
Read More: How to Create a Progress Tracker in Excel (3 Handy Ways)
Similar Readings
- How to Make a Progress Monitoring Chart in Excel (with Easy Steps)
- How to Create a Progress Bar in Excel (3 Easy Methods)
- Progress Bar in Excel Cells Using Conditional Formatting
Step 3: Insert Charts for Project Progress Tracker
Now, we are going to create three different charts for tracking project progress. To do this, we have to follow the following steps.
- To create a chart, select the range of data and go to the Insert tab. Next, select the Stacked Column chart.
- As a consequence, you will get the following chart.
- To modify the chart style, select Chart Design and then, select your desired Style 8 option from the Chart Styles group.
- To create a Pie chart, select the range of data and go to the Insert tab. Next, select the 3-D Pie chart.
- As a consequence, you will get the following Pie chart.
- To modify the chart style, select Chart Design and then, select your desired Style 7 option from the Chart Styles group.
- To create a Doughnut chart, select the range of data and go to the Insert tab. Next, select the Doughnut chart.
- As a consequence, you will get the following Doughnut chart.
- To modify the chart style, select Chart Design and then, select your desired Style 7 option from the Chart Styles group.
Read More: How to Make Progress Chart in Excel (2 Simple Methods)
Step 4: Generate Dynamic Project Progress Summary
Now, we will create a project progress summary. To do this, we are going to show our charts in a new sheet as a report.
- To create a dynamic project progress summary, at first, you have to create a new sheet and set the name of that sheet as Project Performance.
- Next, you have to every chart by pressing ‘Ctrl+C’ and go to the Project Performance sheet, and press ‘Crl+V’ to paste it.
- As a consequence, you will get the final output like the following.
Conclusion
That’s the end of today’s session. I strongly believe that from now you may be able to track project progress in Excel. If you have any queries or recommendations, please share them in the comments section below.
Don’t forget to check our website Exceldemy.com for various Excel-related problems and solutions. Keep learning new methods and keep growing!
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