Although Excel is not marketed as a project management software, when it comes to project tracking, the tool is more efficient than most people realize.
If you do not have a professional project management tool, Excel might be the best choice. On the other hand, if you already have Microsoft Office, the Excel is included. Project management in Excel will help you communicate more effectively with all team members, define the project requirements and priorities, build out the project scope, reduce the number of errors by controlling data entry, track the tasks, optimize teamwork, plan costs and control the budget. With advanced Excel skills you can design an efficient project management dashboard and monitor and control your project status.
Most important building blocks for project management solution in Excel are:
- project list
- single input table
- code list (tasks, team members, status, …)
- automated report with projects review, and key information about the project progress
What key functions and formulas you need to know to build a solution:
- IF
- VLOOKUP
- TODAY
- Conditional Formatting
- Data validation
- Pivot Table
- Slicer
- Counter
- Macro
If you want to use Excel for project management properly, you only need to learn basic logic of Excel on one typical example to be able to apply your knowledge in many others. You should learn how to work with a single table with a simple database in the background and how create automated interactive reports.
Try a free task management template › for projects documented on a spreadsheet. It offers automated processing of crucial data and resources such as tasks, dates, status and progress.
If you want to learn how to use Excel in project management, we recommend Projects 1 › or Projects 2 › course.
If you are more interested in team work and in Excel for network, Projects 3 › or Costs 1, 2 › are the right courses.