Charts and Dashboards: Great Gantt - Part 1
16 July 2021
Welcome back to our Charts and Dashboards blog series. This week, I look at how to create a Gantt chart.
Mary, one of my best imaginary salespeople, has a list of tasks to complete so that we can update our tent business.
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/070/image1.png/e774d10cbbb9450fc45efbe51abdf434.jpg)
I want to present this in a Gantt chart, so that Mary may easily see the length of each task and whether any tasks overlap.
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/070/image2.jpg/e5e022c4de9c744a6fd5055f208ca1fa.jpg)
This week I am going to organise the data I need to do this in a chart. Next time, I will format the chart.
Without selecting any of the data, I start with a blank chart. In the Charts section of the Insert tab, I choose to create a Stacked Bar chart, which is under the Bar chart dropdown in the ‘2-D Bar’ section.
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/070/image3.png/f1140ff857fc3b6f5f97a6a24f4a6fc7.jpg)
To add data to my chart, I go to ‘Select Data’ on the ‘Chart Design’ tab.
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/070/image4.png/72aa864d2854c6fefb1083fba0ab5792.jpg)
This brings up a dialog, where I can choose to ‘Edit Series’:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/070/image5.png/36776d1da4d05b45bb5a5d09375f407c.jpg)
I create a series called Start Date and then choose the values in the Start Date column.
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/070/image6.png/23912d3b1671861e02bebcd5183f1607.jpg)
Then, I add another series, Days, and I choose the values in the Days column.
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/070/image7.png/6f49c288a0d88a66b427eaf4ece923d6.jpg)
Back in the ‘Select Data’ dialog, I edit the ‘Horizontal (Category) Axis Labels’:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/070/image8.png/b9ee28d90e6b5bc92ea4aeafdad51628.jpg)
In the dialog, I enter the data in the Activity column.
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/070/image9.png/0485ccbc83bdeec1d741bad442a1ea5f.jpg)
This gives me all the data I need on my chart, but I have some formatting to do. Next time I will change this:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/070/image10.png/daf8c4f0259ce428269c0d3d4badd32b.jpg)
to this:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/070/image11.png/22c6daeb82d7d69ac88f878227e04b28.jpg)
That’s it for this week. Come back next week for more Charts and Dashboards tips.