Project Plan – Gantt Chart with drill-down capability [Templates]

If you want to create a similar gantt chart from your data, Please follow below steps. 

Step 1: Get your data

You need at least these four columns of data. 

Step 2: Make a pivot table from the data

Insert a pivot table from this data. Set it up as shown below. You need,

• Slicer on “module”
• Activity on row labels
• Start date min on values
• End date max on values

Step 3: Create a gantt chart empty outline

In a new worksheet, set up gantt chart outline like below.

You need,

• 4 columns to display activity, start date, end date and duration
• another 90 narrow columns to show the project plan. Feel free to adjust the number of columns based on your needs.

Step 4: Making the left side of gantt chart

The left side portion of our project plan is rather simple to make. We just need to refer to Pivot Table values to get first three columns (Activity, Start and Finish).

We can then calculate the duration using =NETWORKDAYS(start, finish)

After the duration is calculated, add conditional formatting > data bars to it, so that we can easily spot activities that take too long to complete.

Step 5: Gantt chart grid (right side portion)

Now that our gantt chart is ready on the left, let’s complete the grid. 

Start by calculating the earliest project start date using min formula =MIN(plan[Start date])

Place this formula in the grid top left cell, as shown below.

Calculate remaining 89 dates by adding +1 working day. Use =WORKDAY(previous date, 1) formula for this.

This will give us a bunch of dates.

Use the next two rows to show month & day portion of this date by referring to the date calculation row. As the cells are too small, merge 2 or 3 of them and show the values. 

Now that all the dates are ready, let’s figure out the logic for making gantt chart view.

As shown above, we need a rule to highlight any cell if the date in top row falls between start and finish dates for the corresponding project activity.

To do this, select the entire grid of 100 rows x 90 columns and apply a new conditional formatting rule.

Use “formula” type rule and apply this formula.

=MEDIAN($C6, $D6, M$3) = M$3

Adjust cell references based on your gantt chart setup.

Related: Using MEDIAN formula to check between condition in Excel

Apply necessary formatting and your gantt chart will be ready.

Step 6: Move the slicer to the gantt chart worksheet

This is the last and easiest step.

Just cut and paste the slicer near the gantt chart. Your interactive chart is ready.

Bells & whistles:

• You can add a conditional formatting rule to highlight current date
• Another rule to highlight alternative rows (zebra-shading)
• Adjust the conditional formatting rule to show completed activities in a different color.