How to improve your project management with an Excel timeline template

An Excel timeline template is a helpful tool for keeping track of events, projects, and schedules. Since it presents information in a timeline format, it is very easy to understand the order of events and to track progress of your projects.

In project management, the timeline template can help you keep track of all its tasks, deadlines, and milestones. This way, you can quickly spot any potential delays or issues and take action to keep your project on track.

In event planning, the timeline template is a lifesaver! It can help you plan and organize every aspect of your event, making sure everything runs smoothly and on time.

And even in your personal life, the timeline template can be very useful. For instance, you can use it to keep track of important dates like birthdays and anniversaries, and to stay organized with appointments, meetings, and other tasks.

Why should you use an Excel timeline template?

There are many benefits of using a timeline template. Whether you want to use it in a business setting or in your personal life, it is a great tool that can help you stay organized.

Some of these benefits include:

Clarity: It presents information in an easy-to-understand visual manner, making it easier to grasp the progression of events or project tasks.

Easy Tracking: The template can help you track progress, deadlines, and milestones, making it simple to see where you stand and what needs to be done next.

Organization: It helps you keep track of important events, projects, and schedules, and keep everything organized in one place.

Time-saving: Using a template saves you time and effort compared to creating a timeline from scratch, as most of the formatting and structure is already done for you.

What are the advantages of using an Excel timeline template in project management?

You certainly understand the importance of keeping a project on track. From meeting deadlines to keeping team members and stakeholders informed, there are many moving parts to manage. This is where project timelines can help you. Let’s explore the benefits of using a project timeline and how it can help make your life easier and your project a success.

Get organized: A project timeline provides a clear and visually appealing way to organize the different tasks, milestones, and deadlines involved in a project. This helps everyone understand what needs to be done and when, making it easier to stay on track.

Better communication: Communication is key to the success of any project. A project timeline provides a simple and effective way to communicate project information to everyone involved. This minimizes confusion and ensures that everyone is on the same page.

Increased accountability: By creating a project timeline, you establish a clear plan that outlines what needs to be done and when. This helps everyone stay accountable and do their part in making the project a success.

Time management: A project timeline can help you prioritize your tasks and manage your time more effectively. This ensures that the project stays on schedule and deadlines are met.

Risk management: A project timeline can help identify potential risks and challenges in advance, so you can plan ahead and minimize their impact.

Project tracking: A project timeline provides a visual representation of the progress of a project. This helps you keep track of any delays or deviations from the plan and take action to get back on track.

An all-in-one template to improve your project management

There are many different Excel timeline templates available on the internet. However, most of these templates consist of a standalone spreadsheet.

In contrast, Sheetgo has a project management template that integrates multiple spreadsheets. As a result, team members can have access to their own spreadsheets. When you assign a task to your team members, they can update the progress status for their tasks. Then, Sheetgo will transfer this data back to a master sheet, where you can get an overview of the project.

With this automated workflow, you can visualize the progress as a Gantt chart, which is a type of timeline that gives a clear visual representation of a project schedule.

By using a Gantt chart, you will be able to see the relationships between tasks and track the progress of a project over time.

How to install the Project management template for Excel

In order to get started, click the blue button below and install the Project management template by Sheetgo. As you can see, you can install the template on Google Drive, OneDrive, Sharepoint, and Dropbox.

Project management

Google Sheets workflow template to allocate tasks, get status updates and track progress.

GET STARTED

Log into Sheetgo if you already have an account. Alternatively, sign up using Microsoft, Dropbox, or a Google account.

Click on the Install template button. Sheetgo will set up your new workflow.

How to use the project management template

Now that you have installed the template, it’s time to learn how to use it.

Step 1: Fill out the master spreadsheet

In the template Workflow, click on the pencil icon, and then Edit file.

In the Instructions tab, fill out the sheet with the Start date, Gantt view mode, and Week start day.

Step 2: Fill out the WBS tab

In the WBS tab, enter your project, subproject, and task data in their corresponding column.

Please note: Since the gray cells contain predefined formulas, don’t edit them.

Now define the dependency for each task.

Start to Start: The selected task can start while the dependent one is still in progress. These are for tasks that are required to run simultaneously.
Finish to Start: The selected task can only start when the dependent one has finished.

Define the duration of each task and assign a task owner.

Step 3: Set up the team members’ spreadsheets

Go to Workflow and click on the File tab to edit the team member spreadsheets.

Now click on More options (⋮) and rename each spreadsheet with the names of your team members.

If you have more than 3 team members, you can add more spreadsheets and connect them with your master sheet.

Step 4: Share the spreadsheet with your team members

Open the spreadsheet by double-clicking on it. Click the Share button located in the toolbar, enter the email address of your team member, and click Send to grant them access to the spreadsheet.

Step 5: Automate your workflow

Go to Workflow, and click on Automate in the bottom-left corner of the screen. Now you can schedule automatic transfers to update your master sheet on a regular basis.

All you need to do is choose the hours, the time, and the frequency of updating. Then, click Save.