Creating a Gantt chart in Excel: a quick start guide

Excel is one of the first choices for displaying a Gantt chart. We show you how to create the diagram.

The bar chart provides an overview of smaller projects

The bar chart, better known by the name of its inventor, the management consultant Henry L. Gantt (1861 - 1919), is often used in project management. In the case of smaller projects in particular, you can use the Gantt chart to clearly show the various time steps in Excel. The bar chart also has the great advantage that it can be changed very quickly and, above all, without any problems.

• The Gantt chart consists of the ordinate and the abscissa.
• The ordinate - also called the Y axis - shows the individual project phases.
• The abscissa - which is referred to as the X axis - contains the chronological sequences of the project sections.
• Accordingly, you break down your project into meaningful project phases.
• Then enter the individual project phases in chronological order on the Y axis.
• It is advisable to always leave an empty line between the individual steps for better clarity.
• Then visualize the respective duration of the individual project phases using bars on the X axis.
• The so-called "critical path" - sections that are directly dependent on each other - is usually marked with an arrow.

Example of the Gannt chart in Excel

The project "DV network for the new emergency ambulance" was planned and carried out. Of course, our mini-example is relatively rough, but it clearly shows how the bar chart is created.

• First of all, we divide our project into the individual sub-phases.
• We start with the selection of the hardware and software in coordination with the specialist department.
• The next step is to set up the hardware and software in the newly built outpatient clinic.
• We end with the handover to the specialist department.
• The times are relatively generous and an additional two days time buffers are planned, which are marked in yellow.
• The "critical path" was set between the end of the construction work and the start of the test phase.

If you are generally interested in creating diagrams in Excel, we have put together a few tips for you here.