How to Create a Project Timeline in Excel? [Step-by-Step]

Missing deadlines of any project could end in over budget and delays. The result could stain a company’s image or even project cancellation. It creates a cascading effect on the performance of the project teams, even casting doubt on the ability of qualified project managers who have attained the skills of project management from traditional or online Project Management courses. Meeting timelines, therefore, goes a long way in project management. 

 The responsible factors behind the missing timeline could be any or many of the determinants like 

a) Lack of proper planning 

b) Inappropriate estimation 

c) Unresolved stakeholder issues 

d) Fault with the technology used 

e) Changing project requirements. 

Project Management Institute (PMI) explored that poor time estimating is the root cause for 25% of failed projects.

What is a Project Timeline?

A project timeline is a visualization chart capturing all the events of a project (the tasks assigned to individuals or teams) that need to be finished within a set time deadline. 

It contains the following data: 

• Project Milestones 
• List of tasks at various stages 
• Start and completion date of each task 
• Dependencies between tasks 

 Project management under the supervision of a qualified project manager or who has at least joined a PMP Prep course, could be expensive for many companies. It eats around 20% of a project budget.

Typically, businesses plan to minimize project costs by saving expenses, and avoiding the use of any project management software. Though such software could be very versatile and helpful, it is a tempting route to save some money, especially for tiny companies which need to be careful of their budget to survive in the market. A convenient (and free) way out is to manage projects by using Microsoft Excel by creating a timeline in Excel. 

For those who wish to learn how to create a timeline in Excel , here is how to go about: 

How to Create a Project Timeline in Excel? [Step by Step]

A. Using SmartArt Tool

1. Open the Excel sheet on your desktop or laptop.
2. Click on the Insert section on the top menu bar
3. Click on the SmartArt icon.

Source: pathofex.com 

4. On the next window, click on Process.

5. Click on the Basic Process

6. Click OK

7. Type your texts here.

8. If you wish to change the layout you can, by clicking the dropdown menu for various layouts. The Color Change button allows you to choose different colors.

B. How To Make a Timeline in Excel With Dates (Using Scatter Plot Charts)

The scatter plot charts allow you to enter data with dates. For that, first you will have to enter your data on the excel sheet, like: 

a) Task / Milestone Name

b) Due Date (make sure you enter the dates in the supported date formats of the Excel sheet , for example, DD/MM/YYYY, MM/DD/YYYY, etc.).

c) Priority Level ( 1,2,3,4 …in increasing order)

Here is an example of how to create a project timeline in excel using scatter plot charts: 

1. Include data

2. Select your data 

3. Click on to the Insert button on the top menu bar

4. Click on the Scatter button and select your preferred chart layout

5. Select the format you like

6. Click on your selected format, it will appear on your sheet

Project Timeline Templates for Excel 

You can also use the timeline template Excel for your project. Using these templates for project management timeline you can create milestones for your project.

Here are the templates to choose from: 

1. Gantt Chart Template for Excel 
2. 23 Free Gantt Chart And Project Timeline Templates In PowerPoints, Excel & Sheets
3. Project Timeline Template
4. Excel Project Management Templates
5. Project timeline with milestones

These project timeline excel templates are free and can be downloaded and used by anyone as per the requirement of a project. 

Limitations of Using Excel to Create a Project Timeline 

Here are reasons why Excel might not be quite suitable. 

1. Very Time Demanding and Laborious 

It could be convenient for certain types of data or simple projects, to create a project timeline in Excel . If the size and complexity of your projects increase it could be an arduous work finding, updating and cross-checking project information. You will never get a comprehensive view of the project. 

2. Unreliable 

Being manual, spreadsheets are error-prone, especially for multiple teams and multiple projects. There could be data entry errors, and some erroneous formulae used. Besides, everyone might not have the same or the latest version of Excel. Chances of inadvertent data deletion or overwriting always remain. 

3. Tedious Project Progress Tracking 

Excel is a very poor project reporting tool. With information/data spread across multiple files, proper tracking is almost impossible with high chances of overlooking risks, missing deadlines or avoiding overallocation of resources. Proper project visibility is very thin. Thus, informed decision-making becomes almost a dream. 

4. Unfeasible Collaboration 

Since there is no collaboration available like conversation tracking, file sharing, discussion boards and others, members cannot check the progress or status of a task and what to do next. Everything is done in silos. 

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Pros and Cons of Excel Project Timeline 

For the last 30 years, Excel has remained one of the preferred options of work by many project managers. No doubt it is a great program with its flexibility and various helpful features. 

Here are the pros of using Excel: 

1. Very handy for small teams and tiny projects allowing accurate calculation of costs, and time frames.
2. Work processes with deep data analysis with the help of scientific formulae, primary and summary calculations and detailed work execution reports.
3. Considerably useful in working with certain kinds of data. For example a “contact information management project” involves working with employee databases, project partners, stakeholders or other stakeholders. There, Excel could be very handy.

However modern days’ project management, supervised by project managers skilled from the best PRINCE2 courses, includes massive aspects of a project; stretching beyond just budgeting, tracking and execution. Excel is almost an impossible performer in such scenarios. 

A) Inflexibility

Probably the most pronounced deficiency of the program is the failure to maintain just one document by several members at the same time. Project management work demands extreme flexibility and collaboration, which Excel fails to provide. 

B) Human Frailties

• Rest aside wrong data input, just some clumsy ‘pulling’ of formula from one to another cells can spoil the entire result. 
• High-level project planning or handling large projects that demand complex activities and features like road mapping, real-time tracking and plenty of others, is not possible in Excel. 
• At the most, it is good for the primary stages of the work. 

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Conclusion 

As a final note, Excel has its uses and drawbacks but everything is relative and depends on the requirements of a business and the nature of a project. Many projects can be wonderfully managed with Excel. Many companies still use Excel for keeping records and data analysis. In fact, as per Microsoft, there are 1 billion office users of excel, and over 750 million use Excel daily. Certainly not without good reasons!