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a spreadsheet
The chart represents the tasks within a project and shows when they
should begin and end. It can also be used to show relationships
between tasks – dependencies, for example, where one task is
dependent on the completion of another. It is also possible to
represent tasks that can be carried out at the same time, depending
on resources. For example, if you are working in a team, it might be
that someone can be working on the audio whilst someone else works
on the video. The chart provides a very visual way of showing the
progress of a project, and allows you to check at any time what should
be happening.
This briefing document will introduce you to making a project plan for
your website using a simple spreadsheet.
Any spreadsheet program can be used for creating a Gantt chart. The
program we’re going to use in the example is MS Excel. Open Excel
and immediately save your spreadsheet into your My Documents area.
Call it ‘Project Plan’.
The first column in the spreadsheet will list all the tasks you need to
do in your project. For this example we are going to use research
(into existing sites), audience (researching the audience for your
website), design (what the website will look and feel like), images
(what images you will include), audio (creating the audio content),
video (filming and editing the video), content (writing the text),
integration (bringing everything together) and evaluation (user
testing and collecting feedback). Enter the names in the first column.
Your spreadsheet should look like Figure 1 below.
This is where you have to start planning your project! You need to
decide when each task is going to start. This might depend on your
deadline – that is, the date you need to deliver your final website.
Supposing you have seven weeks to deliver your project, and you’re
going to start on 1st September 2008. The first thing you will need to
do is carry out research into existing websites, and some research into
your audience type. So these two tasks need to be done first.
Realistically we will start with research into websites on 1st September
and research into audience two days later, 3rd September.
To enter the start dates, begin by defining the second column for this
variable (a variable is something that has a changing value – so in this
case it’s the different dates that tasks in the project will start on).
Enter Start Date in the first cell of column B (make it bold by
highlighting it and choosing bold from the toolbar). Right click on the B
at the top of the column, and select format cells. Choose date and
then select which format you would like your date to appear as. I
have chosen the 01.09.08 format, but you can choose a different
format.
Every time I enter a date in this column, it will appear in the same
format, even if I type in 1 September. See figure 2 for the steps in
this process and what you should see when you enter the dates.
The next thing to do is work out how long each task will take. You can
also add a column here that shows how much has already been done
and what is left. So supposing it was the 11th September, and we were
on schedule. We could show in our chart what has been completed and
what is still outstanding. The way to do this is to have two columns –
column C will be Completed and column D Remaining. Enter these
two headings in the two columns.
Enter this data into the spreadsheet. It should look like Figure 4.
Select the cells A10 to D10. The cells will turn blue. Whilst they are
selected, click on the Chart Wizard icon on the toolbar (it looks like a
three-dimensional chart). See figure 5.
When the Chart Wizard opens, select Bar and find the stacked bar
option (the box on the right side of the wizard tells you which option
you have selected). See figure 6.
This isn’t quite what a real Gantt chart looks like, so we need to carry
out some formatting to make it easier to read and use.
Double click on the blue section of the top bar, and a dialogue box
headed Format Data Series will appear. Click None for Border and
None for Area and click ok. See figure 8.
Next we are going to format the axes. Double click on the vertical axis
(the one that lists all the tasks) and the Format Axis dialogue box will
open. Select the Scale tab along the top. Select the Categories in
Reverse Order checkbox. See figure 10.
Next step – click on the Font tab along the top and select font size 8
in the right hand box. See figure 11.
Click ok. Your chart will appear with the Research task at the top of
this axis and the Evaluation task at the bottom and the labels will be
smaller – this fits with the order in which the tasks are carried out on a
Gantt chart.
Now we need to find the same number for the date the project should
be finished – let’s say the 19th October. To find what this date is, enter
19th October at the bottom of the Start Date column, highlight it, then
select Format, Cells and General. The number in this case is 39740.
Again make a note of it. See figure 13.
Also make sure the Category (X) axis crosses a maximum value
box is checked. See figure 14.
Next, click on the Alignment tab, last one at the top. You will see a
box under Orientation on the left side. Highlight the ‘0’ that is in
there and type in ‘45’. Click ok. The dates at the top of your chart
should now be aligned at an angle of 45o to the axis. See figure 15.
The last step is to sort out the box with the data labels, which is
showing ‘Start Date’. This box is called the legend. Double click on it
to bring up the Format Legend dialogue box. Click on the Placement
tab, and select bottom. See figure 16.
You can make your Gantt chart larger by dragging it out from the
corners. To remove it from the spreadsheet program, you can
highlight it, copy it and paste it into a word processing program, such
as MS Word. Make sure change the Page Setup in Word to landscape
to accommodate the chart.