Gannt chart help please

tails007

Hi, i'm using the excel template which smartsheet provide here: https://www.smartsheet.com/top-excel-project-plan-templates

in the file ive downloaded the gannt chart looks lovely, however when i add in my project plan which has loads more tasks than the example, and over a greater time period the gannt chart severs no purpose. My guess is that the horizontal time axis isnt right in some way.

could anyone help me to resolve this please? screenshots of both added here....

VS

Kleerfyre

We are going to need a lot more information than what you have provided to be able to provide help with this. Would you be able to upload a full copy of your sheet with tasks that you have added so that we can look at it? If this is built with some conditional formatting rules, the rules could have gotten messed up when you added your tasks and cause a crazy shift, but I wouldn't know exactly without knowing exactly how your sheet is setup with your tasks in it. Adding to a template can cause issues easily if you don't have a full understanding how the template is designed.

tails007

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/348260#Comment_348260

Thanks Jonathan. I've shared the file at the link below, if you're able to help me i'd be very grateful! All I really want is for the X axis to show dates rather than duration.

If a task starts 1st Jan and has a duration of 10 days then that tasks bar should just extend horizontally for 10 days - just like a normal gannt really.

Does that make sense?

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1L6nurVlsBBj1v9TXcibi1Rbd2B6YXxtc/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=106108574145304445992&rtpof=true&sd=true

Kleerfyre

From what I could tell, it looks like your table needs some adjustments on the formatting of it to show the data you want it to. I sent you a message in Google Docs.

Kleerfyre

Your duration and end dates don't match at all. As an example, you have 743 days duration, but both dates are in 2022. You will need to clean up your data for the chart to come out and look right. Are you driving your tasks by the duration or by the start and finish dates?

tails007

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/348281#Comment_348281

Thanks very much indeed, I shall take a look now!

tails007

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/348284#Comment_348284

Thanks - if we're looking at the same row which I think you're referring to 143 - 147(?) those dates actually have a start of jan 2021 - feb 2023, so im assuming 743 is approx right (without checking!)

I agree with what you've put though. However, right now i was just focussing on the tasks. Most end dates are correct (ish), start dates i havent tinkered with so a lot of them are just the same for the sake of having a placeholder in.

Once I can get some confidence ive got the gannt working correctly i'll then focus on the dates which should then just display correctly (if i can sort whatever the issues im having is exactly)

The duration is calculated from the start and end date columns. I havent driven the end date from setting a start date and then adding a duration.

i'll take a look at your comment in the file now - thanks so much for your help

Kleerfyre

The file must have not pulled dates correctly when I converted it to an excel file. So the thing is, this is all working correctly based on the parameters set in the table. You will need to clean up your data to get to a better result. One lesson I learned in my first IT PM position, when working a task list, if you put garbage in, you will only get garbage out. You can change the duration parameter in the table to be the end date, but it will still show the extremely large data until you clean up what you have. Have you tried to use actual Smartsheet or even Microsoft Project? They both have way better Gantt charting than the template, or any other excel template for that matter, will have. You will end up working yourself to death trying to get an excel to do exactly what you what it to do at times, why not let an app that is better designed to do what you want do it for you?

tails007

Thanks Kleerfyre. Understand and agree with everything you're saying. Unfortunately the project has now access to msp and currently no smartsheet or equivalent (althouth using this as a case for it).

Would you know how i can change the x-axis to show dates rather than duration?

Kleerfyre

But the template you are using isn't a Smartsheet template at all. When you say msp, do you mean Microsoft Project? If so, it is a direct competitor to Smartsheet and would be better than the template.

As far as your question on changing from duration to end date, you will have to select the table, then click on chart design in the toolbar, then click on select data. you can from there change the data ranges. Now, that is all from inside excel, I am not familiar with Google Docs enough to give help on that. Seeing that this isn't a Smartsheet related thing, I don't know how much more help I can give on this.

tails007

Thanks again Kleerfyre :-)

I only asked here as the template came from smartsheet, tbh when i first started with it i didnt even realise smartsheet was a tool as i was only searching for an excel template.

Thanks for all your help, genuinly appreciated!