When managing groups, it’s important to create timelines to trace their progress as they execute their duties. Mission administration software program is essentially the most environment friendly technique to create timelines to plan, assign and observe their duties. Different instruments can be utilized to create timelines, although, equivalent to Excel spreadsheets or Google Sheets.
This Google Sheets timeline template can create a timeline in simply 4 easy steps that gained’t require any formulation or any superior settings.
Why Use This Google Sheets Timeline Template?
This timeline template permits organizations to visualise the period of initiatives or actions over time, determine who will likely be executing them and observe milestones and deliverables. Google Sheets is a cloud-based spreadsheet software that may share timelines with groups and allow them to collaborate on-line. Not like Excel, there’s no must obtain any information. They’re saved on-line. Ang change to the timeline is robotically saved in actual time so everybody sees the newest model of the timeline.
Extra highly effective than Google Sheets is undertaking administration software program. ProjectManager is award-winning undertaking and portfolio administration software program with Gantt charts which have timelines that do way more than static templates. First, there are a number of planning and scheduling software equivalent to kanban boards, activity lists and undertaking calendars which let you create timelines, assign duties to your group members, monitor useful resource utilization, observe progress and way more. The strong Gantt chart hyperlinks dependencies, filters for the important path and might set a baseline to trace variance in actual time. Google Sheets can’t do this. Get began with ProjectManager totally free right this moment.
Google Sheets Timeline: Execs & Cons
Let’s take a more in-depth take a look at Google Sheets timelines to higher set up the professionals and cons of utilizing them. This may present your group with an thought of use instances and after they’re helpful.
Execs of Making a Timeline in Google Sheets
A Google Sheets timeline is right for customers who’re simply getting began with undertaking administration. It affords a easy interface that’s straightforward to know. Listed here are a number of the primary advantages of utilizing Google Sheets to make a timeline.
- Free various to project management software
- Many individuals already perceive Google Sheets’ interface
- Simpler to know than Excel
- Cloud-based timelines that don’t require downloading or saving information
Cons of Making a Timeline in Google Sheets
Despite the fact that you can also make a timeline in Google Sheets, it doesn’t have the identical undertaking administration options you will discover in various software program choices. Listed here are some disadvantages of utilizing Google Sheets for timelines.
- Labor-intensive and time-consuming course of
- Vulnerable to human error as guide edits are required
- Doesn’t pair properly with complementary undertaking administration instruments equivalent to Gantt charts, undertaking dashboards, calendars and kanban boards
- No workflow automation options
Timeline Template for Google Sheets
One of the simplest ways to find out about Google Sheets timelines is to make use of one. Obtain this free timeline template for Google Sheets and use its pre-made milestones and deliverables so as to add related particulars to your undertaking. Under, we’ve outlined the steps to edit and customise this template as wanted.
ProjectManager’s Timeline Is Higher Than a Google Sheets Timeline
Google Sheets could make a timeline, however it wasn’t designed for undertaking administration and due to this fact lacks lots of the options wanted to handle a group’s workload. As a substitute, use ProjectManager, a software designed to assist create visible, interactive timelines for any kind of undertaking. Let’s assessment a number of the the reason why ProjectManager is significantly better than a Google Sheets timeline template.
Make & Observe Timelines With A number of Mission Views
ProjectManager could make and observe timelines through the use of a wide range of planning and scheduling instruments together with Gantt charts, kanban boards, activity lists, undertaking calendars and way more. Every of those instruments can assign duties to group members, allocate assets, observe their progress and handle all the important thing areas of initiatives. Use the highly effective Gantt chart to set a baseline, hyperlink all 4 forms of dependencies and collaborate together with your group.
Monitor Sources and Prices In Actual-Time
ProjectManager may schedule assets and observe their utilization as undertaking duties are accomplished, estimate the price of these assets and examine them towards the precise prices of initiatives utilizing numerous instruments together with real-time project dashboards, timesheets, workload administration charts and stories. Sources could be balanced simply to maintain groups working at capability. Dashboards present a high-level overview of initiatives, packages and portfolios with out time-consuming or sophisticated setup.
Nonetheless need to know the best way to make a Google Sheets timeline? Let’s go over the best way to visualize the period of any activity or undertaking that needs to be executed. The Google Sheet timeline template covers one 12 months. It could actually zoom into the weeks for every month to trace the progress of the duties and determine undertaking milestones and deliverables each week.
Methods to Use This Timeline Template for Google Sheets
The very first thing to do is to open this timeline template for Google Sheets after which make a duplicate to edit it. As soon as that’s performed, observe the steps beneath.
1. Determine Who Will Execute Duties
Like a Gantt chart, this timeline template makes use of a stacked bar graph to signify duties and has completely different colours to determine every social gathering chargeable for executing them, whether or not a person or a group, equivalent to a enterprise division in an organization.
For instance, this Google Sheets timeline template is supposed to assist plan the operations of a company. It’s prefilled with pattern duties for 4 departments of an organization: product growth, gross sales, advertising and marketing and human assets, however the Google Sheet timeline could be edited as wanted.
2. Listing Duties
As soon as it has been decided who will likely be executing the work, the subsequent step is to determine the person duties that will likely be included within the timeline. On this case, we’ve recognized some duties that every enterprise division will execute over six months, however this timeline is totally customizable and can be utilized to map actions for shorter or longer intervals. For instance, this timeline template can create a yearly strategic roadmap.
3. Regulate the Bar Sizes to Signify the Length of Duties
To create a bar to point out the period of the duties, merely edit the fill coloration of the cells in that row. For instance, the duty “develop and launch an internet site” is predicted to start out within the first week of January and be accomplished within the fourth week of Could, so we’ve chosen these cells and stuffed them with the colour that’s been assigned to the advertising and marketing group. To edit the timeline activity bars, merely edit their fill coloration as wanted.
4. Mark Milestones and Deliverables within the Timeline
Use this template to determine any milestones or deliverables. A milestone is any key occasion or accomplishment that’s associated to a activity and a deliverable is a tangible or intangible final result that’s gained from it.
In our timeline template instance, a dwell web site is each the milestone and the deliverable for the duty “develop and launch an internet site,” which is why we’ve marked it down utilizing the milestones and deliverables row. This timeline template has a milestones and deliverables row for every group.
By following these easy steps a timeline template could be created to estimate the period of initiatives and visualize the group’s workload.
Extra Mission Administration Templates for Google Sheets
We’ve created dozens of Google Sheets project management templates to assist plan, schedule and observe initiatives throughout many industries. Listed here are some associated templates that can be utilized with this Google Sheets timeline template.
Google Sheets Calendar Template
This Google Sheets calendar template will help visualize the period of duties and color-code them in a calendar format. It’s the most effective undertaking administration templates for sharing timelines with group members and stakeholders alike as a result of familiarity that most individuals have with this software.
Google Sheets Budget Template
This Google Sheets price range template helps estimate the prices of the assets wanted to execute the duties in a timeline after which examine the estimates with the precise prices of the undertaking duties.
Google Sheets Gantt Chart Template
This Google Sheets Gantt chart template is much like this timeline template, however it robotically generates a Gantt chart timeline primarily based on an inventory of duties, their estimated period and due dates.
These templates are useful however they’re restricted in comparison with a undertaking timeline software like ProjectManager, which is supplied with the planning, scheduling and monitoring options which can be wanted to create and handle timelines to handle a group’s work.
There are lots of different the reason why ProjectManager is a significantly better software than Google Sheets in terms of timelines and task management. For those who’d prefer to be taught extra, get began with a free trial right this moment.
Associated Timeline Content material
We’ve created dozens of blogs, templates and guides to assist grasp the method of making timelines to handle initiatives or enterprise operations. Listed here are a few of them.
ProjectManager is on-line undertaking administration software program that delivers real-time knowledge that will help you higher monitor and observe your undertaking timelines. Select between a wide range of instruments to schedule your initiatives equivalent to Gantt charts, kanban boards, activity lists and undertaking calendars after which use dwell dashboards and dynamic reporting to maintain stakeholders knowledgeable. If you wish to streamline your processes and work extra effectively, try ProjectManager for free today.
