Excel Time Sheets and Resource Management [Project Management using Excel – Part 4 of 6]

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This is the fourth installment of project management using excel series.

Preparing & tracking a project plan using Gantt Charts
Team To Do Lists – Project Tracking Tools
Project Status Reporting – Create a Timeline to display milestones
Part 4: Time sheets and Resource management
Issue Trackers & Risk Management
Project Status Reporting – Dashboard
Bonus Post: Using Burn Down Charts to Understand Project Progress

Timesheets are like TPS reports - Necessary for Managers, May be annoying for team membersTimesheets are like TPS reports* of any project. Team members think of them as an annoying activity. For managers, timesheets are a vital component to understand how team is working and where the effort is going. I will not get in to the merits and pitfalls of timesheets. However, I feel that by using Microsoft Excel capabilities you can create a truly remarkable timesheet tracking tool and still leave your team members un-annoyed.

In this tutorial we will learn 3 things about timesheets and resource management using Excel

  1. How to setup a simple timesheet template in excel?
  2. How to make a more robust timesheet tracker tool in Excel?
  3. How to use the timesheet data to make a resource loading chart?

1. Make a Simple Excel Timesheet Template

According to Wikipedia, timesheets are used for

Timesheets may record the start and end time of tasks, or just the duration. It may contain a detailed breakdown of tasks accomplished throughout the project or program. This information may be used for payroll, client billing, and increasingly for project costing, estimation, tracking and management.

By defining a simple and straight forward template in Excel and using it to track time (or efforts) in your projects, you can easily consolidate the data, compare efforts and make any necessary analysis.

At its simplest form, the timesheet is nothing but list of team members and list of activities in a matrix. Look at the below example:

Simple timesheet template using microsoft excel

You can easily create such template in excel.

2. A More Robust Excel Timesheet Tracker

While the time sheet format shown in the above section is good, it is a wrong format if you need to analyze the timesheet entries of a 100 member project. Also in large projects usually members do few activities at a time. That means the above format (in section 1) will result in a sparse matrix.

Using a tracker log format is much more convenient to both record and analyze timesheet entries. Look at the example below:

Timesheet Tracker template using microsoft excel

We can use excel features like data validation drop downs, shared workbooks to make the timesheet entry and management a breeze.

3. Create a Resource Loading Chart – Project Management

Resource loading charts are a good way to show how busy the team members are in a project. At the outset the resource loading chart is nothing but a heatmap.

Look at an example resource loading chart below:

Resource loading chart example using excel charts

You can make a resource loading chart in MS Excel by following the below steps:

  1. The pre-condition for the resource loading chart is that we have clear data available to make one. This is where the robust timesheet tracker shown in section 2 of this post comes handy.
  2. First create a blank table in excel with team member names in first column and week numbers in first row. (Please note, you can make other types of resource loading charts by changing the Row and Column headers. For eg. You can show resource loading by Project and Team member)
  3. Assuming we have the time sheet data in the format shown in Section 2,
  4. Assuming “log_member_names” refers to the member name column and log_weeknum refers to the last column in the timesheet, we can write a simple COUNTIFS formula like this =COUNTIFS(log_member_names, “John Galt”, log_weeknums, 3)
  5. Once we calculate values for all team members using the above formula, we can apply conditional formatting to make the heat map. In Excel 2016 / 365, this is one step. 
    Resource loading chart using conditional formatting heatmaps
  6. That is all.

Download the Excel Timesheet & Resource Loading Chart Templates

You can download the excel time sheet template, timesheet tracker log template and resource loading chart template from here. Click the below links:

What Next?

Timesheets are a great way to understand how the effort is spent. Even though project estimation models have become more and more effective, still lots of projects are overshooting budgets and timelines. And this is where timesheets can help you as a manager. While estimation looks in to future, timesheets look at past. Timesheets give feedback to your estimation models. This can help you in making better estimates in future.

In the next installment of this series, learn about tracking issues and risks using excel spreadsheets.

If you are new to the series, please read the first 3 parts as well.

Resources for Project Managers

Check out my Project Management using Excel page for more resources and helpful information on project management.

Your thoughts and suggestions?

What are your ideas about timesheets using excel? Does your organization use excel as a way to manage timesheets or do you use some time tracking software? What is the granularity of detail captured in timesheets? As a project manager, what use do you find in time sheet data?

Share your ideas and experiences using comments.

*PS: If you are wondering what the heck TPS reports are, then you are spending way too much time with Excel buddy. And while at it, you missed the greatest comedy of all time. Go watch office space, now!

PPS: the TPS report image is from wikipedia.

Project Management Templates for Excel

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40 Responses to “Looking up when the data won’t co-operate (case study)”

  1. Sumit Bansal says:

    Nice Trick.. Clever use of cell references

    Here is a formula I tried to create:
    =SUMPRODUCT(((NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(L5,B4:H14))))*1),(B5:H15))

    It takes care of Caveat #1 (can handle text), but Caveat #2 remains.

  2. PeterB says:

    In situations like this, I will often use VBA to restructure the data (2 columns: dates and values) on to a new worksheet. I can then use this 'clean' source for data analysis (formula or pivot table).

    =SUMPRODUCT(((NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(L5,B4:H14))))*1),(B5:H15)) and complex formulae in general are all very well but when you come back to them in a few weeks / months time, it is not at all easy to see what they do and what the limitations are.

  3. Somendra Misra says:

    Hi Chandoo,

    I had used this type of cell ref. various times while calculating average.
    But for the situation here try below formula . Note this is an array formula and must be confirmed with Ctrl+Shift+Enter.

    =SMALL(IF(MMULT((L5=B4:H14)*IF(ISNUMBER(B5:H15),B5:H15),{1;1;1;1;1;1;1}),MMULT((L5=B4:H14)*IF(ISNUMBER(B5:H15),B5:H15),{1;1;1;1;1;1;1})),1)

    Regards,

  4. Somendra Misra says:

    Hi, I think Using SEARCH in here will create a problem say there is a text like SUN and another text SUNLIGHT both result will be added by SUMPRODUCT.

    Regards,

  5. Elias says:

    Array option.

    =SUM(IF(MOD(ROW(B4:B14),2)=MOD(ROW(B4),2),IF(B4:H14=L5,B5:H15)))

    Regards

    • Michael (Micky) Avidan says:

      @Elias,
      Nice approach.
      Although not requested - the formula I suggested closes all possibilities.
      Criteria: _____ Value to retrieve:
      Date__________ Numeric
      Date__________Textual
      Textual________Numeric
      Textual________Textual
      While your formula copes with only the 3 first combinations.
      Michael (Micky) Avidan
      “Microsoft® Answer” – Wiki author & Forums Moderator
      “Microsoft®” MVP – Excel (2009-2015)
      ISRAEL

      • Elias says:

        @Michael,

        Sorry but I don’t understand your point. I believe the challenge was to return the summary of a given date. What is your really volatile formula doing that mine is not?

        Regards

        • Michael (Micky) Avidan says:

          @Elias,
          I didn't say that the challenge differs from what you just mentioned/aimed to nor that your formula doesn't provide the requested result.
          Please read my previous comment again and focus on the last combination (TEXT / TEXT).
          I, myself, always try to provide a global Formula that is capable to handle all sorts of data.
          Michael (Micky) Avidan
          “Microsoft® Answer” – Wiki author & Forums Moderator
          “Microsoft®” MVP – Excel (2009-2015)
          ISRAEL

          • Elias says:

            @Michael,
            I see your point, but you are missing the below points if you are trying to cover all sorts of data.

            What happened if the lookup value does not exist?

            Do you want the first, second, summary, concatenation of the values if the look value is repeated?

            See they are too many possibilities to be cover with just one formula.

            Regards

  6. Michael (Micky) Avidan says:

    1) The range: B4:H15 was named: RNG.
    2) The following Array Formula was "retrieved from my sleeve" and I hope it can be shorten.
    3) The formula seems to take care of BOTH(!) caveats.
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    =OFFSET(INDIRECT(ADDRESS(SMALL(IF(RNG=L5,ROW(RNG),""),1),MOD(SMALL(IF(RNG=L5,(ROW(RNG))+COLUMN(RNG)/10),1),1)*10)),1,)
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Michael (Micky) Avidan
    “Microsoft® Answer” – Wiki author & Forums Moderator
    “Microsoft®” MVP – Excel (2009-2015)
    ISRAEL

    • Elias says:

      @Michael,

      Check what happened with your result if you type 41927 in D5.

      Regards

      • Michael (Micky) Avidan says:

        Correct. Didn't predict that.
        Will find time to work something out.
        Michael (Micky) Avidan
        “Microsoft® Answer” – Wiki author & Forums Moderator
        “Microsoft®” MVP – Excel (2009-2015)
        ISRAEL

      • Michael (Micky) Avidan says:

        @Elias,
        Let's hope the following Array Formula "closes all open doors".
        Again - it has nothing to do with your formula which works fine as long as the 3 first mentioned combinations are concerned.
        -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        =INDEX(RNG,LARGE(IF(RNG=L5,MOD(ROW(RNG)-1,2)*(ROW(RNG)),""),1)-2,(MOD(SMALL(IF(RNG=L5,(ROW(RNG))+COLUMN(RNG)/10),1),1)*10)-1)
        -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Michael (Micky) Avidan
        “Microsoft® Answer” – Wiki author & Forums Moderator
        “Microsoft®” MVP – Excel (2009-2015)
        ISRAEL

        • Elias says:

          Ok, if you insist. The following will cover all the scenarios you listed. However, I’ll never recommend/use such of formula.

          Defined names:
          rDat = $B$4:$H$15
          rRow =ROW(rDat)-MIN(ROW(rDat))+1
          rCol =COLUMN(rDat)-MIN(COLUMN(rDat))+1
          rInc =MOD(rRow,2)=MOD(MIN(rRow),2)

          L6=INDEX(rDat,MAX(IF(rInc,IF(rDat=L5,rRow)))+1,MAX(IF(rInc,IF(rDat=L5,rCol))))
          Array Enter

          Regards

        • Frank says:

          @Michael,

          unfortunately, your array formula still seems to return wrong results (eg 3-Nov).

  7. Magda says:

    If data are organized like in the example, ie. looks like a calendar, the INDEX formula seems quite simple:
    =INDEX($B$4:$H$15,ROUNDDOWN((L5-B4)/7,0)*2+2,MOD((L5-B4),7)+1)

    • Marc says:

      Yours is effectively the same as what I just came up with, and I believe this is the optimal answer to this particular problem.

      My solution, before I saw yours:
      =OFFSET(B5,QUOTIENT(L5-B4,7)*2,MOD(L5-B4,7))

      OFFSET will work for an arbitrary list size, but INDEX might be easier to read.
      QUOTIENT does the round and division in a single step.

  8. XOR LX says:

    If there's an improvement over Elias's solution then I for one can't see it.

    Perhaps a non-CSE version which would also mean that only two references (B4:H14 and B5:H15), as opposed to three (B4, B4:B14 and and B5:H15), would require manually amending should the data range change, i.e.:

    =SUMPRODUCT((ISEVEN(ROW(B4:H14)-MIN(ROW(B4:H14)))*(B4:H14=L5)*B5:H15))

    I suppose we could make it a single, uniform range reference:

    =SUMPRODUCT((ISEVEN(ROW(B4:H14)-MIN(ROW(B4:H14)))*(B4:H14=L5)*OFFSET(B4:H14,1,,,)))

    which might be more appropriate should we e.g. wish to use a Defined Name for our range, i.e.:

    =SUMPRODUCT((ISEVEN(ROW(Rng)-MIN(ROW(Rng)))*(Rng=L5)*OFFSET(Rng,1,,,)))

    though whether that compensates for the extra, volatile function call is something to be debated.

    Regards

  9. Mahir says:

    I have tried something and then my Excel workbooks got shut down. Maybe that was too much?

    Anyway here is what I've tried:

    =SUMPRODUCT(INDEX(B5:H15;IF(ISEVEN(ROW(B5:H15));ROW(B5:B15)-ROW(B5)+1);{1\2\3\4\5\6\7}))

    Guess that was wrong? Would this approach work anyway?

    Looking forward to learn something from you Excel Experts.

  10. XOR LX says:

    @Michael Avidan

    As it stands that is not a very rigorous construction.

    You say "I, myself, always try to provide a global Formula that is capable to handle all sorts of data", which is a wonderful philosophy, but isn't it at least as important that we ensure that our formulas are independent of the row and column references of the data range in question, so that, should that range change, we do not have to re-work our solution?

    What happens with your formula, for example, if RNG is instead re-located one row down, from B4:H15 to B5:H16?

    When a formula is reliant upon the addition/subtraction of certain constants within the formula, which themselves are necessarily dependent upon the specific rows/columns in which the data lies at any given time (e.g. the -1 in MOD(ROW(RNG)-1,2)), then that formula is not a very flexible one.

    Hence the reason for my choice of a slightly longer construction:

    ROW(B4:H14)-MIN(ROW(B4:H14))

    which ensures that this part of the calculation is not dependent upon the precise location of the data range within the worksheet, and so will give correct answers even if that range is re-located.

    Regards

  11. Haz says:

    {=OFFSET(B4,MAX((B4:H15=L5)*ISODD(ROW(1:12))*ROW(1:12)),MAX((B4:H15=L5)*ISODD(ROW(1:12))*COLUMN(A:G))-1)}

    • Haz says:

      Non-array formula:
      =INDEX(B4:H15,SUMPRODUCT((B4:H15=L5)*(ROW(B4:H15)-ROW(B4)+1)*ISODD(ROW(B4:H15)-ROW(B4)+1))+1,SUMPRODUCT((B4:H15=L5)*(COLUMN(B4:H15)-COLUMN(B4)+1)*ISODD(ROW(B4:H15)-ROW(B4)+1)))

      Using one range (B4:H15), one reference (B4), one lookup value (L5) and no INDIRECT or OFFSET.

  12. MF says:

    My trial with defined names:

    DateRange
    =$B$4:$H$4,$B$6:$H$6,$B$8:$H$8,$B$10:$H$10,$B$12:$H$12,$B$14:$H$14

    Position
    =RANK('lookup problem'!$L$5,DateRange,1)

    L6
    =OFFSET(B4,ROUNDUP(Position/7,0)*2- 1,IF(MOD(Position,7)=0,6,MOD(Position,7)-1))

  13. Jeff Weir says:

    I'd probably just run with something like:
    =SUMPRODUCT((B4:H14=L5)*(MOD(ROW(B4:H14),2)=MOD(ROW(B4),2))*B5:H15)
    ...which is basically the same as Elias' but without the IFs

  14. Bermir says:

    The opposite of elegant but it works...

    =INDEX(B4:H15,IFERROR(MATCH(L5,B4:B14,0),0)+IFERROR(MATCH(L5,C4:C14,0),0)+IFERROR(MATCH(L5,D4:D14,0),0)+IFERROR(MATCH(L5,E4:E14,0),0)+IFERROR(MATCH(L5,F4:F14,0),0)+IFERROR(MATCH(L5,G4:G14,0),0)+IFERROR(MATCH(L5,H4:H14,0),0)+1,IFERROR(MATCH(L5,B4:H4,0),0)+IFERROR(MATCH(L5,B6:H6,0),0)+IFERROR(MATCH(L5,B8:H8,0),0)+IFERROR(MATCH(L5,B10:H10,0),0)+IFERROR(MATCH(L5,B12:H12,0),0)+IFERROR(MATCH(L5,B14:H14,0),0))

    • Bermir says:

      =INDEX(B4:H15,
      IFERROR(MATCH(L5,B4:B14,0),0)+
      IFERROR(MATCH(L5,C4:C14,0),0)+
      IFERROR(MATCH(L5,D4:D14,0),0)+
      IFERROR(MATCH(L5,E4:E14,0),0)+
      IFERROR(MATCH(L5,F4:F14,0),0)+
      IFERROR(MATCH(L5,G4:G14,0),0)+
      IFERROR(MATCH(L5,H4:H14,0),0)+1,
      IFERROR(MATCH(L5,B4:H4,0),0)+
      IFERROR(MATCH(L5,B6:H6,0),0)+
      IFERROR(MATCH(L5,B8:H8,0),0)+
      IFERROR(MATCH(L5,B10:H10,0),0)+
      IFERROR(MATCH(L5,B12:H12,0),0)+
      IFERROR(MATCH(L5,B14:H14,0),0))

  15. HF says:

    Named Range
    rownum = SUMPRODUCT(('lookup problem'!$B$4:$H$14='lookup problem'!$L$5)*ROW('lookup problem'!$B$4:$H$14)*ISEVEN(ROW('lookup problem'!$B$4:$H$14)))

    Formula
    =OFFSET($A$1,rownum,MATCH(L5,INDIRECT("$B"&rownum&":$H"&rownum),0))

  16. Venky says:

    How about SUM(IF(B4:H14=L5,B5:H15)) with array..it should work

  17. xen says:

    Sorry, Chandoo, you can't find stuff this way in every possible scenario.
    What if 2014-10-01 sales would equal 41.927 ? Which is serial number for 2014-10-15 ? SUMIF would fail to retrive correct answer. And your example data suggest that such number is possible in your table.

    It's better not to search through dates and numbers at the same time.

    If I'd solve a problem like this, it'd reformat table first so I get one column with dates and the other with numbers.

    In this case, formula to form date column would be:
    =INDIRECT(ADDRESS((INT((ROW()-4)/COUNT($B$4:$H$4))+1)*2+2;MOD(ROW()-4;COUNT($B$4:$H$4))+2;4;1))
    and numbers would be the same formula with sight adjustment (+3 instead of +2 at the end of first argument):
    =INDIRECT(ADDRESS((INT((ROW()-4)/COUNT($B$4:$H$4))+1)*2+3;MOD(ROW()-4;COUNT($B$4:$H$4))+2;4;1))

    And now you got two columns that you can safely use for searching!

  18. xen says:

    Oops, sorry, you actually mentioned that it doesn't work if number=date! I missed that part 🙁

  19. Vad says:

    ={OFFSET(A1,SUM((B4:H14=L5)*ROW((B4:H14))),SUM((B4:H14=L5)*COLUMN((B4:H14)))-1)}

    Works for all data... the solution I got for indirect looks little lengthy

  20. Rajesh says:

    I want to count last 20 records of a person, whose marks is greater than 2 and grade "manager". ....

    Assume A1 has got names (James, John...etc...)
    A2 "Manager"

    A3 "2"

    Someone please reply

  21. Rajesh says:

    I want to count last 20 records of a person, whose marks is greater than "2" and grade "Manager"

    Assume A1 "geroge" A2 "Michael" A3 "George" etc...name can found anywhere in the rows

    B1 "Manager" B2" clerk"

    C1 "2" C2, "4"

    please reply

  22. Marc says:

    Simplest I can come up with. No limitations for either 1 or 2. This does assume dates are an ordered list with 7 per row, and 2 rows per set. Assuming this is always true this will work for an arbitrary long list of dates.

    =OFFSET(B5,QUOTIENT($L$5-$B$4,7)*2,MOD($L$5-$B$4,7))

    • Michael (Micky) Avidan says:

      @Marc,
      Nice approach - however, as there are no "Negative Dates" - try:
      =OFFSET(B5,INT(L5-B4)/7)*2,MOD(L5-B4,7))
      ——————————————————————————-
      Michael (Micky) Avidan
      “Microsoft® Answer” – Wiki author & Forums Moderator
      “Microsoft®” MVP – Excel (2009-2015)
      ISRAEL

  23. Vijaykumar Shetye says:

    =OFFSET(B4,ROUNDUP((L5-41911+1)/7,0)*2-1,MOD(L5-41911,7))

    B4 has been used as reference cell for OFFSET().

    FOR ROWS:
    ROUNDUP(....,0) gives the integer value of a division. In case of presence of a remainder, ROUNDUP will add 1 to the Quotient.
    As opposed to ROUNDUP(), the INT() or QUOTIENT() functions eliminate the remainder.

    41911 = 01-Sept-2014, the first date in the data.

    *2 has been used because there are 2 columns per set of data.

    /7 has been used because there are 7 columns per set of data.

    For columns
    MOD(L5-41911,7))

    Vijaykumar Shetye,
    Panaji, Goa, India

  24. Awais says:

    This is how i did it

    {=INDEX(B4:H15, MAX((L5=B4:H15)*ROW(B4:H15))-2, MAX((L5=B4:H15)*COLUMN(B4:H15))-1 )}

  25. Paul says:

    Here's my solution:

    =INDEX(B4:H15,MATCH(1,MMULT(--(B4:H15=L5),TRANSPOSE(COLUMN(B4:H15)^0)),0)+1,MATCH(1,MMULT(TRANSPOSE(--(B4:H15=L5)),ROW(B4:H15)^0),0))

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