Key findings
- Templates in Excel are essential for efficient project planning, milestone tracking, and performance reporting.
- By using Gantt charts, project trackers and performance reports, you can optimize collaboration and goal achievement.
- Excel templates such as to-do lists, party planning and school planners help to organize tasks and budgets effectively.
While Microsoft Excel is a great tool for project managers and planners, it can be difficult to use it to its full potential without the right templates. Of course, you can always create a workbook from scratch and share it with team members, but a dedicated template will speed up the entire process and streamline your planning.
Whether you need to oversee a client's project, organize a celebration for a loved one, monitor milestones, or create efficient to-do lists for your tasks, discover the best templates available to track and execute your projects like a pro.
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8 Gantt Project Planner
As the name suggests, this project planner template follows the Gantt chart model to help you track and plan all the activities in detail. It uses easy-to-understand visual charts to show how a project is managed over time. You can set the plan start date and duration and track the actual duration. Also, you can add relevant activities and monitor progress in real time using the Gantt chart.
Although this template may seem simple at first glance, it is suitable for large and small projects run by professionals and ensures transparency when collaborating and achieving a goal.
7 Project tracker
Here's another simple project tracking template designed for Microsoft Excel users. This template is perfect for those who want to break down large projects into smaller, more manageable phases. For example, if you're an interior designer, you can use this template to break down each phase of furniture planning and assign relevant categories, employee names, estimated start and end dates, number of hours, cost, duration in days, and more. The possibilities are endless here.
6 Project performance report
The Project Performance Report template is designed for advanced users. If you are responsible for managing multiple projects, you can use it to report the status of those projects at a high level. It uses a table and conditional formatting for easy customization.
You can enter item descriptions and track the total budget, actual cost, schedule, performance index, forecast, and overall project status. Charts and graphs are used to display key performance indicators such as schedule variances, cost variances, and performance value, allowing stakeholders to see the status of the project at a glance.
Project performance report
5 Milestone and task project schedule
Would you rather track your projects in a timeline view? Then look no further and get this milestone and task project template from Microsoft. This template uses a scatter plot with data labels and error bars to create a project timeline that displays milestones and tasks with their durations.
Unlike a Gantt chart, where each task is displayed on its own row, this one allows you to manage the vertical placement of tasks within the timeline. In addition, you have the option to set the length of the vertical guide line to illustrate task dependencies. This is mainly useful for project overview rather than for assigning and tracking specific tasks.
Milestone and task project schedule
4 To-do lists for projects
Are you planning a home remodel or other big project? You need an effective planner that will help you track every part of the entire process with ease. This to-do list template is a simple Excel template that will help you get the job done. You can enter phase names, due dates, notes, project deadlines, and project completion percentages in different columns. You can even get creative and add other relevant columns to the sheet.
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3 Party planner and checklist
Organizing a party is often exciting and stressful at the same time. A party planning Excel template can help you stay organized and manage all the details effectively. For event managers, this template is a must-have.
You can enter party name, venue, date, time, client names, create a party planning checklist and guest list, and track their attendance. You can break down your party budget into different categories, track expenses, and more to turn party planning from a daunting task into a fun and enjoyable experience.
Party planner and checklist
2 Simple Gantt chart
Yes, this is another Gantt chart template on the list. But unlike the previous one, this Excel template goes into more detail and allows you to evaluate, plan, design, and execute your projects like a pro. You can divide the entire project into different phases, enter tasks for each section, assignees, progress, start and end dates, and more. The Gantt chart bars display task durations with conditional formatting. There's even an “Info” sheet included to help you get the most out of the template.
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1 Back to school planner
As the name suggests, this is an ideal school planner template for students. Before the next semester starts, you can have everything ready and organized. You can enter budget details, create a shopping list, categories, costs, and more. There are also a few more sheets for tracking budget breakdowns and to-do lists. Once you've entered the data, the workbook at the top will show the shopping progress.
In addition to the templates listed above, you can also find other top-notch project management templates from third-party sources like Etsy.
Optimize your project planning and tracking
Starting with the right template can set a positive tone and make a significant difference in your project. What are you waiting for? Download your preferred template into your Excel account and plan, track and execute projects of any size.
Microsoft has done a great job with their Excel template library. Almost any need you might have is likely covered by one of their templates. For more information, check out our in-depth guide to the best free Excel templates available.