Can I make a visual timeline on the dashboard showing completion for next quarter/ 6 months/ etc.

Alicia D

Is it possible to add a chart in the dashboard like this as a way to add a timeline representing specific projects of high importance to show completion dates for next quarter / 6 month etc. Not sure if that is possible but hoping to get some ideas!

iLoveData

Since timeline isn't a dashboard-able feature yet, it looks like a Gantt chart report would be the next best thing. I have something very similar to this on my team's SharePoint site.

To fulfill the Gantt chart report's required fields, you need a task name (I use my primary column for this), start date, end date, duration, wave, and dependency (if relevant).

Depending on if these tasks are dependent on another's completion/start you can add dependency logic in a column to show which tasks are related to each other to get the branching effect. To have the waves divided like you pictured, assign wave values to each line item/activity within that wave. Just make sure the wave value is in it's own column.

Once all these fields have been added to your sheet, you should be ready to create a Gantt Chart Report, using this sheet as the foundation.

Once the Gantt report is created, you can divide up the waves by using the "Group By" function and you'll be all set! 👍️

Alicia D

@iLoveData would I also be able to color code it like this with a key?

Alicia D

Also, @iLoveData , this would be more so need to be pulled from a report because it is tracking all of my projects across multiple workspaces.

iLoveData

@Alicia D

Yes you would be able to color code it. The biggest thing is that the parent rows are always grey so if you nest dependencies there will be a grey bar at the top; however, all child rows can be conditionally formatted according to your categories.

If you are pulling these in from multiple sheets make sure you have the source as a column and you can group by the source to show the different swim lanes 👍

Alicia D

@iLoveData for some reason, I am still not able to figure it out. Here is my report that I would want to pull from as well as the columns that I am using on each of these. I am trying to figure out what you mean by making sure I have the source as a column.

iLoveData

@Alicia D

I'm Guessing M1F and Manta Ray are their own sheets correct? When you pull multiple sheets into a report it has a column that you can toggle to show the source, what sheet they came from. Grouping by that will allow you to provide swim lanes akin to what you have shown me in the above picture

Looking at your columns you'll also want a duration column to house a formula = End Date - Start Date to give you the proper bar length. I'm not sure what your primary column is though.

Either way the group button at the top will allow you to group by the data source or whatever column holds the M1F and Manta Ray fields - assuming they are replicated for each task row

Alicia D

@iLoveData , Manta Ray and M1F are priority categories. Each of the bars would be the project as a whole.

iLoveData

@Alicia D

If those are priority categories than the source sheet luckily doesn't matter. The group by will need to happen at the priority category level then. That will cluster the projects at that level, at that point it's just about having the start date, end date, and duration for each project and that will populate the Gantt bars on the right.