Back when I was working as a project lead, everyday my project manager would ask me the same question.
“Chandoo, whats the progress?”
He was so punctual about it, even on days when our coffee machine wasn’t working.
As you can see, tracking progress is an obsession we all have. At this very moment, if you pay close attention, you can hear mouse clicks of thousands of analysts and managers all over the world making project progress charts.
So today, lets talk about best charts to show % progress against a goal.
Please download example file and keep it handy while reading the rest of this tutorial.
Data for these charts
For all these charts, we will use below data:
Chart #1: Conditional Formatting Icons + % values
This is my all time favorite. It is very easy to implement and works really well.
All you have to do is,
- Select the % completion data
- Go to Home > Conditional Formatting > Icon sets
- Select 3 traffic lights
- Edit the rule as shown below:
- Done!
Why you should use this?
- Very easy to set up.
- Scalable. Works the same when you have 20 or 200 or 2000 items to track.
- Looks great
Keep in mind:
- The traffic lights in Excel are not great for color-blind people.
- The traffic lights do not look good when printed in black-and-white (or gray scale)
Related: Never show simple numbers in your dashboards
Chart #2: Conditional Formatting Data Bars
Another easy and quick answer.
- Select % completion data
- Go to Home > Conditional Formatting > Data bars
- Select Solid Fill if available.
- Done!
- Extra step: Adjust maximum bar size to 100% so that you can see relative progress better.
Why you should use this?
- Very easy to set up.
- Scalable. Works the same when you have 20 or 200 or 2000 items to track.
Keep in mind:
- By default the maximum value in your data takes 100% of the cell width. So make sure you set this to 100% for better depiction of progress.
Chart #3: In-cell bar charts
If for some reason you cannot use databars, then rely on in-cell bar charts. These are simple to setup and works great in many situations where conditional formatting may not be an option.
- Assuming your % data is in A1,
- In adjacent cell (B1), write = REPT(“|”, A1*100)
- You will get a lot of pipe symbols | in this cell.
- Select the cell and change font to Playbill
- Adjust font size and color if needed.
- Done!
Why you should use this?
- Very easy to set up.
- Scalable. Works the same when you have 20 or 200 or 2000 items to track.
- Can be handy when making dashboards or reports (where conditional formatting may have limitations)
Keep in mind:
- The font & size has impact on how in-cell chart is displayed. Use either Playbill or Script fonts.
Chart #4: Pies
Conditional formatting pie charts are a simple alternative to show % progress data.
The process is same as traffic light icons. Make sure you adjust pie icon settings as per your taste.
Why you should use this?
- Very easy to set up.
- Scalable. Works the same when you have 20 or 200 or 2000 items to track.
Keep in mind:
- Pie chart icons have only 5 stops. So they are not really pies.
- Not everyone likes pie charts. Make sure your boss / customers dig them.
Chart #5: Color scales or heat maps
When you have a lot of items to track, your focus is really on which items are lagging (or leading). In such cases, a color scale (also known as heatmap) can work very well. It colors cells based on their value. For example, the darker a cell color is, the more that particular project is done and vice-versa.
Why you should use this?
- Very easy to set up.
- Scalable. Works the same when you have 20 or 200 or 2000 items to track.
Keep in mind:
- Make sure the color starting & end points are well contrasted. Else the color scale looks bland.
- By default color scales show the values too. To hide them use ;;; custom cell formatting code (how to).
Chart #6: Thermometer charts
This is my favorite technique. It works very well for data like this.
Tutorial on how to create thermometer charts.
Why you should use this?
- Easy to understand
- Scalable. Works the same when you have 20 or 200 or 2000 items to track.
Keep in mind:
- If any value is more than 100% the chart may not explain it properly.
- Make sure the axis min & max are set to 0 and 1 respectively.
- You need a dummy column with 100% in it to show outline of thermometer.
Download Examples
Click here to download example workbook. It contains all these charts.
Special bonus for you:
As a bonus, the download workbook also has 5 step tracker to make you awesome in Excel. Go ahead and download now.
What is your favorite chart to show % progress?
My most favorite chart is thermometer. The next is traffic light icon-set.
What about you? Which of these 6 is your favorite? Please share your chart in the chart. If you use something else altogether, please tell me. I am eager to learn from you.
More on comparison charts
Just like my project manager, I am sure your manager too loves tracking & comparison. If so, please go thru below articles to learn few more tricks to impress her.
- Us vs. Them – compare one value with many using interactive chart
- Best charts to compare budget with actual values
- Indicating lower & upper bounds on a chart
- Customer service dashboard – a case study in comparison
- Exploring Flu trends in excel chart – a case study in heat maps for comparison
Now if you excuse me, I have to report to my new project manager: my wife. She is asking me about the progress of taking down Christmas lights. And I am still at 9%.
15 Responses to “Modeling Interest During Construction (IDC) – Excel Project Finance”
Thanks again for a very helpful post.
I had a similar problem when trying to model a balance sheet and profit and loss projection. The problem was that interest expense (in P&L) was dependent on a cash shortfall (in BS) which had to be funded. The cash shortfall depended on how much interest was paid, so the mutual dependency made a circular reference.
I addressed it with a macro that calculated interest outside of the P&L, then pasted the calculated amount into the P&L as a value. The model was out of balance, but by repeating the pasting and calculating loop the imbalance reduced to zero. It was a bit messy, and had to be repeated every time a line changed - but it worked.
If I have to do it again I'll read this article again first and see if it can be done more elegantly.
Hi,
The use of a circular reference can be avoided in this case. Just make use of the geometric sum to calculate the interest required. I’ll walk through the example from the spreadsheet.
First calculate the cash needed each year without the interest expense. So you year 1 you need 55 Mn, year 2 105 Mn, and 190 Mn for year 3. The total amount to borrow for year 1 is then (50 Mn)/(1-interest_rate) = (50)/(1-0.1). For years 2 and subsequent the amount borrowed is the cash needed in that year plus the interest_rate times the amount already borrowed. For year 2 (105 + interest_rate * sum(previous debt raised))/(1-interest_rate)=(105+0.1*61.1)/(1-0.1).
This process avoids the need for a circular reference, and makes the calculation more stable.
Thanks,
Tristan
The question is for the year 1 in your case, the amount works out to 45 mn. However in the year 2 you have applied the loan amount as 61.1 mn.
Am I missing something ! Please help !
very helpful information!!!
using circular references and to make model more stable we can use combination of "IF" and "ISERROR" functions. i.e
=if(iserror(formula1),"",(formula1))
this formula will return blank value if there is any error otherwise give the result required.
I usually use this in my models and it makes them very stable......
🙂 🙂 🙂
@Terry: Thats right. Exactly same problem is seen in Interest - Cash cycle in P&L and Cash Flow statement as well. In our trainings on financial modeling in excel, we demonstrate using both the circular loops as well as the macros to take care of this problem. Circular loops have their own pitfalls. If the model enters into a state of error, the error percolates!
@Tristan: Thanks for pointing out. I agree with you that if circular loops can be avoided, they should be avoided.
@Yogesh: This is one way of avoiding the problem. Although circular loops have another problem that they make your sheet slower. Each time, there is a change in the sheet, all the calculations are redone. So if they can be avoided, they should be avoided.
Please note that this was an example (a large one indeed) and I didn't have space to speak about the pitfalls of this approach! I just wanted to illustrate an approach and am glad that some of you found it useful!
I think while posting, there is an error in the images! The last image should be flipped with the one that is posted in step VII!
I think you can try the following simple solution given by Microsoft itself to make the circular works:
Windows: Excel Options -> Formulas -> Put a tick on "Enable iterative calculation"
Mac: Excel -> Preference -> Calculation ->Put a tick on "Limit iteration"
You can change the maximum number of calculation iterations as well as the maximum changes which iteration stops for goal seeking or for resolving circular references based on the number you type in the maximum change box.
Thank you.
Hey All
I heard that we can take care of the circularity with the help of macro for IDC. Can anybody help on the steps to construct the macro for the same.
Regards
Vinay
Hi Vinay,
If you look closely, you are essentially copying the values from the interest calculation to the IDC in project cost.
Basically you can record a macro, that takes the values from interest and pastes special the values in IDC row in project cost.
Then you can run that recorded code in a for loop.
Hope this helps.
Thanks Param for reply.
But before calculating interest, i need to provide for Upfront Equity and Equity, which are essentially part of total project cost. Hence, i need to put in Upfront Equity and Equity to calculate the IDC which is again hitting the total project cost.
Bit of confused on how to remove this circular reference.
Regards
Vinay
Wow, this was a brilliantly simple post. I was looking online for a while before I found this page. Never seen this been explained so beautifully yet so crisply before. Thanks for saving my ass at work! (i'm relatively new to finance + modeling)
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[…] Project Finance Modeling using Excel – Part 1 & Part 2 […]
I have been reading your blog since my college days. Today, I'm writing just to say thanks.
We have calculated Financial Rate of return of a hydropower projects, and the observer has raised an observation regarding Total Project cost with IDC Rs. 8616.01 million (PKR) and with-out IDC 8352.46 million (PKR). How does the Financial nalysis be calculated on the basis of with-out IDC Or With IDC?????
Please helpf. if possible to spare some time.