Graphing a milestone time line; #N/A values are being graphed

[DashboardNovice]

Hello all. I am putting together my own Milestone chart. I am using the following webpage as a guide.

http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/07/09/project-milestones-in-timeline/

I am working on the 2nd tab in the uploaded file. Right now, I am graphing Past and Actual Milestone data from columns AC thru AH.

1. Using row 7 in red, notice how Milestone 2 has a past estimated date of 12/19/14. Then the Actual completion date of Milestone 2 date is 12/24/14, a difference of 5 days. But look at Milestone 2 on the graph. Both appear to be aligned on the same day, 12/19/14. Why isn't the Actual Milestone 2 marker on 12/24/14 like it should be?

2. Why are my column bars so thin?

3. In Chandoo's tutorial above, step #6 refers to adding the column called height, and that after doing this, you need to change the X axis labels from the default (completed dates in column AA) to the Milestone labels. When I copy and paste a new height series, I noticed that the default X axis category is column AA. Is this why Milestone 2 (in cells AD and AG) appears to be aligned on 12/19? If so, how can I change this. The only reason why I used all the estimated dates (column AA) was because I had to plot the dummy series (column AM) first. And since this was the first X axis category plotted, it seems as though any subsequent data series which is added to the chart, is automatically aligned with this first X category. What I would really like, is for each series of Height (columns AE, AH and AK) to be plotted against the Completed Date column (2 columns to the left of each column containing Height).

4. Milestone's 1 and 10 are right up against the edge of the chart. How can I create more white space on both sides of the chart?

 

[Luke M]

1. The Dummy column series is using the points in AA5:AA15. The other two series are using text in AL5:AL15 as axis labels. Since those are text and not values, the columns are getting aligned with corresponding row in Dummy column series. So, both points get put on same date.

2. Since x-axis is by dates, there's hundred of points, and the column can only be as wide as a point allows. Could alter a little by formatting series, serios options, gap width

3. I think the problem is that in the tutorial, it's a single timeline, where Milestone 1 has 1 date. What you are wanting to do is really have 3 different timelines, so each would need a pair of series. Or, really taking a detour,
but with a slightly different format, you could make the chart below. Your height columns now control how far up the point is, and the date for past/actual controls left to right position.

4. Select x-axis, format, change the min/max value to add more points.