This article builds on a previous post which covers Project Planning leveraging Microsoft Excel

Some users of the Microsoft Excel Project Planning Spreadsheet Template expressed trouble modifying the date ranges when customizing the template. To make this process a bit easier, I’ve updated the project planning template to automatically show the day of the week in cell H3 based on the date value entered in cell H2. So to be clear, the process of customizing this spreadsheet should begin with modifying the date value in cell H2. Once you’ve entered the first date you want to show in the gantt view in cell H2, simply click and drag to expand the dates horizontally in row 2.

Once you’ve edited the date ranges for the gantt view, you can move over to the task list and begin entering the tasks in your work breakdown and the associated dates for each task.

The spreadsheet will automatically block out weekends and display the gantt bars according to the length of the tasks you enter. The gantt bars will automatically change color based on the progress you enter in column F from 0 to 100%. If progress is less than 50% and the current date has passed the projected end date for a task, the gantt bar will change to RED. Once the task is complete, the gantt bar will change to GREEN.

Here’s a link to download the updated project planning template:
Excel Project Plan v3 (3577)

Using this spreadsheet is fairly easy and straight-forward but if you have suggestions that may improve usability, please leave a comment below.