Recently I had to create a Pivot report from monthly data. But there is a twist. The data is spread across multiple sheets, one for each month. Let me explain how I built the pivot for that scenario.
Step 1: Load Monthly Data File to Power Query
We can use Power Query and automatically combine all the individual sheets to one big table. For this, you need a monthly workbook that has one tab (sheet) per month. If you need sample data, check out this file.
- Create a “NEW” Excel workbook. We will use this file to combine all the monthly worksheets.
- Go to Data Ribbon and click on Get Data > From File > From Excel
- Select your monthly workbook with all the individual sheets
- In the navigator screen, select any one sheet and click on “Transform” to go to Power Query Editor.
Step 2: Combine & Clean-up Data
Once you are in Power Query Editor (PQE), we can quickly combine all monthly sheets and clean-up the data.
- Using the “Query Settings” panel on the right, delete all the steps except “Source” step. You can use the ❌ mark next to the step to delete the step.
- In the query view, expand the “Data” column so we can get all the monthly data in one big table.
But the data is not clean...!
When you “Expand” the data column, we get all the data, but a ton of problems too. Here is a summary of the key issues.
- Incorrect headers
- Repeated header rows (one per month)
- Incorrect data types (dates, numbers treated as Alpha-numeric by Power Query)
- Unwanted columns
- Null values or blank rows
- Something else?!? 😱
Fortunately, Power Query can solve all these problems quite easily.
- Set first row as headers using Home Ribbon > First Row as Headers option
- To fix nulls & repeated header rows, use filter on a column like “Sales Person” and filter away the null & title words. See this demo:
- Right click on the columns and use “Change Type” to set the correct data type.
- Using Home ribbon > Choose Columns select the columns you want.
Step 3: Load the Data to Excel
Once all the clean-up is done, rename your query to something like “Combined data” and use the Close & Load button in Home ribbon to load this data to Excel.
Pro Tip
Use the "Load to" options to load the data just to your data model instead of Excel grid. This is helpful if you just want to make pivots and don't need to "see" the data.
Step 4: Create Pivot Table(s)
Now that all the data is in one place, you can create a pivot report easily in Excel. Just select the “combined data” table and use Insert > Pivot Table to add the reports you want.
Step 5: How to update when you have "NEW" data?
Come next month, you may have another sheet in the “monthly file”. Just save the file and open the consolidated workbook (with all your pivots) and use the “Data” ribbon > Refresh All button to refresh the queries. You may need to press this twice to update the pivots too.
VIDEO: How to create a pivot table from multiple sheets of data?
Check out this video tutorial to understand how to make a pivot table from multiple sheets of data. (see it on my channel)
📂 Sample File
Download the sample data file (monthly data) to practice this concept on your computer.
What to do when you have an error? ⛔
While this trick works most of the time, you can still get some errors. Use below tips to debug / fix the problems.
- Save & Close the Monthly file: The refresh / update process may throw errors if your file is not closed. So, save and close the workbook.
- Monthly tabs should be consistently formatted: The headers and number of columns in your monthly file should match across tabs. If you have different headers or number of columns, then the combined file may have errors or incorrect values.
- Missing Data: If you notice that some data (a month for ex.) is missing in your consolidated file or pivots, try refreshing the file a few times. If that doesn’t work, go to “Query” ribbon and “Edit” the query. Once you are in PQ Editor, backtrack and locate the step that might be causing the problem.
- Any other problem? Leave a comment with the issue you faced so I can offer some guidance.
Learn More 👩💻
You can use Pivot Tables + Power Query to do so many awesome things in Excel. Check out below tutorials to master the concepts.
💥 Complete Excel + Pivot Tables + Power Query course from Chandoo
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15 Responses to “A Gantt Chart Alternative – Gantt Box Chart”
That's a great idea.
Maybe the planned End Date should be highlight more.
I don't know how it would look like (nor how to do it yet), but what if instead of finishing the bold line to the best case End Date, it finishes to the realistic End Date?
The idea is ok, I think other project management tools have this, already? Maybe not.
Gantt charts in my view are about the signal most unless thing in the world, theres no way you can look at one thats more that a little complex and understand what it's telling you. I'm going to write a diatribe on project management at some point, its one of my pet areas I think!! 😉
The issue I have with this chart Chandoo, is that Tasks need to be linked to each other, so they should inherit the uncertainty, which would mean the as you moved down chart the lines would be miles apart for later tasks, and you might have to add lots of lines for subsequent tasks to cover the various outcome of it's parents.
Having said that, for the high level board summary, it's a nice way to go, it it appeals to the management 😉
thanks Chandoo, great post.
Ross
Whoooa !!! That's a very clever idea Chandoo. I really love it.
I think i'll update my gantt project sheet with that idea soon (remember my template ?)
@ross : you can link start date to the end date of the previous task in your data. The only problem I still se is to which end date (real ? planned ? best ?) in order to have average amount of information.
If best end date, you'll tend to increase uncertainty at the end of chain, although if you link to real end date, uncertainty will be decreased too much, leading in both cases to wrong management direction.
Maybe planned till the task is finished then real will do the job ?
Hey chandoo, this looks good and this would definite add value in production planning / scheduling. Uncertainity in finishing a task is very high in production scheduling and this could give an insight or a bird eye view of possible shipments we can have....
I've always been frustrated by the limitations of gantt charts. Will definitely use this, I've always struggled with how to succinctly communicate the uncertainty of certain tasks without confusing stakeholders.
I like this, I think it's a very effective way of showing how a timeline can change and which parts of a project need close attention.
@Cyril / @Ross: I would intially link the the start date to the planned end date of the previous task, with the chart updating when a task has been completed to reflect the true end date.
Or what about giving a drop-down selection box to allow the user to see the chart based on planned/best-case/worst-case end dates?
Like the idea. Have found that Excel is more flexible than MS Project for graphical solutions. The "Best Case"\"Worst Case" metrics are theoretically appealing but once the project and\or phase commences their reliability diminishes. A chart like the above that showed Planned Start, Planned End, Replan End Start, Replan End Date, Number of Replans the Start and End Dates, and Actual would provide an active, actionable view of each task\phase. It would also highlight the areas which are riskiest.
It is always amazing how flexible excel can be.
My question is how would the chart show a scenario where the date moved up? If a task is dropped or the duration of the task is significantly reduced by applying more people or machinery to the task, the dates will move up.
The gantt chart has been around for a long time, but it is still quite useful to show progress.
Cheers,
B
I like the idea but seems bit complicated in case of long projects involving numerous activity.
Also, reading and explaining is required hence not feasible where plans are just send to audience for approval.
Cheers
SY
Great idea Chandoo,
When I was reading this idea regarding delivery dates, another thought popped into my mind, how can you show the uncertainty with MONEY!!
In this case, applies to cost management or even a normal budget, you think?
Would Box Chart and Gannt Chart help to understand the best case, middle case and worst case when money is spend or planned with these three risks are involved?
I imagine that this chart could help people who write their budgets get a better understanding of risks affecting their spending.
Peter
Chandoo,
I like it. How would you display an entry once it has been completed (actual)?
Thank you,
Matt
From what you have shown so far I think that this box Gantt chart is awesome! I think that this could be an extremely useful tool.
I can't wait to learn how to make my own charts in Excel.
Will the methods that you are going to teach us work in 2003 as well?
[...] Firday, we proposed a new chart for showing project plans. I chose an ugly name for it and called it Gantt Box [...]
You need to read Eli Goldratt's Critical Chain. The uncertainty you are looking for should be accounted for in a project buffer. Not at each task level.
Further you should spend time understanding Agile Development. This would have you plan only in 1-3week iterations. This allows you to embrace changes to work not yet started, and for your customer to re-direct your course at regular intervals (after each iteration) throughout your project. keyword search: Agile Scrum
These items will show you that you are solving a tracking problem for something that you can entirely avoid!
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